“There is nothing worth the wear of winning but laughter and the love of friends.”
– James Boswell, Scottish biographer
This is the fourth year of my short career so far in the floral world, and I’m finding that the best reward is building wonderful new friendships – with my team, our advertisers and, of course, many of our wonderful readers. Each of you, in your own ways, have taken me under your wing and taught me your corner of this industry, and I am forever grateful.
Complete strangers walk up to me and tell me how much they like the magazine – or not – and give me advice on a range of topics. It’s wonderful, and after four years, people are starting to know me and know that they can share their thoughts and concerns on what they truly love: this floral industry.
Of course, my friendships started with my wonderful team at WildFlower Media, home to Florists’ Review magazine. It was a rocky start, and I’ll admit to making mistakes along the way, but the team that stuck it out with me is amazing, supportive and hard working. They love what they are doing more than anything else, and it shows in the pages of this magazine.
From the creative department to the editorial department and everywhere in between, there is no group that loves publishing and the floral industry more than the team at WildFlower, and after traveling together, hitting deadlines together and having survived the ups and downs of the floral and publishing world together, I can honestly say I have never met a more committed team.
In addition to my team, our amazing and supportive advertisers have never let us down. I’ve never worked in an industry where I felt such amazing support. I’ve asked for business advice, how to better serve their needs, and how we can get better and reach a broader audience. I’ve even asked some of them to take a leap of faith with us on new projects. Each time I reach out, they’ve been supportive and helped us improve. I suppose they have their own interests in mind, but from my experience elsewhere, I see the members of this industry as being truly supportive of each other.
That brings me to my favorite group: floral designers. There is so much love and support in our industry; I find it eternally fascinating. Each one of you is so genuinely thrilled to see others succeed. You cheer each other on, support and promote one another, and mourn each other’s losses. You truly are a wonderful family of floral friends. I see it at your conferences and in your social media posts. I almost never hear or see negative comments, and when I do, I see a whole group of people pile on the love.
We’re lucky to have one another and be friends. I hope the next time you see me at a conference or show that you’ll say hello. It’s wonderful to meet you and learn about your experiences in this every-changing industry we all love so much. One goal I set when I purchased this magazine was to bring more voices into it. I never realized by doing so how many friends would come along with it. I feel amazingly lucky and blessed to get to know each of you along this journey.
