“The backbone of our business is our family, fronted by daughters” — this statement sits proudly on Floral Magic’s website . Floral Magic is an all-female family business that has been in the floral industry since the year 2000. It was started by 55-year-old Lucy Siah, who bought over an existing floral shop for S$30,000 with her sisters-in-law Patricia and and Annie. In the early days, Lucy single-handedly manned the shop, while the other two would come over and help after they are done with their day jobs. Despite their overlapping commitments, Lucy roped them in because the three share the same love for flowers. Lucy loves to recreate floral arrangements that she saw in church, while Patricia had always loved gardening. On the other hand, Annie took up a course to hone her floristry skills. A Bleak Start: Doing Flowers For Funerals Image Credit: L’Armoire While being a florist often meant being a part of happy occasions like first dates and weddings, the first week of the business was rather bleak to say the least. They looked through the obituary, cold-calling recently bereaved family members to ask if they needed flowers at the wake or funeral. Within the first month of the business, they were thrown into a deep end of dressing a wake in a private residence — doing fabric drapes and large arrangements on the spot, under the eyes of the grieving and overlooking the deceased. With back-to-back funeral gigs, it came to a point when they toyed with the idea of winding up the business for good. They weren’t sure if they should continue pursuing it, or keep it strictly as a hobby. They were “second-guessing” themselves, but they had “invested too much to not make it work,” said Lucy’s daughter. Biz Now Helmed By […]