Real Sustainability for the Real Florist with Mayesh Design Star, Abby Chick

Episode 207:  In this episode, Abby Chick, returns  with new excitement to discuss her recent videos as a Mayesh Design Star! She shares with Vonda and Lori  highlights of her clips about sustainability for the retail florist industry.  The conversation focuses on practical ways to incorporate sustainability practices into the day-to-day operations of a florist business that she implements in her own flower shop, Blakemore Flowers, in Virginia.  Abby keeps it real, offering actionable takeaways for listeners to apply to their own florist businesses. Whether you are a florist looking to make your operations more sustainable or simply interested in the topic, this episode is a must-listen. Join the conversation and share your thoughts with our Cliquer community.

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

I really just wanted to speak to the everyday person who's running a normal shop. We're not famous for it.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your host, Bonda LaFever, and Lori Wilson.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Wonda.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Hey Lori, we have somebody really special here with us today.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

We do one of our favorite people on the planet. And I have an amazing story to share with the two of you after we introduced Miss Abby Dick. Hiya. It's me.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

It's you. Again. You're supposed to be a good one. It's you. We're glad to hear.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Thank you for having me. Can I tell you my story? That has nothing to do with anything in the world, um except what I'm doing this evening. Okay, cool. Mm Mark and I are going to the Houston Ballet tonight, which I'm super excited to go to the Nutcracker. He is not, but that's beside the point. However, every time this time of year, when I think of the Nutcracker, okay years ago when my oldest was like four, we were at a friend's house having a play bait. You know, remember back in the day when you had play bait. And my friend, who was trying to be super refined and bougie and cultured, was talking to a husband who was also four. They also had nutcracker tickets. And he was like, hey, uh Jonathan, guess what? We have tickets to go downtown to Houston. This is back when we lived in Houston for a time. Anyway, he's like, we are gonna go see the nutcracker. Would you like to go? And he said, without missing a big, no, but I drew like a graham cracker. Every time I see the commercial for the nutcracker that you anyway, I just always think of no, but I drew like a graham cracker. Is that the funniest think of a child, especially of a boy? No, mama, like a graham cracker. And you know what? You did go to the pantry and got that child of graham cracker, did mom. I would say anyway. I've been thinking about that all morning.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Well, I'm really glad that you're going to the Nutcracker and taking Mark because it's payback time for going to those astro. My goodness. I think it is payback time and he better sit and go back.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

And last yesterday, I mean, all week he's been going, why don't you call so-and-so? Why don't you try so-and-so? I think Bailey, it's like Bailey has to work this weekend to get my daughter. You know, she can't come home. Are you I think you even texted her at one point? Can you become a puffer for you?

SPEAKER_01 3:15

It's like you're doing one here. It's pretty bad. Anyway, all right. Well, anyway, let's uh let's just switch gears and talk a little bit about Abby Check. Now, Abby, as you know, has been on with us many times before. She's a retail flower shop owner. She's a prep school educator for flower acrylic. She's an industry collaborator. She's our creative advisor and a mayage design star. Woohoo! So that's a big deal, Miss Abby.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Yeah. You know, it's it is quite an honor. And then, you know, you get excited and then you immediately feel the imposter syndrome of like, I'm not a design star. They got the wrong guy.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Right. Well, tell me, what does it take to be a Mayish design star? Like, what was that whole process like?

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Yeah, so you know, I'm a big talker. I love to chat. And so I never shut up about certain things. And I have some flower friends that I had been discussing on a regular basis some of the issues that I was facing with sustainability in the retail world. You know, there's a lot of easy ways to make things better for my wedding work because the flowers only have to last for 24 hours, you know, and there there just were some unmet needs. And I was talking to anybody that would listen. And eventually I talked to enough people that and actually, Lori, you told me a member had contacted you when Mayesh put out that they were looking for the Mayesh design stars who were focusing on sustainability. They said, Abby should go for this. And m my other friends encouraged me, and so I did. I did my little audition video and talked about what sort of my belief system around it is, and then yeah, got a a call from them and set up an interview, and you know, it was pretty straightforward, but it was like out of all of the people that I know submitted, and I know some of the submissions, I mean, we're talking some really incredible florists who are doing some amazing things. I was shocked to be in the lineup with some of my personal heroes this year. Susan McCleary, Alyssa Lytle, you know, the these are some major heavy hitters in the industry. And so just to even be listed along them, I'm like, oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

That's pretty cool. That's really and I think a lot of it probably has to do with that you really are a real florist and you have a connection with the everyday work in a flower shop, and sustainability on a day-to-day basis is so different than that of wedding work, right? Or big production. It it's totally different.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

Thousand percent. The challenges that you face, I think the the number one challenge is time and bandwidth and capacity, right? And that's the problem for most problems in the world, right, that people are trying to solve. But, you know, my my friend Susan McCleary, I call her a tinkerer. She's a great, she's a great mind, and the florist community is, you know, very lucky to have her. But she has she's at a place in her career where she is a non-working florist in that she is still a florist, she still does jobs, but she's not doing weddings anymore. She's not doing retail, even though she's done those things before. So she has her finger on the pulse of problems that need to be solved. And that's why I like talking with her about these things. But as far as for me, I just like kept hitting these walls of like, well, sure, I could make a a wreath out of sticks and moss and go gather from the forest and try to do things as responsibly as possible. But when you have a family that comes to you and they need a 24-hour turnaround and someone is grieving, you know, that you're just you're problem solving. I always think of forests as MacGyvers, right? We're just using what we have, we're gathering all of our resources closest to us and making it work to fill the needs of our clients. And it just doesn't leave a lot of time for exploration and for experimentation to really figure out, okay, not only does this work in a real world setting, but also then going down the rabbit hole of what are the real implications of this new methodology? Am I actually doing anything better, you know, to save the planet? Right. I mean, some of my first trials, as well-intentioned as they were, when I started really thinking through it, I'm like, well, this isn't any better than just using a smaller brick of foam.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

I mean, when you follow the end process, there's a lot of catch-22. Right. Yes. You know? Agree. And I really love it that you took time to talk to Frank Fagia from Smithers Oasis. And he was super impressed because he was a retail florist as well. Right. So Frank and some of the many of the people at Smithers, they're like, well, they're trying to solve that problem too. And they need minds like you who can go, okay, let's kind of blend the sustainability with real life retail floristry.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

Yeah, that was a full year ago, right? When they selected their their yearly lineup. And I, for a number of reasons, kind of wanted to be at the end because I had the big shop move and everything that was happening. But I asked you, I said, can you put me in touch with somebody at Oasis? Because, first of all, I still use traditional floral foam in my business. I have not cut it out completely. I have significantly reduced my reliance on it. But I believe in transparency and I am not going to not only not so much bite the hand that feeds me, but bad mouth a company that is actively doing research and putting money towards working on an alternative that, you know, if I'm being honest, the the fiber floral media, it's not the same as a traditional floral foam, but that is my go-to replacement because it is the easiest step. It is the thing that I can still get my hands on easily. It it you know operates the closest to traditional floral foam while being, you know, it it doesn't have microplastics. It comes from a natural material. Of course, it's still something that has to be produced. It's not a perfect solution, but you know, my goal is smaller steps, better than, which I think is a little bit more approachable for the everyday florist who's just trying to keep their business alive right now. We've got enough problems that we're facing, you know, the the higher prices of everything that we've seen since the pandemic, the product shortages, increased wages. You know, this is not an easy industry to be a part of and to be successful in. And this idea and here I will go off on a little bit of a tangent, but I guess coming out of the sustainability community, and it's always the loudest voices that you hear the most, but there seemed to be this undertone of people talking in a way that almost made me believe they didn't even like florists. That they felt like we were lazy or didn't care, which is totally missing the point. It's not that we don't care. I don't know any florist who's out there going, I can't wait to burn up the planet, you know. Nobody's doing that. No.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

Mm-mm.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

There are just so many challenges that we face that you have to pick your battles. And, you know, taking smaller sips, you know, instead of trying to like guzzle from the ocean or a fire hose, I just find that to be a much more successful approach, basically.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Well, I think there's so much more to sustainability than just worrying about the floral foam, right? And that's like the teeny tiny little focusing on. That's what the focus is. I mean, even with our bundles that we get from South America, they're working hard to make those plastics that are covering the bouquets recyclable. So that's where we've moved on that. Some are making them, you know, all different products are being tested to be able to change that. Composting. I mean, now there's companies who are actually doing the composting for you if you don't have time to do it. So things like that, I think we can focus on more in sustainability instead of just, oh gosh, it's all about the foam. Let's change our media and that we're designing it.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

I feel like it's, you know, and not to say that there aren't problems with foam, right? But like uh what about the lead in flower frogs? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Everything. What about the plastic in a egg? What about a chicken wire? It's a metal. You know, everything, everything has a downfall. So I think we just have to do the best we can. Sorry, I didn't mean to get off. Now let's put it new in the sustainability video with Design Star. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

That's that's definitely sort of it, and I hate to say that my videos were born out of a place of frustration or what I felt like was missing in the conversation, but what I have consistently heard from everyday florists, you know, just reaching out and saying, gosh, that was really helpful. It was so simple, you're so approachable, you're so real, you know, those things that I hear consistently I really just wanted to speak to the everyday person who's running a normal shop. We're not famous florists, we're not luxury, you know, wedding event designers, we're just in in the mix, you know, in the grind every day, doing the job. And we're probably honestly the majority. We're the silent majority of people who are using flowers and filling orders, you know, when you when you think about who's really consuming the most products, you know, in the world, it's probably retail for it.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

And you have to worry about time, which sometimes those alternatives don't allow you enough time to mechanically create something quickly and efficiently, and most of the time it takes twice as much material.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

And it doesn't always give you the longevity needed to meet the current expectations of your client. You you know, you can want things to be different, but the fact of the matter is all of my Christmas arrangements going out of here since the beginning of time, since every person who's ever ordered for my shop has been alive, they expect their Christmas arrangements to last for a month. You can't change that overnight. No. You can talk to people, you can have one-on-one conversations, and that's essentially what you have to do, but that's a process. And if you just say, Nope, sorry, not doing it, you can ride that high horse all the way to unemployment. I mean, it real, you know, there's five other florists in my town who will absolutely fill that order and not care about where they're sourcing their flowers or what's going into their arrangement. They're just gonna fill the order. And so, you know there is no industry that is perfect, and I really just wanted to speak to, hey, these are some solutions. They're just some ideas, these are just some experiments that have worked for me. I'm a very open person. I don't believe in gatekeeping around this topic. I really just want to share and say, hey, this is something I worked with and it's working for me. I'm not promising the same, you know, results. Everybody's different, but I think that when we share openly, what it does is it sparks creativity and ideas in other people. And I just wanted to be a little bit of a voice of encouragement and positivity and not so much just here are the problems, let's just shout about how bad it is, you know? Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Which is great. And that's what's refreshing, is because you're being real and you're offering solutions for the everyday florist, which is gosh, so necessary. You know? Now I do have a real uh question. It's kind of a dilemma, let's say, not social media settings. I see your videos on Instagram and I'm like, it's partial, and I click it and it's not even there. I saw it in Facebook. I can't give to your dang video. How do I see them? So it's terrible. I mean, for for the Mayesh video, how do we watch them? How do you access them? It's like, oh man, that's talk about a gatekeeper. I can't get there.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Yeah, so I actually this I have been able to watch them on Instagram and I don't know why. I don't know if it's because I'm tagged in them. So they post on Mayesh on their website. They have a blog, and so each of my videos has come with a blog post. It also has recipes for the designs that I made and all the ingredients lists, but it also has a link to the video, and so all of their Maesh design videos are housed on YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

So I have to go to Mayash.com.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Or you can just go to YouTube and search Mayash, you know, and find their page. Are you doing it right now?

SPEAKER_00 18:31

I am going to do it right now because I came on too, because I want to make sure you're not lying.

SPEAKER_01 18:36

I'm not lying. Talk about frustration, Abby. We're your biggest fans, and we can't even find you.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

Okay, well, this is really encouraging to know how difficult it is to watch it and how many people have been in touch with saying they loved my videos. I did tell them we need to get the word out.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

They have a Florist Guide to Mastering Valentine's Day. I did see that on Instagram and I downloaded it. It was a free download, but I'm like, it's really good.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Yeah. I see, I see your morning with Maesh when you were talking with Yvonne.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Abby. Oh, watch now. Holiday Retail Design with Abby Tick.

SPEAKER_02 19:11

That's my latest one.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

That's your latest one. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

And that's the one that I'm hoping I make Vonda the most proud of because I talk about math. Oh. All about numbers and how none of this matters if your numbers aren't right.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Navigating not retail holiday. Okay. I found it. I found it. Yay. Okay. Well, I am on YouTube. I can find it. I will watch it. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

That's I'm going to send this podcast when it airs to Yvonne and say, you've got a problem. People are hungry for these videos.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

Well, I just keep thinking if we can't find it, our members aren't going to be able to find it. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

We have to be able to do that. We have to be able to tell them who it's in our members.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

So that we can share it. I'll we will put the link in this podcast so that our our uh clickers, our followers here can do that. So when the other question I had, and I think you answered it, is the why, why you wanted to do the design star. And it was because Lori encouraged you, your friends did, and then also you thought this information really needed to be shared with the industry to let them know that sustainability isn't just no foam.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

It's not the that's not it. And then that it's it's not an all or nothing because I felt for a long time that I didn't even want to speak up on it because you know, the internet culture today is so nasty. Oh yeah. You say, you know, you post one thing and then you have all of the the trolls coming at you, and so it's like you don't want to put a spotlight on you for everybody to look at the stuff that you do wrong. Right, you know, and you don't want to sound stupid or you know, incorrect about something. And so it's a lot I think a lot of people who have great ideas, and and people just like me, I don't this is the thing, I don't think I'm special. I really don't think I'm a star here. I think I'm a problem solver, which is what most retail florists are. And if more of us had the confidence to speak up in these circles and say, Well, hey, look, I'm I'm glad you made this product, but here's the problems that I'm having with it, then somebody who's not aware of an issue, who has the time, you know, some of these innovators, right, who are who are making these these new products, if they're not aware that a problem exists or there's a setback, then they can't go to work solving it. So there's this disconnect between the people who, you know, could really offer. Some valuable insights because we don't want to engage because we don't want to get in trouble, you know? You don't want to get bashed. You don't want to get bashed. You don't want to get bashed, you know? And so that's kind of I I I wanted to show up in all of my imperfections if that made it easier for somebody else who had a stupid idea like I had a stupid idea and just wanted to share it and see if anybody else maybe thought it wasn't so stupid, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:32

And what's kind of interesting that we don't really have our customers saying, Oh, I don't want to use floral foam.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

No.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Have you ever had a customer?

SPEAKER_02 22:45

I had my first client this year who requested a completely sustainable event. Okay. Wow. And but she but but she is very into beekeeping, agriculture, permaculture. Like this is a person who I would say is not your average everyday ordinary customer. Right? Right. Sure. Sure. And even then, I do not think that the words no floral foam ever came out of her mouth. It was up to me to determine what what's true sustainability looked like. And I I went for it because we're talking about people who slaughtered the cows that fed off of the land here. Right. I mean, if we're looking at people who are walking the walk, you know, I thought, okay, okay. So it meant all local flowers, all seasonal, no plastic used whatsoever. Anything that I used had to be planted or composted. Wow. In their home compost. So it had to be so all the foliage came from plants that we then planted in their food forest. Wow. At their home. And let me just tell you $10,000 did not go very far on that one. I'll bet. Yeah. So you have to be willing to make sacrifices, and not every customer is. Right. Yeah, your customers have to be on board with your mission. Right.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

So fast forward, does Mayash have a different theme for next year? Do you know?

SPEAKER_02 24:30

I believe they do. I think they are keeping this in mind as they move forward.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

As they're a company that is, you know, looking at their own practices to see how they can be more encouraging. And here's the thing it's one thing to bash, it's another thing not to include or not to promote the use of something, right? So I do think that we're going to see them probably request, you know, certain practices. But hey, they're shipping flowers all over the world, you know, and they're imperfect, which is I think actually why they liked my approach, is because they're there are people who are out there not doing everything the exact right way that are still inviting the conversation to be had, you know. So I think that we're not going to see this be a focus this upcoming year, but I don't look for them to just say, oh, we did this one year, now we're abandoning these principles.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

Sure, sure. So moving forward, keeping that in mind. And would you suggest that someone go forth to be to apply to be a design star? Is that been a good experience for you? It's been an incredible experience.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

The team at Mayesh has been so lovely, so encouraging. I even got uh an email from one of the dolphins, one of the bigwigs there, who was just, you just watch my videos. Nobody made him, and he was just so kind and lovely and encouraging. And the reps there, everybody was really great. And, you know, it's it's no cost to you to do it. And they do not choose based on popularity and celebrity, which is something that I actually really admire. It's it's not for them, oh, this person has a certain following, so we're choosing them. They really, I mean, I'm a great example of that. I think I have like 1,000 followers on my professional Abby Chick Floral account. So I I would encourage anybody not to think that you're not special enough, or you know, if you've got something to say and you want to share it, I would highly encourage you to apply. That's great.

SPEAKER_01 26:56

That's great. Well, Abby, we're very proud of you. And now I am just excited to watch your videos. How about you?

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Me too. I'm excited to watch them. And I do tell everybody that we have a flower clicker that's the Mayish Design Star 2023.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Well, can I mention one more thing that I'm most excited about coming up? Yes. So in January, I'm going to be down in North Carolina, North Carolina State Floral Association. I spoke at a conference last summer, and I really connected with some of the forests down there in that association. And here in Virginia, we don't have a state floral association. And I thought, oh man, I love this place. I love these people. I wish I could be a part of it. And I think they are uh toying with the idea of expanding to some neighboring states to incorporate us. But they have invited me down to do a two-hour program in January, and it's all things retail, and it is about operating a flower shop in. It's about operating a flower shop in the modern world, which is something that we all went into great detail on in our course. And so I'm just really excited to share some of the things that have worked well for my business. Of course, there's gonna be design, but you know, I'm a I'm a Vonda student. So everything is through the lens of practicality and profitability. And uh, you know, we're gonna be talking about how to order flowers and just how to run a business in today's market and and do it uh so that it's fulfilling and creative and fun.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Is it a class that people have to take? Is it part of their association? Is it something they're filming? Can anyone in the area attend this? I guess is my question.

SPEAKER_02 29:02

Anyone in the area can attend. And if you are a North Carolina State Floral Association member, you actually get to attend for free. Okay. So I would go to their website for all of the details. It's basically there's a two-hour program with a lunch in between, and it's on a Sunday, and the 21st is that Sunday. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

I've seen it on uh social media. They're already doing ads, and I think I saw Elva post. Elva Graham Graham, she uh one of our clickers, she was sharing it, and I was like, Oh no, it's obvious.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Yeah, I'm so excited. And Maesh is actually sponsoring it. Oh, that's very cool. Yeah, they've been very helpful, sort of in that coalition in North Carolina, helping get that association to the next level. And so we made that connection very easy. I said, Well, hey, I'm a May S design startup. There you go. It always makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 30:06

They've always had a strong convention and a strong group, which is just wonderful. They're all about education. And you've got Jody McLeod and uh Stephanie Garrett, probably those two or some you've been talking to. Absolutely. They're just really all about education. I just love it.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Yeah, super excited about that.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us. We enjoy spending time with us.