Interview with Jenny Thomasson AIFD, PFCI, EMC of Jenny T Floristry

Episode 040: Vonda has a delightful and insightful interview with Jenny Thomasson AIFD, PFCI, EMC ~ Artist, nationwide speaker and educator in the floral industry. Jenny shares a bit of herself, from where she draws inspiration to her biggest challenge. You won't want to miss this interview!
Check out Jenny's website, Jenny T floristry
and her new book, Perishable Poetics

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:04

What is your biggest challenge?

Speaker 2 0:08

People that know me so well, they will be like, absolutely.

Speaker 1 0:25

[inaudible]

Speaker 2 0:26

Laurie . I'm really excited to share with our listeners, the interview that I had the opportunity to have with Jenny Thompson . Oh , I love Jenny. Go ahead and tell about her and then remind me that. I want to tell you my first face to face with her. Okay. Well, you know, it's interesting cause I was trying to figure out, you asked me how long have you known Jenny? And I just can't even pinpoint the exact time that I met her. I'm sure I've known her 10 years. You know, it's been that long and we worked together on a lot of different projects, which I will bring up at the end because she's going to tell a little bit about one of them. So I don't want to ruin the surprise, so we don't want to ruin the surprise. So I just will say, Jenny is a member of the American Institute of floral designers, professional, floral communicators, international and EMC, which is European masters certification and her journey through his Laurel design, starting when she was in high school, you can read it on our website. There's a lot of great information about her journey and how it continues. So yeah, I'd come with me to get into it, but tell me your story. Okay. So here's my story a few years ago, or maybe it was a one year. I have no concept of time anymore. None of us do either one year or 10 years. I don't remember, but it was about a year ago and I went to Eastern country club. The allied force of Houston were one of the sponsors at the Texas state floral association, all of that. And so, you know , we have friends there. So I went to see some friends and Jenny was the speaker that night. And so I thought, well, I've heard of her and I've talked to her on the phone a few times. You know , I thought it'd be nice to meet her face to face. But what I didn't realize is she is a big deal, like a big deal. She is in the floral world of design. So I had a great time just sitting at the table and watching her. She really does captivate an entire audience. People at my table is all of the people that were designers and shop owners were like taking the studious notes. She would pay people out of the audience to take around the steps she designed. And some of her stuff was quite whimsical, but it was so beautiful and fun. And I'll never forget one of the things she said, and it always stuck with me when she was talking about when making this type of thing compared to what you actually make in a flower shop. And she said, Oh , always have something like this, either in your window or if you're a storefront or whiteboard walk in that makes them go, wow, crazy, like beautiful piece of art, maybe no one's going to buy it, but it's intriguing. And I loved that. And I think it's really smart because if I saw some of the things she designed in the front store of a flower shop, it would draw me in because I kind of want to know behind the scenes, like who's created that. Right. So anyway, that is my story. She has a new book out as you guys talk about, it's called perishable poetics. Yes. Right ? I know a lot about it, except from what I heard here, but I've seen the front of it and it's just beautiful. Yeah. It'll be beautiful. What I loved is you just said she was a big deal. Jenny is a big deal, but she doesn't act like she's a big deal. That's why I'm endeared to her. You know, I just love her because she is just genuine and that's what we have . So let's get into it. Okay. Hi Jenny, how are you doing this afternoon?

Speaker 3 3:59

I'm doing good. How are you?

Speaker 2 4:01

You know, I see your beautiful smiling face everywhere. I see you have a series of workshops in Dallas, your education specialist for Teleflora. You've been asked to speak in design. I don't know at how many events, you're really a rock star girl, but most importantly, you're a beautiful person inside and out. And I'm also proud to say, I'm not just a follower of you , but I'm your friend. The year of 2020 was a bit crazy. It's been crazy, but it's been exciting, right? I kicked off the year with this podcast and the core four and I started flower click, which took a lot of time and energy. But when I look@jennytfloristry.com , I see so many exciting things that I can't even keep up with you. So please share with our friends what's new with Jenny and what should we be looking for?

Speaker 3 4:54

Oh my goodness. Well, first of all, I want to say thank you for having me on your podcast. Yes, you are very much a valued friend of mine. And I am so grateful that our paths had crossed so many years ago and we've been able to work together side by side and I've been able to watch you and follow you as well. And I get inspired by you. So thank you for being everything that you are. We all love it so much. Yeah . Thanks for the mention of me being everywhere and smiling. It seems fast . I love it. I never could have imagined that forestry would have gotten me to as many places and given me the ability to meet so many people and expand myself with my creativity in ways that I could never have imagined. And yet Jenny T forestry has begun. I was a shop owner at a very young age. I realized about five years ago that I wasn't going to be my shop Trevor . I realized I needed to at least take the first step to promote myself. And that's really where Jenny forestry began. I got onto a simple site looking for domain names and I searched myself and I wanted to see how was taken weird, strange to do that. You know, it was the smartest thing I could have done because I wasn't ready five years ago to launch it. But I knew that it was coming. I could feel the vibration starting people are going to be asking, you know, who are you? Where are you from? And I couldn't say my flower shops name because that's not who I was. It's what I built. I was so excited about it, but it was time to build something else. So Jenny T forestry was not taken. I bought it and I just waited and I slowly started building the idea and the concept of what this would be and traveling around and teaching and speaking, and then doing my first integration workshop, integrating different creatives together, to explore sculpture and see where that can bring us from the mobile core stream . And that started a whole nother side that I couldn't have imagined just doing individual workshops. I just got goosebumps right now saying that because it felt so right. It was so organically grown. I do that side by side with the presentation around the country as a Teleflora education specialist. And then I do speaking engagement at different units , uh , programs, garden clubs . And I recently have gotten into, like I said, doing the workshop . And also I have started going to shops and spending a couple of days with their team and doing creativity workshops within their organization. And we can focus on something specific or we can be incredibly general just to give them an outlet, to have some fun. Instead of just standing behind the design mentioned, pumping out orders. The last one, I did one sympathy workshop with this class and the whole staff came in and we essentially rebuilt their sympathy section from the ground up in two days. And they left with 20 designs to go live, photograph and spreadsheet to three price points. So they could really own what they did. Immense sense of pride about the work at the flower shop. So Jenny de forestry's evolving into all the education aspects and what I can share with people and then push it out my book. I know I'm so excited about your book. Tell us a little bit about it. One of three, and it's called perishable poetics manifesting emotion through contemporary floral design. It's broken out into three sections and there's 45 designs and there's some interactive element as far as , um , sketches and then like the dissecting of the design. So you can see the background after they've been made instead of prior. And then I combined with that, a little bit of poetry for each piece and kind of the background of my creative process. And it's separated into three sections. You, me and I . And so there's a lot of really personal poetry in there, but I felt like if I was going to do it that way, I was going to do it. And I was just going to be completely raw about it. It is. It's a little scary cause I just put myself out there, but I thought there was really no other way to be on the first dock . That's pretty exciting. But now onto book number two, I'm in the process, I

Speaker 2 8:56

Would have to say you wouldn't do anything without a piece of you in it. That's who you are. You're a genuine person. And you'd like to share who you are with other people, because that makes them a better person as well. I want to go back to when you said five years ago, you bought Jenny T floristry because five years ago was 2015 when Marie and I were chairs of national symposium. And you did your program on stage, which was phenomenal. People still talk about it. I actually had somebody request that DVD, which I had to send to them to be inspired, to do a program for 2021. So,

Speaker 3 9:34

I mean, that was the first time I was asked to speak about my vision and myself and it wasn't tied to my shop. He really just the biggest blessing. I probably wouldn't have done it if it wouldn't have been sure symposium with near Marie and your guys is confidence in me that I can do it. And I said, you know, I guess I can do it. It was my first presentation I ever did.

Speaker 2 9:55

Wow. I didn't realize that, that it was your very first presentation, but you gave the world a piece of you during that presentation. Everyone saw who Jenny T was and they fell in love with you. I mean, honestly, I still have that picture in my mind of you with your hands on your face, with that table, with all of that foliage around you, it was just a fabulous picture. This still in my mind forever

Speaker 3 10:21

Study that just a little background. I'll tell you just a little quick story about that. I was getting ready and I had it timed down. Cause if you're on stage , everything's time and you have to really practice and they think if you go in prepared, people can tell you're prepared. And if you go in and you wing it and they can tell if you wing it. And it was my first time and I was like, I can't tell on my face. I have to really do this. So I practice and I practice and practice and practice . And I had a script and I would record myself and listen to it. And everything the night before in the hotel room, I was practicing and I was recording. And the beginning of my presentation is how lucky are we? We get to do this for the rest of our lives. This is what we get to do. And I used to practice it. How lucky are we? And that night before in the hotel room, I changed the inflection and I said, how lucky are we? We get to do this. And it changed the whole presentation the night before it moved me, it rolled over me completely. It was an amazing experience.

Speaker 2 11:19

Yeah. It was an amazing experience for everyone. So onto book, number two, you're saying, okay ,

Speaker 3 11:24

I am , but number two , there's a three book series. So onto book number two, I actually right here, I'm working on a piece of it as we're talking. Yeah. Book number two. I've already got some of the products, completely different mediums, so forestry, but a different medium altogether. So that's really exciting.

Speaker 2 11:42

Can't wait. I really can't wait. So my next question is, do you have a business secret you could share with? Yeah,

Speaker 3 11:49

I think right now, especially we're all tied into this pressure perform. We talked about that a little bit, right? The illusion that everyone is just on the top of their game and they're going super fast, a million miles an hour, especially right now people think, Oh, we're, you know, downtime or in quarantine, we should be tackling a million issues. When really, I think my advice would be just to slow down. Don't try to do all that. You can't eat the sandwich in one bite. You have to take it on nibble , you know, slow and steady wins the race. We know the song , the story about the turtle. Right. But that's really what it is. I mean, it's just when you're building your business creatively or not, you just have to take one tab at a time and that issue and solve it, know where you stand on it and then move to the next. And you just keep building like our building blocks and creative business. I think you take an idea or a concept and you explore it to the degree as far as you want to, as an Aria and dive in super deep, give yourself the permission to unlock some secrets that you probably wouldn't have done before. Cause you were moving way too. Darn fast. So just slow down,

Speaker 2 12:53

Slow down and enjoy it, right? Yeah . Yeah . The next question. What do you love most about the flower business or the business of flowers, maybe

Speaker 3 13:03

And business for flowers, the flower business, the business of creativity, the business of inspiration, the business of teaching. I mean the flower business, the flower industry, like I said, it's something I could have never imagined would it given me wings that I have, it's an industry that it's okay to evolve. It's not only acceptable to evolve, but when you do about it is celebrate and people, they want to see how it's done. And there's , there's some levels of competition. Like there would be in any part of your life, but I have found that I have met so many incredibly genuine considerate kind giving, true human being in this industry. And we're all just working together. We see the future, we see where it's going to go. And I think the progression of it again, creatively is always what inspires me .

Speaker 2 13:54

You're just the most creative person that I know you really are. Just some things I'm like, where did that come from? How did she come up with that? It's just awesome. I think it's because you do really look deep into things. You really take a different perspective than I obviously, because I'm more on the business side, I would guess a little bit of creative, but not like you, it's just like, you have so much depth to that creativity and just absolutely adore that in you and that you don't come off as being, I'm the most creative person out there because there are people,

Speaker 3 14:30

Right ? Yeah. Unfortunately, but you know, none of us are, and I'm not as creative today as they will be tomorrow. And so I can never think I'm there. You know, none of us were there, God willing, we have tomorrow to get better. You know, I'm always evolving. I tell people almost at every presentation I do that. The one I hope that they could take away to give themselves the permission to create unapologetically as an artist. That is one of the biggest gifts that you can give yourself because you're not gonna sit down and create a masterpiece every time a painter, isn't going to create a masterpiece author. Isn't going to, none of creative people are , you physically cannot do it. It's just not possible. And I think sometimes when people are just a little too hard on themselves or you just need to take five minutes and make some random pile of yuck , cause tomorrow maybe what you just did gave him a spark of inspiration for something else to take another idea somewhere else. So just five minutes, 10 minutes an hour, two hours. But just everyday , if you can just create and not worry about it, just know that you are, I am, it is. And it's okay. So this isn't a random question. Ooh ,

Speaker 2 15:40

Is there a person, one or more persons that you get more inspiration from? I ask this because a lot of times when I worked side by side with Julie polar, right. Cause we designed together and she'll start something and I'll be like, Oh , I really liked that. Oh. And then we feed off each other. And there's a couple other designers that when you're working beside them , your creativity feeds from someone else. Is there a certain person or persons that that happens with or is it depends on who's in the room?

Speaker 3 16:10

It's really a internal thing for me. Okay . When I'm teaching, I'm doing workshop, I almost always walk away with a spark of some sort of insights that I gleaned from students that they did something that God , or that color that they use, you know, that sensor the line or what not . But it's an internal thing for me. Like this morning I was walking around outside and kind of hazy, but the colors were beautiful. And I found myself just diving in and being super inspired by the colors that I was seeing this morning or architecture or interior design or natural materials . It's more about the outside source for me, I think. And then how I take it internally.

Speaker 2 16:52

It's always interesting to see where designers get their inspiration because most of the time I hear, Oh, it's from nature or it's, you know, from outside sources, but oftentimes it's from other people. So it's kind of the combination. What is your biggest challenge?

Speaker 3 17:09

People that know me so well, they will be like absolutely by the service . Um , technology is my biggest, it's so bad though. Like, Oh , I really do. I , and I don't get frustrated by a lot of stuff, but I think it's because I can't talk to it . Tell me how you're feeling. You know , it is, it is what it is. It's my biggest challenge. I try to do it and you have to do it every day though, because it's constantly evolving and changing and moving incredibly fast. And maybe that's part of it too. That makes me feel uneasy. Like I'm never sure that I'm doing the right thing. I try to do it, but it's my biggest challenge. I can get really frustrated really quick with technology. And then I just want to play with flowers.

Speaker 2 17:58

If you surround yourself with people who can do the technology, you can keep creating and do what you need to do.

Speaker 3 18:07

I really, I try to, I really do. But then, you know, you don't want to be a burden to anyone by any means by asking for help. That's another thing that is probably a challenge for me too, which is why I feel that way. But the people around me would love to help me, but it's just, I don't want to bother you. So I try to do it. And I squeaked by the big five helpless .

Speaker 2 18:30

That makes sense though. Really? I think a lot of really creative people are technically challenged because you would rather be creating with your hands then trying to figure out this technology and all the stuff that you can't see, what we create with and design we can see and we can feel, and we can touch these computers are so much behind the scenes that we don't even know how it operates.

Speaker 3 18:50

Yeah. It's just too cold for me. Like really it is cold. Like I love the zoom . We're doing what we can to feel like we're together, but it's still cold. It's still this two dimensional thing. And yeah, designers, we speak in things like color and texture and line and pregnant phase . And like all these things that sound so humid and romantic, you know, technology ,

Speaker 2 19:15

We're talking about keyboards and gigabyte .

Speaker 3 19:18

So true .

Speaker 2 19:19

The next question, what suggestions do you have for a business owner? Not just a flower shop owner to find more pleasure, fun, laughter, whatever it is in there.

Speaker 3 19:30

I'm going to go back to allowing yourself to permission, to create comment idea. Even if you're a business center , it doesn't have to be allowing yourself to the time to create it can be allowing yourself the time to just be, or to study something or go seek a workshop or be alone, or I mean something that you find joy in your job, the reason you do your job, you do it because you love sales. Maybe taking a workshop on some different sales tactics would light your fire against the sales . Or do you work with computers? Maybe going to a tech conference would be amazing for us. You know, we love flowers and design. So of course like going to symposium, I mean, that's our holiday of the year, but you have to give yourself the permission in your job, whatever it is that you do to find what you really love and do it for fun. Take the work out of it. Every once in a while

Speaker 2 20:24

I think a shop owner needs to go out and take a delivery themselves to see what the flowers are actually doing for the people receiving them. We kind of lose it. Sometimes we're making beautiful things and creating, but then it's like here they are ticket to the driver and he take them out . If I take a delivery, Oh my gosh. And see the light on the people's face. And the joy that is that creation that you just did, Jenny, and you could bring it to somebody and they'll go, wow. I mean that just reinvigorates .

Speaker 3 20:55

Yeah . I've got a great example of the last workshop that I did with a very renowned flower shop in this country that I just did a sympathy workshop with . I worked with the staff and I worked with the designers and we put it together and we did the photography and all of that stuff, spreadsheets , tough business. But the owner that organized all of this came in the last day and he saw the joy that these designers had on their faces. And each designer owned a design and their name was put by it on the spreadsheet by Jill Smith. And we was exuding pride and he was so happy to see that joy on their faces. And I think that reminded him a little bit. That's why we have the staff of designers here, but he said to me, before I left, cause this was the second time I've been to this particular shop. He said, okay, again, next year. And I said, yep , you pick a topic. We'll do that part too. So he was excited. They were excited, but they all realized that that workshop got , this is really why we love to do this.

Speaker 2 21:48

Brought the joy back out in those designers, they own what you had them create. That's pretty cool .

Speaker 3 21:54

It was a cool experience. It really was.

Speaker 2 21:56

So here's another personal one. What is your favorite flower

Speaker 3 22:00

Or in a fabulous ? It is my favorite absolute favorite. And sometimes they say it wrong or people think I say it wrong, but I say it how I liked it. Stones or star Bethlehem or some people call it dubious . Um , that is my absolute favorite flower. The star above the heavens , the smaller one that comes in white for the winter time, which is so appropriate for that time of year and the way that that's, why are developed. And then there's also a yellow one in the orange where it was kind of more of a hybrid variety. I would say that larger as far as the actual flower itself, when it actually comes out and bloom , but they are, has entails my favorite

Speaker 2 22:38

That you love about them. I've never had anyone tell me that star Bethlehem are their favorites .

Speaker 3 22:43

You know, it's a very unique variety to have as a say rent . But I think that if you ask people what their favorite flower is, you can glean a little bit of their personality from their choice. So when you ask, why is it my favorite flower? There definitely is a deeper meaning that I have dived into. It is very unassuming and it is incredibly resilient. They don't realize inside that little tip that there's like plenty , sometimes flowers that are hidden in there and where some people wouldn't appreciate it. And when the rest of the arrangement parish , they would think, Oh, it's just got a green tip. I'm going to throw it away to the other people that are like, but there's something there. I see it. I see it in there. And it's kind of like what you and Marie did for me, Kristen podium. I was like your do them, like you saw that it was hiding in there. Didn't even know that flower just goes and goes and goes and goes. And when you think that it's done, it just keeps getting more beautiful. And by the time it's the very, very end of its base life. It is in all of its glory. Like it lived the best life ever. If anyone who's listening has not experienced the joy of those flowers, I highly recommend just treat yourself to a bunch if you find them at the market or at the store and just watch it and appreciate the resilience. That is. [inaudible]

Speaker 2 24:02

Awesome. Well , thank you. That's great. At the end of our podcast, we ask one last question and usually it's Lori who asks us, but I'm going to have to ask this since she's not here. What is the one thing that's giving you life right now?

Speaker 3 24:15

Yeah , my projects, my projects are giving me a new sense of my scope in my personal work and my professional work. The time that I'm allowed to spend right now on those projects is really the biggest gaps . I think that anyone could get right now, what we don't even realize that we've been given it, but I have the time to really dive into what is important to me. And every day I'm just taking a little bite and then I see what's moving forward and hopefully making really good connections and taking this time to live the best life that I can.

Speaker 2 24:49

Thank you for being here and sharing a little piece of Jenny tea with us.

Speaker 3 24:53

Thanks for having me. It's been super fun. I always love to talk to you and catch up. Thank you so much. And if anyone's interested, I'm sure they'll put the information down after the podcast. You can check out my website@jennytforestry.com and we have tons of them go on there and I'd love to connect.

Speaker 2 25:08

We'll drop the link in the show notes and anything else you want us to share? Thanks again, Jenny. Thank you. Hello . I just love her. She's so, so genuine. Um , but Vonda, I do have a couple of questions that I think I know the answers to, but I want you to answer them because there might be people listening that don't explain what symposium is. Well, as you know, Lori , we spent the month of July with our podcast, talking to people about the American Institute of floral designers. And there's some podium, which is kind of a showcase. That's occasional experience. That's every July, which as we know was canceled this year, Jenny was a main stage presenter in 2015. Now let's back up right to 2014 when Marie Ackerman and I sent out invitations for people to send in proposals to present. Now, Marie was the symposium chair person. I was the program chair sent these out. We get in submissions. Jenny submitted a proposal to do a program. I shared that with you a little bit. The sketches were unbelievable. I mean, this tells us her attention to detail. When she says she's going to do something, then you know, she's going to execute it on January 29th of 2014. She submitted a proposal with all the sketches of everything she was going to do a year and a half later, why it was so detailed, we just were like, wow, this is crazy. It so detailed and so exciting. I share that because it's a witness to the detail. Jenny puts into everything that she does. She puts her heart and soul into everything. I'm so excited to see what's yet to come. We have certainly enjoyed our time together today. And we look forward to being with you guys again, if you have any questions, concerns, comments, anything we would love to hear from you. You can always email Laurie at flower, click.com. Also, if you enjoy our little podcast, go ahead and click that subscribe button. That's very helpful for us and you can even leave a review and we hope you join us next week. Yes. So please come back and join us and discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mindset can take you to new levels in your life and business.

Speaker 1 28:33

[inaudible] .