Nine years feels like a significant milestone — almost a decade! It feels like a lifetime, and in some ways it's also hard to believe that the early dream to start a bespoke floral design studio from a 180° career pivot out my former career in academia has grown into this big, radiant, creative journey of Nectar & Bloom — a place of flowers, community, growth, alignment, and the transformative experiences we share here. 

In numerology 9 symbolizes completion, wisdom, and a threshold. It's time to finish old projects, shed what it's time to release, and make space for the next cycle to begin. I feel very much like this year is just that — a gateway between what has been and what is becoming. It's emotional, and it's exciting, and I'm thrilled and grateful to share it with you. 

As we complete this 9th year, I want to celebrate by looking back at some of the milestones and growing moments, and reflecting to you the best of the lessons and insights I've learned along the way. My hope is that it is both nourishing and encouraging for you, wherever this post finds you on your creative journey. One thing I can tell you above all else is to keep listening, keep trusting, and keep going. Every thread is part of the bigger tapestry you are creating.

 

 

CELEBRATING MILESTONES

In 2016 I was still teaching college English courses and had recently been blown-away inspired by the possibility I had no idea existed before that I could own my own creative business creating with flowers for weddings and events. It seemed like such an insane stretch at the time, but really I was stepping from teaching and creating in a verbal language to expanding into teaching and creating in a living, breathing, colorful floral one.

 

2017

In 2017 I rode my bike down to the county clerk's office to file the paperwork to make Nectar & Bloom official. I started with small elopements and celebrations and booked my first full-scale wedding that year. I was hungry and in love and went all in, all at once.

2018

In 2018 I started in earnest building my weddings and events, freelancing with other florist friends, and doing everything I could (including saying "yes" to opportunities I wasn't entirely sure I was ready for and going to an immersive floral workshop) to learn and grow and build my new creative and professional network of friends and collaborators in my new industry.

In 2019 I started teaching my 1 on 1 Mentorships and group Workshops, as I felt so called to share and guide others in this incredible, beautiful, empowering, and creatively freeing world I was now immersed in. I also did the most weddings I have ever done in one year and completely exhausted myself, dealing with odd illnesses and injuries as a result while I learned the hard way about the natural limits to what a person can do, even when they're really excited to go for it, when it comes to health and wellbeing.

2020

In 2020 I had to postpone not only all of my booked weddings but also all of the workshops I had set up for the year. In that crazy time, I was not one to sit and rest (I didn't really know how to do that yet), so I launched immediately into creating and offering live-online workshops and recorded online courses. I launched the Poetry of Flowers as a membership to monthly online floristry education courses, which evolved over the years into the vibrant collection of holistic courses and immersion pass to all that I now offer. 

2021

In 2021 weddings and in-person workshops returned slowly, and suddenly I found myself with two full-time jobs, doing my workshops and events and also creating educational content for my online program. I felt out of balance and started to carve out a little time here and there to soul search. The idea to create an oracle deck based on the wisdom of flowers (which became Tarot of Flowers!) came to me, and I started stealing time to write and research and compile it.

2022 - 2023

In 2022 - 2023 I continued designing for weddings, events, and brand partnerships, working with Pottery Barn among others and getting to create for amazing clients and beside some of my favorite wedding vendor friends. I continued to teach Mentorships and Workshops, and I continued to build Poetry of Flowers, hiring a videographer team to help me record and edit as the whole program and production grew. I also did a lot of soul searching because I wanted to shift to bring my studies of wellbeing and healing modalities as well as my background and love for writing and speaking more centrally into my business and brand experience.

2024

In 2024, which was a very big year, Tarot of Flowers came out — my first shippable gift offering and a huge thrill to bring into being, which I did alongside my amazing sister, who did all of the artwork and layouts for the deck and booklet. As soon as our inventory arrived, we were able to start shipping orders all over the country that spring — what a thrill! I also did a big re-brand and renaissance with my business that helped me bring Nectar & Bloom into its next level, an expansion into a brand that offers transformative floral education and experiences that support the creative person and the creative process. Nectar & Bloom grew from a floral design studio that offers floral design education into a brand experience that serves creatives and entrepreneurs who are ready to align, uplevel, and flourish authentically.

2025

In 2025 I launched the Called to Bloom podcast, a dream I had been brewing for 6 years and finally made enough space to devote myself to and begin. I created 10 episodes to complete Season 01, which wrapped this past January, and I am currently writing and developing the next 10 episodes that will encompass Season 02 (which is slated to begin early summer 2026!). I also began again to write a book I've been slowly piecing together over the past couple of years.

2026

It's now 2026, and in addition to teaching and facilitating my Mentorships, Workshops, and creative Wellbeing experiences (which I am developing further this year as well — stay tuned!), I am creating Called to Bloom Season 02 episodes and working on finishing the book. The book is about my holistic approach to floral artistry and creative entrepreneurship! This year is only just beginning, and as we step now into what will be our 10th year, I am excited to be trusting my instincts and intuition more and allowing myself to let things unfold. 

 

 

GRATITUDE FOR MOMENTS OF GROWTH

A few of the most trying times for me over the past 9 years have included:

• Taking on too many weddings in one year — There's only one way to learn your limit, and unfortunately it's usually by overdoing it. I made it through fine, and you will too, but if you find you've overdone it and you're feeling run down and burnt out, listen. This is an important learning lesson and rich with information for how to make your work much more sustainable, your business ultimately more successful, and your life much more enjoyable.
  
  
• Overcommitting to creating a new online course every month — That was really fun at first, but it was not sustainable. As painful as it was for me mentally, when I needed to shift the model I had first created for Poetry of Flowers to become more of a collection of courses and resources rather than an ongoing subscription, it was a huge relief to do so. And I believe it serves my student designers better as well. Less overwhelm means more learning, completion, implementation, growth, and success. :)
  
  
• Investing in a marketing company to help me grow the business — I had always done all of my own marketing. I built my audience on Instagram totally organically, and I had only ever built and promoted through my own content creation and connections. Somewhere along the line I had convinced myself that hiring a marketing company would help me reach more people and see big revenue growth. The reality is that marketing companies cost an ASTRONOMICAL amount, and there is absolutely NO GUARANTEE of any results from what you pay them to do. I found the whole thing extremely stressful and ultimately disappointing, and as soon as I realized it, I stopped investing in them. What I needed were templates and email workflows to help facilitate what I was doing in a bigger way, but what they do is try to get you dependent on them to do it for you. I didn't like that. It was a tough learning lesson, but I am grateful to have come through to my own alignment and to trusting myself with what I want to do, what I can manage, and what I enjoy. 
  
  
• Learning to trust myself to step into alignment — The truth is the fears, doubts, and imposter syndrome do not ever go away. As much as I wish in some ways I could say from where I am now that they did, it's simply not true. The good news is, you learn to accept them and how better to manage them. I have had so many moments where I feel completely frozen with fear to take a step forward or share something new or even finish something I've been writing or developing or doing that I'm really excited about. The old fears, which I have discovered are truly universal in art and entrepreneurship, of "who am I to think I have something to say" or "It's all already been done, what's the point" or "everyone is going to hate me if I do this" and so many other voices come up, and we just have to learn to breathe and be with them and keep moving. The other big help is learning to trust yourself. As you strengthen that capacity, you can make it through moments of crippling self doubt better. As you face and feel moments of crippling self-doubt, you strengthen your capacity to trust yourself and keep building what you are called to create.

 

 

9 INSIGHTS I'VE LEARNED ABOUT CREATIVITY, BUSINESS, & BECOMING

• Creative output requires regular space for rest and replenishment.
  
  
• Don't be afraid to let yourself and your business change. That's healthy evolution.

• You have to be willing to make mistakes in order to learn and grow.
  
  
• You don't "arrive" but instead continue to discover and expand.
  
  
• Some things you try will work well and some won't, and that's ok. Learn, let go, and keep moving.
  
  
• Creative play, or space to be creative just for fun, is essential and non-negotiable for continued creative output. It can't all be work, and it can't all be serious. Keep yourself connected to what made you fall in love with your craft in the first place.
  
  
• Soul searching, therapy, journaling, and personality assessments are all incredible tools for discovering more about who you really are and where in a business you will be at your best versus where you will do best to delegate or let something go.
  
  
• You get to define and design a creative business that is true to you.
  
  
• You are not the hero of your brand. Your client is the hero, and you are the guide who helps your client get where they want to go. This will change everything for the better for you in marketing.  

 

 

9 OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS ON CREATIVITY & BUSINESS

1. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Ruben
   
   
2. The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron
   
   
3. The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, by Dethmer, Chapman, and Klemp
   
   
4. Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert
   
   
5. We Should All Be Millionaires, by Rachel Rogers
   
   
6. Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One, by Emily Heyward
   
   
7. The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel
   
   
8. Building a StoryBrand, by Donald Miller
   
   
9. Everything is Figureoutable, by Marie Forleo

 

As I created that list I thought of like 90 other books I would also love to recommend to you, so I will save those and share them by topic. For now, in celebration of 9 years, there is a great top 9 for starters. 

 

And with that, I will sign off for now — I hope you find within it something nourishing or inspiring for you where you are on your journey. Thank you for being part of this radiant creative community, and thank you for celebrating with me!

 

Keep blooming,

 

XX

 

 

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Photography captured by:

Cover & Images 1, 11, & 13: Shauntelle Sposto

Image 2: Maria Lamb

Image 3 & 5: Dear Lovers

Image 4: Stetten Wilson

Image 6: Clancey James

Image 7: Eileen Koleen

Image 8: Raiza Zwart

Images 9 & 12: Vanessa Rose

Image 10: Ariel Min