We were lucky to catch up with Amy McGee recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amy, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

At the core of everything we do at Botanical Brouhaha is the belief that every experience – both good and not-so-good – can provide wisdom and richness to the way we see the world, connect with others, and provide encouragement to those we come into contact with while walking through our days.

We talk often about “flowering with purpose” because we see no reason to “do flowers” without using them to impact our community – and ultimately the world.

The story behind Botanical Brouhaha’s mission inspired our signature t-shirt which reads No Rain, No Flowers. Hardship can lead to something beautiful if we keep pushing ahead. Our story is proof.

Amy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

While drawn to the beauty and healing properties of flowers, the real pull for me to open a flower business was more about the cultivation of relationships in the industry. For years, I was grateful for the connection with clients as we provided blooms in times of celebration and grief. Eventually, I realized I could build similar relationships with colleagues by providing resources and encouragement to other floral designers and farmer florists. That decision ended up being a pivotal moment in my business.

After founding the Botanical Brouhaha blog and spending years growing a community of flower lovers and floral professionals, I stepped out of my comfort zone to start a podcast. As we were gaining traction with the podcast, I was also seeing additional needs and some gaps in opportunities available to our local community that we could help address through our platforms.

We started hosting professional workshops with world renowned speakers and funneled the profits into supporting community needs and creating new opportunities for local youth. We also started the Bloom Trust Co. floral resource membership site and set aside 10% of our profits to help meet community needs. As the local gap in opportunities became more and more evident, I knew it was time to dig deeper and create a broader impact, so we started a Youth Internship program where local teens learn all the facets of the business I’ve built over the last 20+ years.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Consistency is definitely the name of the game in my experience when it comes to social media presence. I’ve bucked the advice I’ve received over the years and instead chosen to grow our audience organically without putting a lot of money into ads or highly-structured campaigns. There’s no doubt these strategies can work, but they never felt consistent with my personal goals for Botanical Brouhaha.

Instead, I’ve chosen to follow my intuition and show up on social media in a way that feels comfortable and sustainable. As a result, most of our followers are long-time followers and were reached organically over the years. And, best of all, I’ve been able to maintain an enjoyable relationship with social media rather than growing to resent it.

Using social media to serve, encourage, and support colleagues and newcomers to our profession keeps me inspired and excited to show up for our followers.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Reputation and trust go hand in hand. It’s always been important to me to keep my word and show up consistently to support my colleagues and the community we’re building.

Communicating with honesty is crucial to relationship building. Although it’s tempting to avoid conversations that might be uncomfortable, I’ve always found those conversations to be learning experiences that ultimately promote both personal and professional growth.

Noticing and highlighting the work of floral designers and farmer florists at all stages of the game has helped build long-lasting relationships with a wide array of flower lovers over the years. Encouraging dreamers, beginners, and experienced colleagues fighting burnout feels like an incredible opportunity to pass on the kindness shown to me over the course of my career.

In the end, I’d love for my reputation in the floral profession to be one of service, trust, and kindness. It’s always a work in progress – learning as I go and correcting the shortcomings.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.botanicalbrouhaha.com/ and https://bloomtrustco.com/
• Instagram: @botanicalbrouhaha / @bloomtrustco
• Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/botanical-brouhaha-podcast/id1262838966

Image Credits
Ten23 Photography Philip Winham Photo