We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Felice Faison a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Felice thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Wild Coast Flora is a name that just felt like home to me. I consider growing up on the wild northern coast of California an absolute gift, and I guess this name is my little way of honoring that gift.

My father was also a huge inspiration for me. He passed away when I was very young, and in the small amount of time we spent together in this life he immersed me in nature and taught me to respect and appreciate the natural world around us. We spent our summers driving up and down the west coast, exploring the forests and oceans and everything in-between. He had a passion for all types of design, especially floral design. I want to honor him in everything I do and I feel like this name not only represents me, but also him.

I feel like naming anything is a huge responsibility and that weighed on me heavily when it came time to come up with a name for my business. It felt very important to have a name that not only represented what I was doing, but who I am as a person and as a designer. I also wanted anyone who came across my companies name to be able to find their own meaning in the name as it related to them.

I have always been a wild one and that translates directly into my design style and that is what my clients seek me out for. I am completely humbled by all the support I have had from my amazing clients, incredible vendor friends, and the whole floral community.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

First and foremost I am a mom to the sweetest girl on the planet and she is my inspiration in life. I was born and raised in the Bay Area and I went to school for fashion design where I attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. I also worked in the music industry for many years traveling the world as a Tour Manager for some bands out of NYC. I moved back to the Bay and started working for a Catering and Events Company where I worked my way up to Assistant Director of Operations where I stayed for many years. While working at the catering company I started making floral arrangements for our clients to help highlight the food and people just loved my designs. The owner of the catering company saw something in me and he took a chance on me. We became partners and started Wild Coast Flora underneath the umbrella of the larger catering business. We worked together for many years until I decided I was ready to go out on my own and I left the partnership and now I am sole owner of Wild Coast Flora.

I specialize in event florals so I mainly do weddings, corporate events, and other special events. I also service my private clients with weekly and bi-weekly flower deliveries to their homes and business as well as plant design and maintenance.

I think creating a super personal relationship with my clients is a huge part of what I do and it such an important factor when designing for people on a day as special as their wedding day. I love to get to know people before flowering for them and I think it helps so much in telling their story through flowers.

I think the thing I am most proud of in my business is being able to take someone’s vision for their special day and far exceed their expectations. I have been so humbled by the gratitude and reviews I have gotten from my clients and because of that I am hired not only for someones wedding, but they come back and hire me for their baby showers and their friends and families hire me for their weddings and other special events and I just really feel the love from my clients.

I really try to work with the seasons and use as much local product as possible while using the most sustainable practices in my designs. I love the challenges that come with every event and especially love working on large scale installations. I still wow myself sometimes and I hope that part never fades.

In everything we do at Wild Coast Flora we are bringing life and spreading happiness through the art of floral design. My name literally translate in French to “to do or to make happiness” and that is truly what drives me in this business.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I think the most uncertain time for my business was Covid. I am sure many other business owners had similar experiences during this time. My business is event based so when the world shut down and there were no events happening we had to do a strong pivot to stay afloat. We started offering weekly flower deliveries, online workshops, and started partnering with as many local business in my area that could find that would allow me to sell flowers from their store fronts. My workshop was never a storefront and so we also set up flower stands on the road and did everything I could think of to keep money coming in and flowers going out.

All of our hard work paid off and we were able to stay a float and when events were allowed again it was absolutely incredible to see the outpouring of support from our community. To be honest, Covid really boosted my business in a way I could not have foreseen.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

I think the most important relationships I have formed since I have started my business were with other vendors. I have had so much support fro my vendor community – including event planners, rental companies, photographers, venues, and catering companies – and I would say 50% of my clients come referred from another vendor. These relationships are so important not just for client referrals, but they act as a sounding board for the industry. It is so important to nurture these relationships and form community in this industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wildcoastflora.com
• Instagram: @wildcoastflora
• Facebook: Wild Coast Flora
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/wild-coast-flora-richmond

Image Credits
Clara Rice Photography Jen Emerling Photography Love and Wolves Photography