Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Florencia Marie. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Florencia, appreciate you joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Love Peace and Flo™️ was simply a passion project that I started May of 2019. After embarking on a healing & self-care journey, I told myself I would intentionally focus on the things that brought me the most peace and joy in life.

Art, writing poetry, and journaling had always been a major part of who I am so, it was easy to narrow my source of peace to those things; they each provided me with a window of escape to get lost in my imagination and gain clarity within my thoughts.

I initially had the intention of writing a blog & selling products centered around self-care (apothecary, stationery, and apparel) but then came thee infamous “aha moment”…

I thought, “How great would it be to have a coloring book and a journal all in one?”

I saw it as an opportunity to give people the very outlet that provided me with peace of mind and that was through creativity and written expression.

After-all, I had never really seen anything like it… so, I created my first coloring journal “Grow with the flow” in the fall of 2020 and it’s been up for Love Peace and Flo™️ ever since.

Florencia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a self-taught visual artist and illustrator from Kansas City, MO (the city of art & fountains).

I began my art journey January of 2015.

I’ve always loved art but never drew anything more than a flower or a simple character. 
However, something came over me and I felt compelled to learn the craft. So, I began practicing everyday.

I created social media pages to share my art and once I did that, I started getting requests for commissions and offers to buy some of my pieces.

Granted, at the time I was no Picasso, however the inquiries made me realize that even if I lacked confidence in my work, people saw the beauty within it; not to mention, it also made me aware that I could potentially make a living from selling art.

So, in the fall of 2016 I created a website and began selling prints, apparel & accessories featuring my art.

Over the years I’ve been featured at major art shows and my art has graced the walls at some of the most renowned businesses and restaurants around Kansas City.

Although art is very much part of what I do, I’ve since expanded my business to focus on emotional wellness through creativity (creative wellness, as I like to call it).

That’s where Love Peace and Flo™️ comes into play.

I offer an array of fun, creative, and inspiring products and services such as Coloring Journals, stationery, and host art parties with the sole intention of building community within the wellness space, sparking creativity within others regardless of age, and being a source of inspiration to the youth who have a passion for the arts.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I believe dealing with imposter syndrome has been one of the major obstacles I’ve had to overcome and unlearn.

Though it’s not exactly a “lesson” learned per se… it is however something we learn/adapt to; the unspoken lesson we learn from our upbringing, society, and our peers.

The biggest issue I faced early on in my art career was comparing my journey to the journey of other fellow artists.

I’d often ask myself, what am I doing wrong? Why don’t I have as many followers as they do? Maybe I’m not as good as I think I am? Can I really call myself and artist if I barely know how draw hands (lol)?

As trivial as those things sound, it was a period of time where these thoughts were paralyzing my growth; the problem was the inner Me.

Even if I was making strides I just couldn’t see the bigger picture at times because I didn’t fully believe in myself as much as I thought I did.

There came a time when I had to take a pause, sit back and reflect on my journey and how far I had really come.

All the things I added to my resume and the various big time opportunities I had been blessed with; not because I was lucky, but because I had IT just like everyone else did.

We all have our something and as they say comparison is the biggest thief of joy… so if I was going to silence that “imposter” on the inside, I had to radically BELIEVE in and TRUST myself.

“I got this!”

Have you ever had to pivot?

Before becoming an artist, I was a baker and started my baking business CupCake Betty (which I ran from 2007–2015).

I absolutely LOVED baking. It was a form of therapy & creativity for me.

I loved making delectable treats that put a smile on people’s faces.

However, I started to notice that my desire for baking as a business began declining year after year; I simply was not happy.

There were many obstacles that I was facing; having a demanding 9-5 being one of them but overall my drive had began to cease. I realized that baking was no longer fun for me.

Granted, I understood that in business things aren’t always going to be peaches and cream but one of the ways I promised to stay true to myself was that I wouldn’t force myself to do things that I was unable to pour my heart into.

So, in short… I fell out of love with baking and have since fallen in love with art.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lovepeaceandflo.com
• Instagram: @lovepeaceandflo
• Facebook: @LovePeaceandFlo

Image Credits
Kenney Ellison | 3 Shots Photography