We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Maribel Herrera a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Maribel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I learned how to floral design from formal training, classes and on-the-job experience. The passion and fire I have had in me I feel has definitely allowed me to carve a path of nonstop growth and continuing to learn and evolve in the floral industry. I was told by a mentor in my young floral career to always say yes until I had to say no. To say yes to every opportunity big or small, if it meant long hours, changing the water from buckets, cleaning flowers, to say yes. Every opportunity of saying yes brought me to bigger opportunities where I felt my happiest. I could have said yes to more, there were times when my ego stood in the way of my growth and when I finally submitted to all those big feelings, I was able to bloom and blossom into the floral designer I am now. I was my biggest obstacle. I allowed other negative comments, treatment, and criticism to get me down and get in my head. It took me time to learn how to speak nicely to myself to be able to push, stay focused and be confident in what can be a very competitive environment.
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 background and context?
My name is Maribel Herrera, I have 14 years in the floral industry, eight years specializing in weddings and events, and five years in teaching and training. It all began at the age of 17, a young angsty art student with dreams of moving to New York, in order to move I needed a job, so I started working for a local grocery store, they needed help in the floral department and the rest was history. I began working for small flower shops, learning on-the-job training. I wanted to further my education in floral design so I began classes at The Southern California School of Floral Design in Anaheim, California. I was taught by the insanely talented Phil Rulloda and he set the fire inside of me. I came home and began applying to every flower place possible, no one was interested in hiring me. discouraged I began thinking this wasn’t it for me. That I needed to start to pursue another passion and then finally I was given an opportunity. I worked hard, did anything that was required, cleaned buckets, assisted the lead designers, got coffee for them, cleaned up their workstations, anything so I could do to be among the flowers. I moved forward to a bigger shop where I was given the opportunity to assist the Wedding and event designer, Michelle Frost. Eager and willing to learn as much as possible I tried my best to keep up, there was so much to learn in large-scale wedding and event design a whole other world compared to a retail shop. Through every opportunity she provided me, every mistake I made, every scolding I received, I grew, my confidence grew and my skills were beginning to show. After some time, I found myself in her position, the Wedding and Event designer. I feel it happened in a blink of an eye, but when I look back there was so much hard work along the way. So much I had to prove to the floral Industry, all my peers, all my clients but mainly to myself. I make dreams come true. I bring visions to life. I enhance the beauty of what is a momentous moment in the lives of so many. I transcend emotions through flowers. I provide everything from the bridal bouquet that will be held as you walk down the aisle to say I do to the love of your life, to the centerpieces at each guest table to celebrate your cousin’s new baby coming into the world, I create fun and creative headpieces to wear to a social event, I create the arrangements that will honor someone’s life when they pass. I share emotions that only flowers can speak. My kindness, my compassion, and my understanding that human emotion is what we all have in common I feel sets me apart from any other designer. Understanding my product, how it is grown, what colors it comes in, the sesaons it is available, where to source it, pricing knowledge, how I can manipulate it to enhance its beauty, my skills, mechanics, creativity, balance, flow and harmony is what makes me the best at what I do. All of these moving parts, directing teams, teaching other designers how to be efficient, motivated, skilled, and accurate, coordinating with all of my clients, their coordinators. Communication is key in everything I do. Love is key in everything I do. Passion is what drives me to continue to keep doing what I do. I have been a part of hundreds, if not thousands of weddings and events. I am so proud of every person’s life that I have touched. From an inspiring news segment that I am featured on to educating other young designers, to teaching workshops to help with people’s anxiety, to inspiring creativity in everyday life. I love what I do, I am passionate about flowers. Flowers are my life and my only hope is to keep enhancing the beauty of what this world is, of what everything is.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is knowing that I am inspiring, educating, and encouraging creative beauty on a daily basis. To know that an individual finds joy in an arrangement I have created. To know that someone’s confidence is being enhanced because of the flower crown I made them, to know that someone’s dreams are coming true because of the flower wall I built. I add to the beauty and experience of life.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
In this creative industry, there are so many ways in which something can be made. There are mechanically correct ways and there are also personal preferences. We are all creative, passionate people, so we all truly believe what we are doing and creating is the right way but in the midst of all of that some designers tend to be headstrong and to be honest very mean and competive. Instead of coming together and helping one another in what we all have in common, there is a lot of talking behind backs, judging eachothers work and just being catty. I have been victim to this so many times, so much harsh cristim, so much back talk, making work environments very uncomfortable. I feel that these experiences have taught me resiliece and have shown me that despite uncomforatble situations, despite hostile environments, despite personal options and excess noise, I can still bloom, create and accomplish anything that is thrown at me over and over again.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: maribel_e_herrera_
- Facebook: Maribel Herrera
Image Credits
True Photography Richard Garrison Photography Sky Image Photography Monica Hunt Photography