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

MaryAnn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

I remember making a piece for a client one day. I believe she had someone else pick it up for her, maybe her husband. But, when she actually received it, she sent me the nicest text thanking me for the beautiful job I had done. One thing in particular really tugged at my heart strings. In her text she said. “God Bless your hands.” I will never forget that. Here I was just doing something I loved and making art. I had never really stopped to think of “my hands” as something special. It was in that moment that I realized, I am really doing something here and people are recognizing my talent, even though to me it was just a creative outlet. I never considered it to be a talent. I guess you never give yourself the credit you deserve and I will be the first to say that I am my worst critic.

It’s funny because just recently, I had a woman contact me for a rosary. I had made one for her mother years ago, and she now needs one for her grand niece. In her email, she said that her mother prays with the rosary I made every day because “it’s the only one that works.” To think that I make this type of impact on people simply by doing something I love is more gratifying than I could ever have imagined. I am truly blessed.

MaryAnn, 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?

Twelve years ago, when I had my first child, I wanted to make sure my husband and I did the best we could for our son and his future. Growing up, I always had the creative bug in me, but the most that I did to pursue it was help my younger cousins with their science projects in what some may say was an “extra” kind of way. When my husband and I brought our second child into the world, another boy, my mind started working to find a way to earn additional money to make sure we could afford to put our kids in Catholic Schooling. This was important to me because I had attended Catholic schools from Kindergarten through Grad School, and I appreciated both the level of learning as well as the faith-based teachings.

When my oldest was ready for Pre-School, I started experimenting with floral preservation. In my teens, I would babysit a lot and I remember seeing a preserved wedding bouquet in a beautiful, ornate oval frame. It looked expensive but it got me thinking, “I wonder if I could do something like that.” But, I already had a job. When I was 14 years old, I started working at a law firm as a data entry and filing clerk, plus I was still in High School, so I didn’t believe that I could start my own business.

Fast forward to married life with kids, I had remembered that beautiful preserved wedding bouquet and I started to research floral preservation. I knew someone in the wedding industry and asked her if I could experiment with some bridesmaid bouquets from weddings she was coordinating. One night, she called me. I picked up the flowers from the wedding venue and I preserved them. Weeks later, I pulled the flowers from preservation fully expecting a complete mess, but to my surprise, the flowers looked like they did when they were fresh. Oh my gosh, could I actually do this?? I continued to research and experiment with different flowers and my husband was the one who nudged me and said, “When are you going to launch your business? You know you can do this.” Call it a leap of faith, but that month, I started Timeless Memories by MJ and never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I could turn this business into what it is today.

While I started with the intention of preserving wedding flowers, people started calling me about flowers from funerals. I didn’t realize at the time that memories do not just come from happy occasions, but also from sad ones. I accepted memorial preservations and the joy that my pieces would bring to someone after having lost a loved one was enough for me to start thinking of other ways to use the flowers. That’s when I began to make my petal bead rosaries and working with resin. It only felt right that the main reason I started this business was to ensure we had a way to pay for Catholic Schooling, that I tied in religious items somehow. The petal bead rosaries are a huge part of my business now and it makes me so happy to make things that people can use to pray with.

During Covid, a lot of people started launching their resin floral preservation businesses. Since I had been working with resin for awhile, and I had already been experimenting with larger resin pieces, likes blocks, trays, etc., it was only fitting to add those to my portfolio and offer them to clients as well. The resin blocks and especially the trays, have become a large part of my business today.

I pride myself on making something my client will be happy with. Have there been unhappy clients? Of course. But, I always ask how I can make things right. Early on, I realized that having FAQ available to potential clients is important because not all flowers preserve nicely, and some frames cannot hold all of the keepsakes that people want to display from their weddings, and not all requests can be met. But, I always remain professional, and try my best to make my clients happy.

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

When I launched my business, the first place I did that was on Instagram. Instagram was one of the most popular platforms at the time, and I felt that it would be the best place to showcase my portfolio. I posted often and, to really give myself a boost, I would do giveaways. This was partly because I wanted to build my portfolio, but also to bring traction to my page. In the beginning, I also felt like staying behind the camera, instead of in front of it, would create some sort of mystery. Like, who is this person behind all of these beautiful art pieces? Kind of getting people to talk and create a buzz. I also don’t really like being in front of the camera much, so it worked to my advantage in that sense. I remember having a meeting with a client one time and I had texted him saying that I was dropping off my kids and would meet him shortly. When we met, he told me that he had no idea that I was old enough to have kids. In his words, he thought I was “some 19 year old”, but not because I was acting like a young teenager. He just didn’t expect to meet some 30-something year old mom of two. That made me laugh for sure.

The one thing I was really fixated on at first was the number of followers I had. I wanted to gain followers, and I wanted to do it quickly. It wasn’t until later that I realized that it wasn’t the number of followers that I had, but the number of orders I had. I then shifted my focus to networking with wedding vendors and venues for wedding bouquet preservations, and even funeral homes for memorial preservations. Today, my Instagram account is simply a portfolio of all of the beautiful pieces I create, and sometimes you may catch me doing a funny reel.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Obviously, the most rewarding aspect of being a floral preservation artist is the reactions I get from clients. Usually, with wedding bouquets, because I still work full time at the law firm I started at when I was 14 (30 years later), my clients sometimes don’t get their items back for 8 months after their weddings. My timeline is normally 8-10 months, and I am very transparent with that right off the bat. But, when my clients pick up their displays or their resin pieces and get to see their gorgeous flowers frozen in time, the joy of that day comes back like a gust of wind. Those reactions are priceless.

With memorial preservations, turning the loss of a loved one into a beautiful memorial keepsake brings a smile to their faces as they now have a piece that allows their loved one’s memory to live on. How much more can I ask for?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.timelessmemoriesbymj.com
• Instagram: timelessmemoriesbymj
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/timelessmemoriesbymj
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/maryannaltawil
• Other: [email protected]