We were lucky to catch up with Mekai Ely recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mekai thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents are some of the most supportive, incredible people ever. I’ve always known I wanted to be my own boss, but I never knew which direction to go and every idea change, they were there and my number one fan.

Growing up it was always the usual “you’re going to college no matter what,” the only difference from a lot of other parents was that more often than the college talk, we got the “choose a career that brings you joy. Your happiness is more important,”

Once I started at community college near my home town, I knew I hated it. I had always loved school, but this was just not it, but my parents did whatever they could to help guide me and figure it out. I lasted two semesters and dropped out so I could move to San Diego. After that, I started at the next community college, I liked that one better, but still dropped out a semester later. My parents kept telling me I’ll find my way and every time I called them crying not knowing what I was doing, they were there.

I gave college one more try. I enrolled in an online program at the local university and three days before the course was set to start, it got cancelled due to low enrollment. Once again, I called my parents but this time I told them I wasn’t going back to college, I’m going to focus on gaining experience and I’ll figure it out. They were a bit nervous, but they said “okay, what do we need to do to help?”

In the next year, I found flowers, got a divorce, moved back home, and started my business – not entirely in that order, but you get it. When I tell you they were there for every single step of the way, they were. There was never a moment that they weren’t involved in a brainstorming session, inquiry run down, or Instagram follower celebration. To this day, if I need help on an event, there is no question they won’t be there to help. If I get featured on a wedding blog or someone shared my work, there the first ones I call.

All of this is to say, I am one lucky woman to get to say with my whole heart my parents did everything right. I thank everything in this universe every day for them and their support.

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?

Hi! I’m Mekai and I am the owner and lead floral designer for Sparks and Sand Floral Design. Sparks and Sand is a full service wedding and event florist based in Raleigh, North Carolina. I specialize in organic, whimsical designs and our motto is we provide flowers for the rad and wild. Weddings are our bread and butter, but we will flower ANYTHING – birthday parties, anniversaries, bridal showers, store installations, whatever you want, I’ll make happen and make it cool as heck.

I started Sparks and Sand from my grandma’s house in Palm Desert, California in February of 2020. With the pandemic beginning a whole three weeks after we got our business license, Sparks and Sand was originally (and shortly) a flower delivery business turned elopement florist and finally turned full service event florist! I still LOVE home deliveries and elopements and will accept those whenever possible.

Getting my start in Palm Springs and Joshua Tree was an insane blessing. It’s the perfect spot for intimate weddings and I quickly became a go to referral from other local vendors because I was the only one not totally booked with rescheduled weddings.

My first year was a lot. It was stressful, I had no idea what I was doing, and didn’t really know where to start. I had worked for some of the most incredible designers as my intro into floral design which means I was incredibly lucky to have the perfect people to ask for advice and give me guidance. Eventually, things started to pick up and after almost two years in business, I took a chance and quit my full time job to pursue flowers.

Then one day, after visiting my cousin in Raleigh, North Carolina, I decided to take the leap and make the move 2,400 miles across the country and basically start over. I may thrive on spontaneity and challenges, but moving to North Carolina has been the best decision I’ve ever made.

Showing my NC clients that they can have really cool and different flowers within their budget has been amazing. Introducing them to small ways to make their wedding memorable using florals for not only them, but their guests is so exciting.

The longer I do flowers, the harder and harder I’m working to show people how important vendor choice is. I not only want to make sure that my clients get what they want, I want them to realize I’m not just some person they hired to do literal dirty work. I am there to help them and make their lives as easy as possible and if that means we’re helping out set the tables and move chairs, we’re doing it. They’re not just hiring a florist, they’re hiring someone who is just as excited about their wedding as they are.

Even though Sparks & Sand specializes in fun, funky, disco vibes with our events, we’ll do any style, color scheme, anything. Sparks & Sand will bring your floral vision to life no matter the vibes you’re going for.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I’m a big podcast listener when I’m working and I’m a total geek when it comes to flower podcasts. The first time I knew that flowers was the route I wanted to take, I was working at Anthropologie listening to Botanical Brouhaha while putting overstock away and an episode with Natalie Gil came on. She is the owner and founder of Native Poppy, a flower shop in San Diego, California. The way she spoke about how she runs her business and how she managed to grow it in the way she did, changed how I viewed business and doing what makes you happiest.

I was determined to work with Natalie somehow, in some way and two months later, I was working at her second flower shop learning from the best. I continued to listen to Botanical Brouhaha like it was my job. The different perspectives involved in the flower world that they brought on to speak really helped me become more well rounded with everything.

Hearing people who are more traditional shop owners, to pop up shops, to wholesalers, to flower farm owners. Understanding where your product comes from and how it gets into your hands was super important. Also learning about running a sustainable business in an extremely wasteful industry was and is extremely important to me.

Overall, podcasts are where it’s at for people like me who don’t have the attention span to sit and watch or read things.

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

I always knew that as a business owner, unless you have a full team, you get no real days off, sick time, bereavement days, anything like that. As a business owner that specializes in events and set dates, I made the mistake of not thinking about how that all works.

In my first year, I was taking anything and everything when it comes to events. I was taking on whatever I could get and since most of them were small events, I could take on multiple in one day. I was two years into my business before I ever ran into an issue doing things the way I was doing them.

On one day, I had three events. One elopement and two smaller weddings, one of which was my friends that I was set to attend after setting up. Event day is an early day for florists, working on finishing touches, ribboning, packing up, everything. In my first hour of working at my parents house, we received a call that we had a death in the family and it was devastating. I had never thought about having to handle something like that as a business owner.

My mom was my only help for the day and our entire plan for the day was out the window and there was still a lot to do. We ended up calling planners to see about changing drop off times so we can get things done sooner and readjust the design process to make things last longer and better. It was a full pivot all while trying not to break down and stay professional. Showing up for my clients that trusted me enough to hire me for the most important day of their life was just as important to me as getting back to my family and supporting them.

It was an extremely tough route to mauver and I’ve since realized that having outside help (that you trust!!) that isn’t your family may cost you more, but is ultimately better for both you and them in case of any sort of emergency.

Contact Info:

• Website: sparksandsand.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/sparksandsand
• Facebook: facebook.com/sparksandsand

Image Credits
Parallel 33 Photography Nichola Rae Photography Elizabeth Grant Photography Blake Hogge Apartment 3 Photography