We recently connected with Melanie Adams and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Melanie, thanks for joining us today. Have you ever had an amazing boss? What did you learn from them? Maybe you can share a story that illustrates the kind of boss they were or maybe you can share your thoughts on what you think made them an awesome person to work for?

In 2014 I was a fresh-faced college grad looking to start my career in architecture. I hadn’t had much luck in my job search thus far, not many firms were hiring in my area and the positions I did apply for turned me down for not having enough experience. A close friend of mine was flying home to San Francisco to visit family and asked if I would like to come along. I decided to set up a few interviews while I was there to see if I would have better luck.

The first two firms I interviewed with didn’t hire me and I was feeling pretty discouraged about my prospects. My last interview was with a firm called Gelfand Partners. They specialized in designing schools, assisted living facilities, affordable housing, and transitional homes for the unhoused. It was everything I had dreamed of – using my degree to make a difference.

I interviewed with Lisa Gelfand, the founding principal of Gelfand Partners. She asked me a few questions about the work I wanted to do and my ambitions, while she briefly glanced at my portfolio I had spent months putting together. After about ten minutes she looked up at me and said “I think you have potential, you’re hired. Can you start in two weeks?”

In my excitement, I accepted immediately. I didn’t know how I was going to find an apartment in San Francisco so quickly but I didn’t care, I told myself I would figure it out. I still don’t know how I managed to uproot my life in such a short period of time, but I did.

My first day working at Gelfand Partners was a blur. I had hardly any skills outside of a very basic understanding of drafting software, and this was nowhere near what I needed to know to complete the tasks assigned to me.

Gelfand’s teaching strategy was simple. If you have a question, try to find the answer on your own first. If you can’t find the answer, ask for help. This taught self-sufficiency and independence while still having a safety net to catch you. This approach to hands-on learning allowed me to grow very quickly. In no time, my professional skills were leaps and bounds above where I ever thought they would be.

Team building has always been an important part of the Gelfand culture. Lisa frequently hosted dinners, happy hours, team-building retreats, parties, networking events, and learning opportunities for her employees. Fostering internal relationships amongst her staff not only helped build trust within the company, it also built lasting friendships – many of which I still keep in touch with to this day.

We all worked long hours at times, but this comes with the territory in the architecture industry. However, it was always made clear that work-life balance was important. Every hour we worked in addition to 40 hours a week was logged as extra PTO. This system allowed for everyone to accrue plenty of time off. Most employees were able to take off weeks or sometimes months at a time comfortably. I was never worried about asking for time off or calling in sick.

In a traditionally white-male dominated industry, it was not an uncommon experience for me to be the only female in the room. Many architecture firms lack diversity in the workplace. This was not the case at Gelfand, they made diversity a priority. The wide variety of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation of Gelfand’s employees was refreshing and provided unique perspectives.

Gelfand typically favored projects that would improve and give back to communities. Despite most of the firm’s projects having lower-budgets, Lisa always made sure her staff was fairly and equally paid. Gelfand Partners valued employee loyalty, they regularly gave pay raises and promoted from within. This provided their employees with the motivation to stay and build their careers.

I’ve always looked up to Lisa as a strong, direct, and confident woman. She once told me that design should always be intentional. If you can’t effectively communicate a functional or aesthetic reason behind your choices, try again. I still think about this powerful lesson to this day. She taught me how to be assertive, thoughtful, and confident in my decisions.

Sometimes when I look back, I can’t believe how lucky I was to have Gelfand Partners as my first professional experience. Lisa was a prime example of how to be an incredible boss and I’ve learned so much from her. As I’ve built my business, I’ve often asked myself “What would Lisa do in this situation?”. I know that if I can become even a fraction of the boss she is, I’ll be doing pretty good.

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?

Although I’d consider myself a seasoned plant enthusiast now, that wasn’t always the case. Ten years ago I was a self-proclaimed “black thumb” who couldn’t keep a plant alive despite my best efforts. That was until I purchased a cactus from a local vendor off the streets of San Francisco. I made a vow to myself that I would keep that cactus alive for at least a year. The rest, as they say, is history. Since then I have spent countless hours cultivating hundreds of plants, educating myself and furthering my skills.

Before starting Sage Spade, my background was in architecture, with nearly a decade of expertise working in the field of sustainable design. Determined to challenge the status quo that living sustainably was too difficult and costly, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  Supporting local businesses is one of the best ways to live sustainably, create economic stability, and reduce waste and carbon emissions. I started Sage Spade in the spring of 2022, with a vision of bringing local artists, artisans, and small businesses together under one roof and creating a space where people could easily access affordable locally-curated products.

There are countless small businesses that don’t get the recognition they deserve. Many of these small business owners work full-time jobs, attend school, and/or have kids while managing their business on the side. These talented individuals often don’t have the time, energy, or resources they need to grow their businesses. That’s where Sage Spade steps in. We partner with creators to get their one-of-a-kind products on our store shelves, manage shipping and handling for online orders, and drive marketing efforts to promote their business.

Funny enough, I didn’t go into this with the intention to sell my own products. I was more focused on my goal of bringing small businesses together and promoting their products. However, my business advisor encouraged me to become a vendor as a way to network with other small businesses and learn first-hand about the pain points that come with running a pop-up.

Like many of our vendors, I was working full-time and didn’t have a lot of money to invest in my business. Despite my lack of prior experience and funding I decided to listen to my advisor and took a leap of faith. I signed up to be a vendor at my local farmers market – effectively kickstarting my journey as an entrepreneur. But there was one glaring problem, I didn’t have a product to sell. This didn’t really bother me because I didn’t think I’d make many sales anyways. I was there to network – not sell. I decided to take stock of what I already had on hand to sell.

I had gotten really into plant propagation during the 2020 lockdown and had cultivated quite a large collection of houseplants, so I decided to sell them. I’ve been an avid thrifter for most of my life, so I took the remaining startup cash I had (after purchasing my basic booth essentials) and bought a small inventory of thrifted home wares. I’m a big believer in the power of giving back, so I decided I would donate 10% of our profits to charitable organizations making an impact in our community.

To my great surprise, we sold out on our first day! I frantically purchased more houseplants and thrifted inventory to sell the following weekend. We sold out again, and again, and again, and again. I could barely keep up with demand and our customers were asking for more. They wanted us to open a brick-and-mortar store where they could shop year-round, they wanted us to provide more locally-made products, and they wanted to sign up for houseplant and terrarium classes. This overwhelmingly positive response to our little booth showed the immense potential of this idea.

The following year I signed up to be a vendor again, this time with a twist. We tweaked our branding, increased our inventory, and began partnering with other vendors to sell their products while they worked other events. These new changes only increased our little booth’s popularity! We were consistently selling out and our customers were still asking when we would open our brick-and-mortar store. After the 2023 market season, I quit my 9-5 job to fully commit to expanding my business.

This year, I’ve been attending farmers markets, pop-ups, street fairs, and events across Colorado to network with small businesses and invite them to join our Vendor Program. It has been truly heart-warming meeting so many talented individuals, listening to their stories about how they started, and learning about their struggles and areas where they need help in their business.

For many of our vendors, having this additional support is a game-changer. It’s become clear to me that Sage Spade is so much bigger than me. It’s about helping people turn their passions into careers and building a community that supports small businesses as they grow.

Thanks to the support of our customers and vendors, In early 2025 Sage Spade will open its first retail location in Arvada, Colorado! Whether you’re an avid plant enthusiast or just getting started, welcome! There’s always room for one more plant!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Resilience is a choice, a difficult one, but a choice nonetheless. There have been several times throughout my life when I chose resilience over defeat.

My first lesson in resilience was in second grade. I was diagnosed with Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and ADHD. I could barely read or write and was almost held back on multiple occasions. I attended specialized therapy, tutoring, and classes for over five years just to catch up with the rest of the students in my grade. I powered through the pain and embarrassment of being seen as “dumb” and managed to keep up with the rest of my grade despite the challenges I faced.

When I was in high school I applied to over ten art and architecture colleges. I was rejected from all of them, except one – CU Boulder’s School of Environmental Design. It was a tough pill to swallow, receiving rejection letter after rejection letter in the mail. I can’t say I was surprised, due to my learning disabilities I had always been an average student who struggled with standardized testing. However, in a room full of no’s all you need is one yes.

My first day of architecture school was terrifying. The dean stood at the front of the auditorium filled with over 500 first-year students and said “Statistically, out of the 500 of you here today, less than half of you will graduate from this program. The rest of you will drop out or switch to a different course of study. Of the 250 that will graduate from the ENVD school, only a third will work in the architecture industry.” The silence that followed was heavy, but something in my head told me ‘you’ll make it happen’. Those four years were some of the most challenging and rewarding years of my life. I did end up graduating with a degree in architecture and even managed to land a spot on the dean’s list. I learned that when the odds are stacked against you, find a way to persevere.

After I graduated college I began applying for jobs. Out of the 50+ firms I applied for, only one offered me a job. Once again, when faced with a room full of no’s I found one yes and gave it my all. That one yes opened the door to an almost decade-long career in architecture.

Towards the end of my architecture career I started to wonder if I was in the right profession. My mental and physical health was in the gutter. I was burnt out from working long hours in a high-stress environment. In November 2019, I decided to pivot and leave the firm where I worked to begin searching for a new career. I applied to hundreds of jobs with little success. In March 2020 I was offered a position with a development company, but the offer was quickly rescinded following the lockdown. After almost a year of being unemployed, I was finally able to land a part-time job working for a small architecture firm in Seattle. However, In 2022 the firm was bought out and I was reminded why I had left the industry in the first place. This ultimately inspired me to start my own business.

I almost gave up on my business in the first year. I had applied to several farmers’ markets and was denied by all of them – except one. The theme continued – in room full of no’s I managed to find a yes. Thanks to the farmers’ market that accepted my application I was able to start growing my business and build brand recognition.

The second time I almost gave up on my business was when I started looking for our first retail location. It took over a year and a half of searching before I found a commercial property that met our needs and would rent to a newer business. I toured over a hundred properties, submitted ten LOI proposals, and worked with three different brokers because two of them gave up on me during the process. The straw that almost broke the camel’s back was when I was beat out by another applicant for my dream retail space. I was distraught, I felt like nothing was working in my favor and my business might fail before it had a chance to begin. Despite the long string of rejection and disappointment, I decided to keep trying. Two weeks later I found the perfect commercial space. Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t give up. Yet again, I somehow managed to find one yes in a room full of no.

The third time I almost gave up on my business was when the financing I needed to open our shop was rejected – not once, not twice, but three times. Big banks wanted nothing to do with me, Sage Spade was a young business with little to no credit. I was faced with a dilemma that many small businesses deal with – I needed to increase my profits to secure a loan, but I needed to secure a loan to increase my profits. My husband and I decided to boot-strap the funding ourselves. It was a risk, but I knew I would regret giving up after coming so far. When faced with a room full of no we made our own yes.

What I’ve learned through all of this is that starting a business is not for the faint of heart. It requires grit, determination, and a little bit of delusion. Entrepreneurship requires you to be brave enough to take a leap of faith and bet on yourself. The road entrepreneurs travel is long and filled with obstacles, having the ability to adapt quickly when faced with treacherous terrain is a must. Resiliency is the key to success – when faced with a room full of no keep searching for yes.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When first I started my business I was plagued with impostor syndrome. I had never done anything like this before and I was completely out of my element. I was afraid of failing and being judged by others. At times I was paralyzed by my fear, unable to move forward without the worry of being “exposed” as someone who didn’t know what she was doing.

But here’s the thing – failure is how we learn, failure is how we grow. Failure is how we transform into the versions of ourselves we want to become.

I learned how to sit with the discomfort of failure, process it, and push forward with my new-found knowledge. I learned how to accept myself regardless of my experience level. I learned how to show myself grace in moments of failure. I learned how to do it scared. In short, I changed my relationship with fear. Once I was able to see failure as an opportunity for growth rather than a setback, my confidence blossomed.

I’ve learned that I can’t be everything and that this mindset only contributed to my fears of inadequacy. One of the biggest mistakes I made early on was being afraid to invest in my business. I was hesitant to spend money out of fear I would never get it back. I’ve learned that operating from a lack mentality rarely yields results. Looking back, I wish I had invested in my business foundations sooner. Once I started hiring professionals to advise me, I was able to work smarter and faster. I stopped wasting money trying to learn these skills myself, and invested in others who brought value to my business.

To anyone reading this who struggles with impostor syndrome, my advice to you is this – Everyone starts as a beginner at some point. It’s ok to not have all the answers. It’s ok to take the leap even if you don’t feel ready. It’s ok to figure it out as you go. Find people who can help you along your journey, learn from your mistakes, and keep moving forward. One day you won’t be a beginner anymore, you’ll be the expert. Don’t let fear hold you back from your future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sagespade.com
• Instagram: @shop.sagespade
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopsagespade
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/101699800/admin/dashboard/

Image Credits

Kacey Haptonstall – Kacey Haptonstall Photography