We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Schumacher a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

It was a big risk for me to start my business and change careers from a meaningful job with a steady consistent income. I was an occupational therapist for the geriatric population through COVID. I cared and felt every moment being there for my patients, but it led to burnout multiple times feeling like this was what I was supposed to do and called to do. My mental health was going downhill and something had to change so I took a break from OT and through that time of rest and exploration I found my love and obsession for flowers. I had always loved flowers in fact gardening was my favorite therapeutic activity to do with my patients in their homes. During my career break, I decided to take a risk and reach out to a local florist (Megan) to see if she needed any help. From the moment I started assisting her, I realized I could do this if I really wanted it. It was hard to think about leaving a career I worked so hard for but also felt not right to not try something new. I built connections with other florists in the area working for them and learning all aspects of the job to make sure it was something I wanted to do. From that I have also gained community so from the beginning I did not feel alone, which I am so grateful for. With my faith in God that he would guide me and support from my husband, I started my own business Sunset Florals LLC. I have honestly been amazed at where it has taken me to now. The risk has been so worth the fears and a dream come true. I am not only doing something I love, but meets my half introverted/half extroverted side of myself. I also have integrated my love for the geriatric community in my business by giving back when I can, donating florals from weddings to a local assisted living with my client’s permission. It keeps me connected to them, but I also get to bring joy to a community I know often feels alone.

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?

My name is Rachel and I am married to my wonderful husband Chris (my secret weapon for content creation & engineering ideas for installations). We have a golden doodle named Atlas and love hiking, traveling, and hanging out with friends. We are heavily involved in our church community, and it is an important part of our lives.

I provide floral design services for primarily weddings and other events in the DMV and now Charleston, SC! I like to take a personalized and collaborative approach with couples similar to how I was as an occupational therapist because I love connecting and being inspired by even the smallest elements of their wedding. I want my clients/potential clients to know how much I care about them taking a relational vs. transactional approach when providing services. I also want to provide the most value I can in their investment as well as give back to my community by offering unique services such as the donation of their florals after their event. I want my clients to know that when they chose to work with me, they are also supporting other small businesses. We order as much local flowers as we can in the area. This also results in higher quality of product, more eco-friendly practices, and the chance to see florals in our designs you may have never seen before. Health and protecting the environment is also very important to how I choose to run the business. My goal is to be a part of changing the floral industry to protect not only our environment, but also the health of anyone working in the industry. As a result, we are foam free and growing in ways we can improve our sustainability practices. I utilize my OT knowledge when thinking about how the team functions in the environment and strive to protect everyone’s physical health. An additional unique service we offer to our full-service clients is pressed floral preservation. I love getting to catch up with my clients again after the wedding and give them something they can keep for years to come.

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

A lesson I’ve had to unlearn is the concept of “needing to be in a safe and consistent career you get your degree in for your whole life” regardless of how happy or unhappy I may be. I often felt stuck and like all my hard work would go to waste if I stopped treating patients. I still love the field of OT, but it was draining me. I tried for a long time to work in different areas/locations to make it better, but it just wasn’t helping-COVID really sent things over the edge. I am so grateful that I am where I am now and embraced a big change for the better.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

This one I can actually thank my husband some for this. He really has gotten into photography and since I started the business, he has loved capturing content for me to share and build my social media presence. He really is so talented, and I am so lucky to have another creative in my corner.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sunsetflorals.com
• Instagram: @sunset_florals

Image Credits

Nicole Simensky photography
Kira Nicole Photography
ALN Images
Images by Amanda Leigh
Carly Rose Photography
Lalaphotography