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

Talia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

As the CEO and Founder of Postal Petals, my mission is for more people to understand how flower arranging can be a form of stress-relief, meditation and mindfulness practice.

I was first introduced to arranging flowers several years ago. It began with me wanting fresh flowers in the house and being curious about what kind of arrangements I could create on my own. Almost immediately, I fell in love with it. It was so calming and relaxing that I started to look forward to the hour or two that I would get to arrange flowers and just decompress and quiet my mind. It became my go to form of self-care and a way to relieve stress.

Two months into Covid quarantine in 2020, I was super stressed and desperately in need of a floral fix to ease my nerves as the walls in my home began to close in on me. I needed fresh flowers but the LA Flower Market was closed due to the lockdowns. After looking around online for other ways to get my hands on some flowers, I came across a flower wholesaler who shipped large volumes of flowers to clients like florists, event & wedding planners, etc. all around the world. I just cold-called him hoping to convince him to reduce his minimums and ship me a small order of flowers that I could arrange at home.

Through that conversation, I learned about the obstacles that prevented him from accommodating my request, but by the end of our 2-hour call my mind was spinning. I realized that what I wanted didn’t exist but that could be an opportunity for me to possibly fill a hole in the marketplace. I immediately went to work putting together a wireframe for what the business could look like. That was in May 2020. By late July we launched in beta with nearly 20 domestic farm partners signed up to ship for us. Today, we’re shipping flowers all across the country.

I’m now on mission to promote flower arranging as a form of self-care. More people need to understand how the activity flower arranging is actually a great mental wellness tool and a calming, centering experience. I have written several articles on the topic and I discuss my own experience in every press interview I do!

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?

After years of work in brand strategy and partnerships across sports, entertainment and social impact, I took my talents in an unexpected direction, when I founded the DIY flower arranging start-up, Postal Petals.

Prior to founding Postal Petals, I ran the tactical solutions agency, INTER:SECT. The agency operated at the intersection of sports & entertainment, corporate & consumer brands, and social impact. Our work is centered around promoting brand activism and brand accountability through collaborative content and action strategies intended to positively impact the communities and peoples that make up their consumer base.

Through my work with INTER:SECT, I pioneered the lane of brand activism and brand accountability, having been an early advocate for the movement after recognizing that data was showing a shift in the way consumers were engaging with brands. A shift that confirmed that today’s consumer now demands that the brands they support be culturally and socially aligned with the issues that are important to them. I’ve taken that understanding and insight with me into my work with Postal Petals, where customers regularly see content relating not just to flowers, but to the brand’s position on any number of social issues.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

I’d say Postal Petals has used social media in a myriad of ways to attract new customers. Not only do we use it to showcase “flower recipes” and “pro-tips” for flower care, we also make it a point to highlight social justice causes and other florists of color. We have been able to credit organic discovery, especially on Instagram, for a big portion of our sales.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My first customers were my family and friends. Then I relied a lot on them to help spread the word about Postal Petals. Beyond that, the press (magazines like Forbes, Essence, Black Enterprise, Good Housekeeping, etc.) that we were able to secure in our early days proved incredibly helpful. They wrote glowing reviews and were a testament to the quality of our service. Then, of course, social media, giveaways, promotions and events all reinforced for people that our fresh flower delivery service and our flower arranging workshops were of the best quality.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.postalpetals.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/postalpetals/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PostalPetals
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/postalpetals/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PostalPetals
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@postalpetals

Image Credits
Flowers over the shoulder: Nancy Hernandez Red skirt: Jasmine Wright