Elevator Pitch: Describe your business in a nutshell.
Toronto Flower Market at 99 Sudbury is an outdoor market made up of Ontario-based growers. Featuring an abundance of plant and flower varieties grown in the Southern Ontario region, people can come to purchase fresh, quality and affordable flowers directly from the growers and experience a beautiful urban oasis.
Why did you start your business, what was the inspiration?
I was inspired by a trip to London, England in August 2012 when I visited Columbia Road Flower Market. I couldn’t believe Toronto didn’t have a unique flower destination that celebrated local greenhouses and flower varieties like this. I had no background in floriculture and was sure we would be able to create something similar to what I had experienced in London, so I started with researching the industry, which revealed there are over 200 greenhouse flower producers in Ontario and there was a need to support and create awareness about our local floriculture industry. This gave me the confidence to move ahead with creating Toronto Flower Market for the city of Toronto. With the help of Flowers Canada (Ontario) and their pickOntario initiative, Toronto Flower Market launched successfully over Mother’s Day weekend, featuring five local greenhouses selling their freshly grown flowers and plants directly to the urban consumer.
What is the best part of what you do on a day-to-day basis? The most challenging part?
Because I also do freelance work along with running Toronto Flower Market, the best part is building my own schedule and working on multiple projects that differ from one another. Like a lot of people, I’m most productive and motivated when I have a full workload, but it’s important that each project scope isn’t the same. With no physical shared office space or traditional business structure to learn from, I depend on the different team collaborations to teach me new approaches, engage in different points of view, and meet new people so that I can transfer those new skills and ideas to other projects that come along. I worked in advertising and design full-time for eight years before going freelance; I would say time management is probably the most challenging part of my day. There are a lot of exciting things going on in the city of Toronto that I want to be apart of, so I’m continually learning to juggle all the things I’ve said yes to while making sure I give each project the focus and attention they require.
Where do you see your business going in five years?
I’d like to see the Toronto Flower Market have a more frequent presence in the city and participation from even more growers so we can offer additional local varieties to market guests. It’s easy for people to say the city should have a flower market, but the only way it can sustain itself and become an annual thing is by proving to the growers that the city will attend and support. In the same way we are becoming more conscious of where our food comes from, I hope the flower market can also influence people’s flower buying habits. Choosing to buy local means 3x the life span of your flowers and being environmentally friendly; simply by supporting Ontario growers, it reduces the carbon footprint by not buying imports from the US or South America.
What does success look like to you?
My vision of success has changed quite a bit since I first started my career, and I’m sure it will continue to evolve, but recently I would say it’s to never settle and to constantly challenge myself to do new things and to see them through. Success isn’t the final act of fulfilling one goal or dream, but rather the process of learning new approaches and answers to business, life and relationships that encourage you to reinvent old ideas and ignite new passions. Success is ongoing; it is the constant desire to see things through.
What is the most memorable milestone in your career?
It was May 11th, the launch of Toronto Flower Market. It had happened. Toronto Flower Market was no longer just an idea made up of email correspondence, phone calls, a logo or pretty illustrations; it was a real physical, tangible thing.
Do you have any advice for other young professionals?
Work hard for the ideas you believe in. There always comes a point where you need to stop talking and do something. Action is the only thing that bridges an idea to its final conception and it requires a lot of work. The process is often confusing and messy, but it’s where you find answers to your questions and you find new questions that need answering. Be patient in your exploration and work hard, the result will be something you are proud of.
Do you support any charities? If so, which one(s) and why is that important to you?
I support a range of causes in a variety of ways – volunteering time, donations, etc – but there isn’t one specifically. I do tend to gravitate towards causes for kids and the arts.
What is Notable to you?
Notable is a person that fights for their passion with the intention of bettering the lives of others.
Blackberry, iPhone, Android, or Other?
iPhone.
How do you keep active, energetic, and vibrant?
Ask any one that knows me really well, and they’ll tell you I don’t make plans. I like impromptu and random activities, run-ins and wanderings. I like open schedules and space to really enjoy a day. It’s what keeps me sane i.e. active, energetic and vibrant.
Keep up to date with the Toronto Flower Market on Facebook or follow the action on Twitter using the hashtag #TorontoFlowerMarket. The next Market takes place this Saturday, June 8th.