May 4th-
I will be interning at San Diego Floral Design, I will be learning how to run a flower shop business, throughout the course of this I will also learn how to put together different types of floral arrangements. For my project I would like to create a small layout of a flower wall that recently have become popular thanks to the Kardashians, as they choose to have for parties such as weddings and any other event they make up. My internship mentor is the owners of the flower shop, through talking about different types of floral arrangements these one to me seemed the most interesting to create. Although, Fatima my mentor did mention that this would be a long process. Hence my "flower wall" won't very much my a wall but a smaller replica that will be determined later. Above is a picture of a flower wall.
May 9th-
First day was tiring, but def really fun! First thing I did when I first got there was get straight to work. I got there in the middle of one of the craziest weeks of May, mothers day week. This week has my mentor and her husband going crazy... but who can blame them, I myself was already dying and all I worked on was bootineers for the military graduation... I did about 100+ of them. And let me tell you, they're cute at first but suddenly you're very much so flowered out. A term I've quickly picked up from my mentor Fatima. I am very excited to see how hectic it gets on Saturday and Sunday, it will be crazy but it'll make me happy to see all the flower arrangement go out to all the amazing mothers out there! Which reminds me, Mothers Day is tomorrow in Mexico!! Ahhh interning in a flower shop couldn't have worked out better in my favor! As the day was very busy for me and I was running late for work I only managed to take one pic of the bootineers I made, below is the picture!
I will be interning at San Diego Floral Design, I will be learning how to run a flower shop business, throughout the course of this I will also learn how to put together different types of floral arrangements. For my project I would like to create a small layout of a flower wall that recently have become popular thanks to the Kardashians, as they choose to have for parties such as weddings and any other event they make up. My internship mentor is the owners of the flower shop, through talking about different types of floral arrangements these one to me seemed the most interesting to create. Although, Fatima my mentor did mention that this would be a long process. Hence my "flower wall" won't very much my a wall but a smaller replica that will be determined later. Above is a picture of a flower wall.
May 9th-
First day was tiring, but def really fun! First thing I did when I first got there was get straight to work. I got there in the middle of one of the craziest weeks of May, mothers day week. This week has my mentor and her husband going crazy... but who can blame them, I myself was already dying and all I worked on was bootineers for the military graduation... I did about 100+ of them. And let me tell you, they're cute at first but suddenly you're very much so flowered out. A term I've quickly picked up from my mentor Fatima. I am very excited to see how hectic it gets on Saturday and Sunday, it will be crazy but it'll make me happy to see all the flower arrangement go out to all the amazing mothers out there! Which reminds me, Mothers Day is tomorrow in Mexico!! Ahhh interning in a flower shop couldn't have worked out better in my favor! As the day was very busy for me and I was running late for work I only managed to take one pic of the bootineers I made, below is the picture!
May 11-
I loved today, I got to do different things. I made three floral arrangements, printed orders and made the special notes according to the orders, and cleaned roses. As of right now I feel like I am picking up the pace my mentor Fatima and her husband work in. As of for the site visit, that can be arranged which ever date is available. Usually I am at internship in the morning and on Tuesday and Friday's I am there until 4, due to having to go to my job right after.
I loved today, I got to do different things. I made three floral arrangements, printed orders and made the special notes according to the orders, and cleaned roses. As of right now I feel like I am picking up the pace my mentor Fatima and her husband work in. As of for the site visit, that can be arranged which ever date is available. Usually I am at internship in the morning and on Tuesday and Friday's I am there until 4, due to having to go to my job right after.
May 23- Self Advocacy
Through my time at high tech high international, I have really been able to become better at asking for help. I've learned through the years that asking for help doesn't hurt rather it helps you have a better understanding of what you are having a hard time doing. Through this internship at SDFD it has been more than important to ask for help, my mentor has a very specific style of floral design, so it is important for me to learn how to play around with the style of arrangements she makes. One example of how that has worked out was when creating of of my own floral arrangements. I really think that my mentor has very quickly trusted me with making arrangements that represent her business, which makes me very fortunate to have a big role such as that. Below are some picture of a floral arrangement I created.
MAy 25- The process
San Diego Floral Design has weekly bouinteers made for the Military graduation. Through the course of my internship here I learned how to make boutineers. The first step would be to clean the roses and cut them to a medium size, which is in between a short stem and a long stem. You then would grab three of the roses and add some baby's breath in between and one bow to the middle then simple wrap around floral tape to hold everything together.
May 30- My mentor
Here is a picture of my mentor Fatima Kelley. Fatima Kelley first started her education in the US as an exchange student from Italy. She went to high school here, and graduated and attended San Fransisco State and also went to Art school in Chicago. During her time in Chicago she worked in Whole Foods while also being an Art Student, her job there was in the floral department. As she worked there she figured out that she was good at floral design, and thought that maybe she could do somthing with such career. Fatima later came to vacation on a trip to San Diego California, and decided that this is where she wanted to live, and so she moved to California and continued to work with Whole Foods. After a while she thought that she wanted to open up a Floral Shop with her husband Matt. And so they did with the costumers she had from Whole Foods she started up her own business alongside her husband, while also still working as a Photographer, another passion of hers. It is very clear to be how much Fatima enjoys working in her own business doing what she loves most which is doing floral arrangements, although it can be very stressful and hectic she always believes that this career path was the right thing to do. This externship has really opened my eyes and made me realize that I should do something that makes me happy to come into work to everyday. I know I need to figure out a way to find a job where I am doing something I love doing, something that I am passionate about.
June 1
It's been a long month interning at San Diego Floral Design. It has been filled with the realizations of how crazy having your own floral shop is. It's not easy is an understatement. It is more than the pretty flowers that sit in a clear vase. What goes behind the scenes of creating that vase arrangement is more than putting random flowers in a vase. Interning at San Diego Floral Design has been a privilege, I've enjoyed every second of my time here. I've learned so much of what it actually means to own your own business. The fundamentals I have learned have been, dedication and patience. Emphasize the word patience, Working alongside Fatima has taught me so much more than Floral Design., she has taught me how to be patient with costumers than are a little bit more difficult to work with. I cannot wait to apply everything I have learned here to the next chapter of my life which will be going into UCSC. While I was working with San Diego Floral Design I also managed to work at my actual job for a little bit more hours as well, balancing the both often became hectic, but what I took away from it was that real life is all about balancing priorities. Just because I had an internship i had to put the equal amount of effort into both my work during the day and my job during the night. Just because I was tired from one or the other did not mean that my work ethic would be better on one compared to the other.
I really want to thank Fatima and her husband Matt for allowing me to be a part of their team, and trusting me enough to intern in their business. I will truly miss working alongside Fatima, she has taught me so much more than floral design she has taught me how to me an efficient individual overall, which I will forever be grateful. I cannot wait to see their business flourish even more, And may her and her husband never be too flowered out, as Fatima would say. |
June 2- Goodbye San Diego Floral Design
Through my time working at San Diego Floral Design I have learned so many new things from how to clean a flower to how to process it. A quality I would love to obtain is being so passionate and driven by my work just like my mentor Fatima is. During my externship I really think I got a chance to talk to Fatima pretty often and talk about life and its crazy up's and down's. She shared with me stories and gave me advice on what could help in moving forward with a higher education. She only made it clearer to me that college is nerve wracking but is for sure going to be one of the best times of my life where I will expirence so much and also grow from it. I truly cannot wait for what my future ahold because I know for a fact that I will be taking it head on first.