Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachael Lunghi.
rachael, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Goodness-it’s a pretty long story but I’ll sum it up. 🙂
I started out as a wedding blogger//wedding planner. I loved planning my own wedding and was so excited to take a chance at starting my own business doing just that after mine was all said and done. I was lucky enough to have my wedding featured on Style Me Pretty blog and then things just kind of blew up from there and I had several weddings booked within my first year.
The further along I went, the more clients were asking me to help them with flowers for their events. I honestly didn’t know what I was doing at all, but I tried and I practiced and I absolutely fell in love with floristry along the way.
3 or 4 years into that wedding planning company, I decided to start a sister brand and so Siren Floral Co came about. 🙂 I was lucky enough to have so many supportive friends in the industry already who really helped me achieve a lot of my floral goals within the first year of Siren.
Eventually, I realized that I loved florals more than the event planning side of things, and last year decided to commit to focusing all my energy on developing Siren and honing that passion. And now, here we are, 6 or 7 years from the start of that journey and I’ve never felt more sure that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Oh absolutely not! Haha, anyone who says that the road to owning your own business is a smooth one is probably fibbing. 🙂 There were many struggles-but I’ve always been one who learns by doing, and usually the hard way. However, I also think I’m one who takes those struggles and challenges and turns them into lessons going forward.
I really think if you can keep a positive attitude about the challenges you face, and you can open your heart to the lessons you’ll find within them, you’ll come out a stronger human and business owner. That’s the most beautiful, and also the hardest thing about this journey.
I tell anyone starting a business, that it’s the people who don’t give up; the people who truly listen to their hearts and follow their passions, even through the hardships, that make it. The decision to go after your dreams takes courage, but the work to stay and see it through even when life throws struggles at you is what truly tests your love for it and your character.
Please tell us about Siren Floral CO.
I’m a floral lady. 🙂 I’m a “studio florist” so I don’t have a floral shop that’s set up for retail, I have space where I mostly focus on weddings + events as well as floristry workshops and teaching opportunities.
Oof-what am I known for?? I dunno! I would hope that I’m “known for” emotive florals. I really want people who see my work to feel something all the way down to their bones. It’s my art form, and I hope it is received as such.
I think my flowers have an edge to them. I feel like they are generally romantic, and some people would call them “bohemian” or “organic,” but I want there to be a juxtaposition between romance and a certain sort of “toughness” or “edge.” I want to incorporate interesting products that I find in nature, not just things I can buy at the flower market. I’m always trying to push myself creatively, and I hope that shows most of all.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I think as a creative, having good business//legal sense can be more challenging.
So if anything, I would have taken a business course so that I knew more about that going into it. That’s still something I’m learning all the time. But I have also been lucky enough to have several mentors within that realm teach me along the way.
But other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing. 🙂
Contact Info:
- Address: 1878 Main St. Unit F. San Diego, CA 92113
- Website: sirenfloralco.com
- Email: sirenfloralco@gmail.com
- Instagram: sirenfloralco
- Facebook: facebook.com/sirenfloralco
- Other: https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/siren-floral-co-san-diego/41fab5d0646e8486.html
Image Credit:
Natalie Bray Photo, Aga Jones Photo, Steve Cowell Photo, This Modern Romance, Elizabeth Ward Photo, Mark Andrews Studios
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