Flowerona
Rural beginnings…
It all started with purple anemones. My dad used to grow them for my mum amongst the vegetable patch on our small farm in a tiny hamlet in deepest Devon, England. As a child, I used to marvel how such a beautiful flower could grow from such an unassuming corm!
I remember going for walks in the country lanes, admiring Red Campion, Stitchwort, Primroses and Bluebells; picking roses from our garden, trying repeatedly to make rose ‘perfume’. Very fond memories for me fragrance-wise was as a child going to church on Mothering Sunday. As soon as you entered the building, you were greeted by the sweet scent of spring flowers which had been made up into little posies for children to present to their mums.
Having moved from Devon to London after university, I found myself drawn to clothes featuring flowers, whether the actual pattern or embroidery. I also recall, whenever I was abroad, always wanting to take photos of florists’s shops. But it never once occurred to me to become involved in the floristry industry.
Corporate life…
Jumping forward several years, after having worked in the corporate world within Training and Customer Service Departments, I experienced a health issue. It led me to re-assess my working life and what really made me happy. The answer was flowers!
First floristry steps…
I signed up for a floristry evening class at Southwark College in London and started work experience in a local florist. I loved it so much that the following year, I went part-time in my corporate job, worked one day a week in the florist shop. And one day a week, I went to college to study a National Certificate in Floristry. Fate was very kind and I was fortunate to be made redundant and started to work full-time as a florist. I considered setting up my own floristry business, but the timing wasn’t ideal. It was 2008, the time of a global financial crisis.
Through the help of a business coach, who also happened to be an astrologist (!), my ‘aha’ moment came one Friday afternoon during the summer of 2010. I knew how to blog and use social media. And I loved flowers. So, why didn’t I create a blog about flowers? And that’s how Flowerona was born…
Present day…
Flowerona will be 10 years old this year on December 10th! And over those years, my online business has evolved. Now my main focus is to inspire and support the floristry industry, not only with my blog but also my Instagram for Florists online course, which I launched this year.
So, as you can see, there have been lots of twists and turns along the way. But I'm a great believer in 'things are meant to be'...
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UK-based Rona Wheeldon is the founder of multi-awarding winning blog Flowerona.
Rona is a career changer, having worked for many years in Training and Customer Service in the corporate world. A health issue led to her reassessing her job and she started studying floristry at an evening class in London. She loved it so much that she went part time in her management role, studied for a floristry qualification and worked as a florist in a local flower shop in Surrey and one of the capital's top florists.
Coming up to 10 years ago, Rona set up Flowerona, with the aim of inspiring and supporting the floristry industry. She has since grown an extensive social media following. And now trains people in the floral community, both via her online course and in person, on how to effectively use social media like Instagram to grow their businesses.