Moon Flora Studio

I think we all can agree that 2020 was quite a year. The surprises and unexpected turns seem to just keep coming. These past couple of years I feel like the theme for me has been letting go. Letting go of control over my life, letting go of expectations, letting go of the need to know what was going to happen next. I had to release many aspects of my life and some that I soon realized were holding me back. My identity as a dancer, my friends, my job were all ripped away from me unexpectedly but ultimately led me to start my own floral design business.

In 2019 I was let go from my job with Miami City Ballet where I spent 8 years performing all over North America and living my dream. I was fired because the director thought I looked like I was struggling with my weight which only fed into my disordered eating and body dysmorphia. It was devastating to say the least. I spent the last half of my career there emotionally abused and riding on a rollercoaster of disordered eating. I was praised when I ate barely anything and then punished when I ate healthy. This was the breaking point. Even with all the abuse it was so hard to leave. I made my lifelong friends there and Miami had become my home. However, this was just the first step in letting go of something so dear to me to make space for something that would serve my mental health and my body in the long run. So I left all my friends and the place I called home behind to start my new job in Austin, TX at Ballet Austin. I was so thankful to have found another job where I could live out my dream again in a new city. Being in Austin felt like home and I had a good feeling this place was a great fresh start. Dancing with Ballet Austin was a huge adjustment but I loved it and I just enjoyed being a part of the ballet community here.

In 2020 things began to crumble. I was let go from Ballet Austin, severely sprained my ankle and the pandemic hit all within a span of a couple weeks. At this point I was confused and just lost. I didn’t know who I was without dance. It was the only thing I knew. A few months later I learned my ankle needed surgery and that’s when I started to seriously consider retiring from ballet life. My dream job, the job I had been training my whole life for, my ability to even dance at all and the control I had over my body had been squashed. Talk about a humbling experience. But, at the same time I sensed a freedom. Released from a cage and a bubble I had been in for so long. For years I was put under this microscope analyzing my body, my shape and performance as a dancer. Just the thought of not having to go through that any more was oddly terrifying but liberating. I felt like God was giving me a nudge into a direction that I was petrified of but something I wouldn’t do out of my own ambition. It was time to release my ties from my identity that was unhealthily wrapped up in ballet, let go of my insecurities in starting my own business and just go for it. 

Floral design had been on the back burner for me and something I fell in love with while living in Miami. On a whim I decided I was going to intern for a floral and event design company during a break in my season with Miami City Ballet and I had so much fun. I soon realized it was a medium I have a passion for because it didn't feel like a job where I was counting down the hours. Floral design is another artistic expression I’m so relieved to have found and figured it could be in my future after dancing. But that’s just it. I thought starting my own business would be something I would do much later. Not now! Not during a global pandemic! I’m not grown up enough! I don’t know anything! How in the world can I be my own boss? These are all doubts that creep into my head daily. The imposter syndrome is REAL. Even just contributing this article is extremely intimidating because I don’t feel worthy enough to be here, to have a floral design business, or to even act like I know what I’m doing. I’ve slowly been learning to shield myself from those inner critics while letting go control of my circumstances and letting life, and God, lead me. And can I say, WOW this has been the most freeing experience in my life.

In August of 2020 I officially launched my business, Moon Flora Studio, and since then I’ve been working my ass off. I’m having the time of my life and surprising myself daily. This craft has brought out a whole new artist in me that I didn’t know existed. My sole mission is to bring joy, love and celebrate life by designing something out of the most beautiful creation of this earth, flowers. I truly believe that I was placed in Austin for a reason. There is such an incredible community of floral designers here and I’ve been blessed to become friends with a few. They have been supporters cheering me on when I decided to start my business and I can’t thank them enough. There are so many things I have learned from them and I want to never stop learning. Working with flowers is a dream and I’ve found a unique connection between dance and the art of floral design. So much of my past in ballet has prepared me for what I’m doing now. It takes grueling hard work, dedication, determination and mental strength in this business which I’ve been training for my whole life. I’m still learning to believe the truth about my worth not attached to my body but I’m healing. By letting go of the expectations of myself and of what I pictured my life to be, I have accomplished so much more than if I would have let that fear control me. I’m so thankful for last year. I’m thankful for the difficult and uncomfortable changes. It has only led me to freedom and flowers. 

I love these words by Morgan Harper Nicols, “The art of letting go. The act of setting free. The process of becoming who you were meant to be.”

Let go of that fear. Let go of that inner critic. Let go of things that don’t serve you. Be free. 

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Leanna Rinaldi is the designer and founder of Moon Flora Studio, a floral and event design studio located in Austin, TX.

Leanna's background is in performing arts and she spent 8 years dancing professionally in a couple ballet companies. In August of 2020 everything shifted and she started Moon Flora Studio with a vision of spreading love and joy through beautifully curated flowers. Leanna spent time interning with a floral design company in Miami where she fell in love with the art form. She takes inspiration from the nature and art that surrounds her with a nod to tropical and desert aesthetics.