Meet the talented team behind the petals! Led by Director Vicki Smith (pictured below), this family biz is celebrating win after win and crafting beautiful blooms. We sat down with Vicki to understand more about her business and the incredible women who make More than Flowers flourish in honour of International Women’s Day on Friday.
Tell us about yourself and More than Flowers
I’ve had the business since 2011 and it has grown so much each year. I trained as a florist from a young age and always knew I had to go into this creative amazing industry. I get so much inspiration every day from my amazing team and environment. We have an amazing team culture in store and find that this is so essential to having a thriving business. We are always honoured to be part of everyone’s special occasions and journeys of life through flowers. We have seen first date nights to engagements to weddings and so much more. We celebrate women’s achievements through all industries and are honoured to be a part of International Women’s Day.
Who are the women that make up the More than Flowers team?
Our amazing skilled florists are Sami and Rhianna. Sami has been with us for almost 2 years and is an amazing creative in all aspects of floristry, she also leads our Social Media side of the business and does an incredible job!
Rhianna has started with us recently and is a natural creative who has crossed over from hairdressing, her transitional journey so far has been amazing to watch.
My niece Brookie has been with More than Flowers for many years. She is extremely creative and can literally do everything from our window designs to floristry to amazing customer service and so much more!
My other niece Peyt has also been with MTF for a few years and is our incredible in-house florist courier. Peyt ensures our vases are always ready to go, gives us clean working spaces and creates amazing delicious platters. I feel so fortunate to have had both nieces be such a big part of More than Flowers.
My mum Carol and daughter Peony also come in to help on our big days (Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day) their help is huge and Mum has worked every Valentine’s Day/Mother’s Day since I have owned More than Flowers, she is a pro and certainly knows the ropes! Peony will be following up on phone calls, answering emails, printing out orders, and serving in-store. They are both a massive help and we couldn’t get through these huge days without them.
What do you find most rewarding about being a florist?
Being able to create beautiful flowers and to be part of the many special moments with our amazing clients! We have seen many first dates, engagements, weddings & babies being born. So special!
Looking forward to seeing our gorgeous seasonal flowers and foliages in-store, and to be able to create with them daily is always a pinch-me moment.
Meeting all the wonderful people I have meet along my florist journey, the MTF Team, our clients, flower suppliers, product reps, everyone!
What has been the biggest achievement for you and your team?
There has been so many! To hit 10,000 online orders recently was huge and inspirational! To think how many flowers and staff hands that have passed through the shop to achieve this is mind-blowing!
To get through big events such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day with growth every year & seeing our team work so well together to achieve these amazing results have been incredible!
How do you celebrate the wins with your team?
Always with good food, delicious drinks and lots of cake!!!
Who are your female inspirations?
My Mum, Carol. From a young age, she taught us the importance of being strong independent, and hard-working women and how that can create so many positive changes and opportunities in your life, which I have passed on to my own daughter Peony.
My daughter Peony, the way she navigates life and her view of the world always amazes me. She worked at MTF while she was studying. She upgraded all of our technology and sourced great new products that aligned with MTF. Her input was huge and she is so inspirational to me.
My sister’s Lisa and Annette. They are incredible hardworking strong independent Mums who are both amazing career women, passionate about what they do & achieving big things! They will always be inspirational to me.
All Florist Business Owners! The commitment behind taking on this role is huge. I have the utmost respect and inspiration for them all!