NARRATIVE OF A PETAL PUSHER

I don’t even know where to begin. It’s been so real out here lately and the plot twists with 2020 just won’t quit.

I shared with you all early on in my blogs that flowers are only one part of my layered existence that many friends refer to as a “lovely onion”. While I’ve been basking in the beauty and joy of building Postal Petals, I’ve also been closely tethered to the very real social impact work that also actively demands my attention through my tactical solutions agency, INTER:SECT.

…a business idea that has become the source of peace and calm to balance the constant friction of discourse that mostly stems from the infrastructure of our divisions in this country that use race, gender and perceived status as the cue.

At this moment, I am very much straddling two very different worlds. One is a world that refuses to let me turn a blind eye to the seemingly never-ending social injustices happening all around me. The other world is that of a serial entrepreneur who just a few short months ago was gifted with a business idea that has become the source of peace and calm to balance the constant friction of discourse that mostly stems from the infrastructure of our divisions in this country that use race, gender and perceived status as the cue. One minute I’m flowering it up on my laptop selecting that week’s featured flower recipes and the very next moment, I’m devastated by the loss of the Notorious RBG and pulled into hours-long strategic planning sessions about what can be done to protect the democracy and the rights that we hold so dear. Another minute I’m excitedly exploring cool design collaborations and then just that fast, I’m stung to my Black woman core when the Kentucky AG announces that the only “justice” to be served in Breonna Taylor’s murder case is for the bullets fired that did NOT hit her body. Ultimately equating to no justice at all.

If that’s a problem for you, you probably don’t deserve flowers anyway…

Never one to pass up an opportunity to make it plain, I’d like to state unequivocally that I believe in a woman’s (and any human for that matter) right to choose what to do with her body.  I believe that love is love is love is love and whom you love is no more my business than whom I love is yours. I believe that immigrants, regardless of the way they choose to enter this country, are human beings and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.  And I believe that Black Lives (more than just) Matter. There’s no “but” to any of the aforementioned. It simply is what it is. If that’s a problem for you, you probably don’t deserve flowers anyway so: NO FLOWERS FOR YOU!

Whenever the reality of life felt like more than I could bear, I hide in the flowers by working on any and everything Postal Petals.

People have said to me over and over again that they are impressed with how quickly I was able to build this company from just an idea in May to a fully functioning company with an infrastructure that includes nearly 20 farms shipping beautiful flowers to our clients all across the country (no flex, just facts). The truth is that I was able to build this company at the speed I did because it became a crutch for me. It became a crutch in the sense that dealing with the levels of injustice in this country can be debilitating to the spirit in so many ways that whenever I felt like I was ready to buckle under the weight of the pressure, I used to flowers to prop me up. Whenever the reality of life felt like more than I could bear, I hide in the flowers by working on any and everything Postal Petals. The fact that I was able to build in three months, what should have easily taken 12-18 months should let you know just how incredibly overwhelming existing as a Black woman in America has been this year.  It’s similar to how when someone is giving up cigarettes and decides to go for a run whenever the urge to smoke sneaks up on them. They end up losing mad weight hella fast because those urges to smoke are powerful and frequent. So it went with the rapid birth of Postal Petals and the fuckery of 2020.

Somehow I stumbled upon the juxtaposition of injustice and beauty and found perfect, healing balance.

James Baldwin once said, “To be a (Black) in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” Never have I felt this quote more personally and deep in my soul than in the past several months. The thing that I’ve come to understand, though, is that you can channel rage into productive action. I’ve also grown to appreciate that work should be rewarding. These days, I am so many things at the same time. I am angry but at peace. I am scared but hopeful. I am exhausted but relieved.  I am depleted but fulfilled. Somehow I stumbled upon the juxtaposition of injustice and beauty and found perfect, healing balance. I’m a lover of unity and a fighter of division. I’m a builder bridges and a destroyer barriers. My peace comes from being somebody that can do both.