Today we’d like to introduce you to Hillary Bailey.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
It began with a small weekend routine buying flowers for myself on the way home from work. At the time, I was serving at a restaurant in Brooklyn and pursuing my passion for the hospitality industry. I found this quiet sanctuary in arranging flowers just for myself. Arranging this delicate, fleetingly beautiful sculpture sort of cleared my head in a way yoga and running never had. After a move that brought me home to Arizona and a couple of big and difficult life changes, I had even more time and space to explore this side of myself. I found solace in this creative connection with nature and found that I could easily remember the names of new flowers and plants I came upon. Maybe it’s the first time something came that naturally to me and I was hungry for more.
Friends and family started asking me to design the flowers for their weddings and all of a sudden, I had a side hustle. I did six weddings in the first year. I’d always wanted to own my own business, though I had imagined it looking more like a restaurant than a floral studio or plant shop at the time. In fact, because I was self-taught, I felt reluctant to pursue it full time. It took about three years of dabbling in weddings, floral arrangements for restaurants, and a gardening job with a dear friend’s landscaping company before I finally felt ready to take it to the next level.
There is another important love story here to share… the one that ultimately brought me to Miami a year and half ago. I met my boyfriend Jose during a summer excursion back to NY and we ended up dating long distance for a year. I moved back to NY to be with him and shortly after we decided to move together to Miami. Jose is a chef and one of our shared passions is in celebrating and experimenting with the growing region that surrounds us. We saw a ripe opportunity in the 10B growing region and all of the amazing natural elements available here to explore.
This past December I had the opportunity to open my first pop-up shop which was at All Day Cafe. It was as simple as a stairway and mezzanine filled with plants that I handpicked on trips back and forth to Homestead. Seeing the way people loved being in a room full of plants confirmed to me that this is what I want to do from here out. The access we have here in South Florida to such vibrant plant specimens that are truly coveted by people all over the world is a seriously exciting factor.
In April, I finally took the leap and jumped into this business full time. Currently, I am running a small studio/shop in Little River called Studio Madreselva, which means “Mother Jungle”. I consider this space more of a work studio in which I can make a beautiful mess bringing plants through for different jobs ranging from interior plant design for restaurants and private homes to small scale landscaping and event design. I open the studio to the public one day a week (currently Tuesdays) and for special related events to sell my selection of plants and design items. Ultimately with this business, I hope to pursue any opportunity to share my love of nature with people and to create spaces with plants and flowers that make us all feel great.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Oh man, what is a smooth road? I think it is life’s challenges that teach us the lessons we need in order to have this flexibility of evolvement that is so necessary to being a business owner. Honestly, the biggest struggle has been in learning to value myself, my work and my vision and to truly believe that I have something to offer that people want.
Also, “mover of plants” should be my actual job title, figuring out how to water a large quantity of plants that are in constant motion in an interior space is a challenge in itself. Still learning to work smarter, not harder…
What should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I specialize in interior plant and floral design for commercial businesses, private homes and events. I also do some small scale landscaping when I feel the project is right. What I am most proud of is the grassroots approach that has aloud me to get to know this community and my customers on a one-on-one basis over this past year. I find that invaluable.
I think what sets me apart is my style. In my shop for example, I find it important that it doesn’t take on a traditional plant shop feel. I want it to feel open and airy and leave room for each plant to express itself. I’ve been told recently that the plants I choose are quite architectural or sculptural in nature and shape, which I don’t think I had even recognized myself! Perhaps it is my background in Industrial Design that leads me to create this way. RELIEF…finally using that college degree.
I want to keep the space feeling like a creative studio, one where I can also share the work of other small designer’s and in this way create a symbiotic relationship between nature, people and design.
We always love to ask about the support network – have there been people, perhaps mentors or advisors, who have played a big role in your success?
I have to give this one to my boyfriend Jose. Moving to Miami together, we both took a big risk and we have learned to be seriously great teammates in helping each other grow our separate businesses together. As he works on building his own restaurant, he has still found the time to help me with everything from finding creative solutions for watering plants, assisting me on build-outs, providing amazing snacks at my events and just promoting what I do in every way he can.
Also, I need to give a shoutout to the friends and family (so many, they know who they are) who have shown up to do everything from helping me design my business cards to taking my photographs, working on my website (in the process…thanks little brother!), creating ceramics for my plants, and being on speed dial for anything from emotional support to gardening know how advice.
And that’s not even to mention those people I’ve met this past year and a half who have come over and over to say hi, to buy plants, to cheer me on. For as lonely as business-hood can feel sometimes, it is also such a reminder of how people want to be there for you and come through in all manner of ways.
Contact Info:
- Address: STUDIO MADRESELVA
7288 NW 1st CT.
Miami, FL 33134
Open Tuesday’s 12pm-6pm
By appointment all other days - Email: studio@madreselvamia.com
- Instagram: @studiomadreselva
Image Credit:
Timothy Bailey, Katie June Burton, Camila Ramos
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