Today we’d like to introduce you to Heidi Knight.
Hi Heidi, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
At A to Zinnias, we have a true passion for all things floral! My name is Heidi Knight and I am the owner of A to Zinnias. I have been a ‘florist’ since the young age of 3. Okay, so maybe that’s an exaggeration. Here is the actual story: my grandmother was a florist in Moline, Illinois and during our visits there she would let my sister and I root through the flower trash and make “arrangements” for our mom. I am not sure how pretty they turned out to be, but our mother loved them, nonetheless. I won my first floral design contest at the age of 5 by cutting some of my mother’s rose bushes. She was less pleased with this arrangement, but I think my first-place winning softened the blow…a little
I guess you can say that being a florist was in my blood. Fast forward to college, I attend North Carolina State University for my undergrad degree in Political Science. While in school, I worked part time at a Harris Teeter grocery store in the floral department. This is where I received a real foundation of floral basics such as the visual triangle rules and how to green containers. I have since learned how to artfully break those rules, but you have to learn the basics before you know how to overlook them.
Eventually I found myself in Savannah, GA attending graduate school at Savannah College of Art and Design. While attending SCAD I was in the sweet-spot age when all my friends were getting married. Being a poor college student, wedding gifts were not exactly in my budget. So, as a wedding gift, I would agree to make the flowers for their weddings and gradually I was being referred to friends of friends of friends.
That is when A to Zinnias was born and I could not be more excited to continue my floral journey creating beautiful floral arrangements for clients near and far!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Growing A to Zinnias over the past 20+ years has been a surprisingly smooth road. I’ve had the usual growing pains, mostly regarding making big financial decisions like deciding when to upgrade from a home-based business to a retail storefront, deciding when to add staff, deciding when to purchase a cooler. But I was fortunate enough that each time I made a big investment in my company the decision always paid itself back quickly and my business grew with each investment.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
A to Zinnias started with focusing on weddings almost 100%. Over the years we grew to doing corporate events, restaurant, colleges and hotel florals, daily deliveries, and recently added some retail in our shop from local artists and artisans.
I think what keeps clients hiring us is that our pricing is always fair and transparent. We strive to keep up with trends in styling and coloring. We have decades of knowledge and experience with flowers. And we’re always happy to help our clients navigate how to manage a dream event while keeping it within a reasonable budget.
What are your plans for the future?
Our next plan is to offer subscription services and to add e-commerce to our website. We’ve also outgrown our space so are looking for a larger shop, but that can wait until the perfect location shows up!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.atozinnias.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atozinnias
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/atozinnias
