About Thrive Flowers & Events

My path was set out for me from an early stage, before I knew it I was a junior florist. It’s fair to say I got lost along the way but I’ve had fantastic mentors and coaches, seriously – thank god for them!

I’ve been in the floral industry since 1997, I think I look younger than that right?! I gained experience managing shops & freelancing all over Melbourne, I grew into a versatile, modern and contemporary floral designer.

In 2005 I started a wedding business working from my home, becoming one of the 1st florists not to have a bricks and mortar shop, later growing it into a wedding & events business and finding Thrive’s new home, a studio space in the up and coming designer warehouse district of Collingwood. I now realise I was a forward thinker.

I didn’t love flowers when I was younger, I loved nature. My passion for sticks, stones, bark, pods and anything dried and fallen has finally become trendy. I just loved riding my horse through the forest and foraging for nature as I went, I was always curious but back then I didn’t know how to capture it’s essence – now I know how to create incredible pieces of art for you all to enjoy.

Little did I know one of my earlier mentors had big plans for me later in life, in 2014 I began teaching for Bloom College and I now have the opportunity to train our future florists and improve our industry. How awesome is that!

At Thrive I oversee the day to day floral work but I take great pleasure in conceiving and creating the wedding and event designs.
I’m serious when I need to be, but usually you will find me doing anything for a laugh.

I love hearing your ideas and transferring your emotion through the floral designs I create.

Some people even call me the Flower whisperer

Growing up in country Victoria, I’ve always had a huge interest in nature, my husband jokes that we live in a greenhouse. Muddy shoes, frosty mornings, cuts and scratches, to me it’s all part of living. I’m grateful to be surrounded by fun, botanical elements in my job every day and if I can bring just a little bit of that into your world, it makes my heart happy.

The rush and adrenaline that happens back-of-house is something else I thrive on, there’s nothing quite like it. Being able to swoop in though the loading dock and flower bomb the hell out of the venue like ninjas and disappear again – that’s the fun stuff, it feels like magic.

I also love words and write creatively when I can, but it’s taken me a long time to find my (Thrive’s) voice on social media. It can take a lot of practice to remember not to write how your favourite old-fashioned novel’s written or how you think people want to read it, but to actually write authentically and let people take it or leave it.

Strangely, or not, I enjoy the structure and clarity of writing our OH&S and Procedures manuals, there’s comfort in sitting within the rules of language for these important documents and getting them seamless gives me a buzz.
But don’t let that fool you, sometimes my spelling is atrocious!

Generally, I manage the day to day running of the studio and take what I can off Alyssa’s plate so she can go on being the best designer that she can possibly be. Because honestly, she’s a bit of a genius and that’s why I bought into her business in the first place. Ta-da here we are!