Floral Design Career Brings Student Full Circle
Posted in Learning Experiences, People on May 5th, 2009 by Plant Talk – Be the first to comment |
Louis Gagliano, a graduate of Continuing Education’s Floral Design program, is co-owner of Harlem Flo floral atelier, a floral boutique in Manhattan. He will talk about his path to becoming a floral designer at a free Career Information Session on Floral Design, Horticultural Therapy, and Landscape Design on Wednesday, May 13, 6–8 p.m., in the Arthur and Janet Ross Lecture Hall. |
What is the path that brought you to where you are today? This is always the interesting question people ask when getting to know one another. It may at times be simple and at other times complex. Mine was the latter.
Growing up in a family business, I have always known the responsibility of ownership: Coming in early, leaving late, changing my plans…not the ideal situation but it comes with the territory. Knowing all this, I still chose to open my own floral design business with a partner.
The path to here, though, wasn’t direct. I graduated college with a degree in hotel/resort management and in 1994 went to work for a luxury Hilton hotel. After three years, I heard about this new-ish, booming coffee company called Starbucks and became a manager at one of its stores in New York City. My experience with Starbucks was fantastic and varied. Besides my role as a store manager, I opened new stores, became a training manager for soon-to-be managers and assistant managers, taught the basics of coffee and service, and was head of hiring retail employees for my district.
Seven years later, I left Starbucks and moved to Paris to fulfill a dream of living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. All along I kept thinking that if I go back to New York City, maybe I should try a new career path.
With many years of managerial experience, well-established skills in customer-service training, a solid foundation in retail management, and an interest in flowers, I started to research areas that would match my strengths. I was returning to New York in June and found the Floral Design Summer Intensive program offered by The New York Botanical Garden.
To learn more about Louis’ experience at NYBG… read more »