Lead up to Valentine’s Day in the US means long, poorly paid hours for floral designers. I’m privileged to be on a team at the most highly-regarded floral retailer in the Midwest; folks all across the country recognize our signature delivery trucks.
Between them, my design team has hundreds of years of experience. Many of them are approaching retirement age and have been designing their entire careers. It’s a dream come true to be surrounded with beauty, inspiration, and creativity each day, and to be tasked with the honor of creating ephemeral art that lifts the heart and spirit and elevates though a shared experience of temporary form.
I was a bartender for almost 10 years before the pandemic forced me to exit an increasingly toxic industry that was contributing to my alcohol-use disorder. The money could be good, but the expense was great. The toll it was taking to earn my living based solely off tips wasn’t sustainable, and going back to it after a termination, successful wage-theft lawsuit against my former employer, and the insecurity of post-pandemic restaurant work seemed like the cost outweighed what I might earn.
So I, like many others in my former industry, retrained and found a new trade. I spent about $6000 and 300 hours in classes and found employment right away. Floral design was a perfect transition for me and I’ve been doing it now for 18 months.
I make $16.55 an hour. My coworker with almost 20 years experience made only 36k last year working full time.
No way did I think I would be taking such a huge pay cut when gaining “a skill”. It’s because this is considered “women’s work” and it’s mostly older women that make up my team that we are paid so insultingly low for our talents.