There's so much swirling around in my brain about the making of that show, I really don't know where to start....
Like other florists here, we received an email about the producer seeking applicants for the show. Rhonda posted about it
here a couple years ago.
Marisa is indeed a very talented designer and was working at our shop full-time back then. She had attended Phil's basic class three or four years earlier - where he spotted her abilities and suggested I hire her to fill an open design assistant position at the shop.
She 'worked her way up' and along the way won first place in Flowers&'s national competition and had passed AIFD's AES, being inducted in 2006.
After only designing a couple years, she was routinely making pieces like this:
I suggested she apply for the show and helped her through each step of the application process.
(Some of you may wonder why I would help a designer in a opportunity that would potentially assist her in leaving our company. I mean, the winner was going to get to work with Preston Bailey.
It's long been my personal philosophy that you can't nurture and mentor
and hold people back. That's why we've had numerous staff members compete locally and nationally and become AIFD members over the years. Their successes help re-energize us, too.)
During the time leading up to the show segment taping at our shop, I became concerned that the producer was more interested in playing up her 'skater girl' past than giving her an opportunity to shine as a designer. At one point, while she was making an arrangement, the produce gave her a stick of gum to chomp on and I was livid. "We don't chew gum here. That's a poor reflection on our company." The producer curtly said, "This story isn't about you."
The company spent a day at our shop and taped interviews with Marisa, myself and her Mom at my home, too.
She and the other competitors were flown off to Vancouver BC for the actual competition and that's when we learned that Cory was also a finalist. (He is one of Phil's former students and he and Marisa called us from the hotel.)
As an aside, Cory has moved to CA and he and Marisa now share an apartment. She assisted him in preparing his program for AIFD last summer.
Prior to the taping, I dished out a lot of advice to Marisa, which largely went ignored. (No, I'm not always right, but I do have a larger set of experiences from which to draw.)
Shows like this are an opportunity of a lifetime. I reminded her to think how the taping could reflect on her career in the future.
The producer just kept telling her to look, act, dress and talk like a skater girl. That was a piece of
who she was, but not the designer we worked with every day, and certainly not what was going to help her gain recognition for her floral design skills.
Less than a month after returning, she quit work with no notice. I was hurt and angry, having invested much time and resources to help her be the best designer she could be.
Over the course of the last two years, she made efforts to contact me and express her sincere regret for the way she left. She's since made amends, and returned to work for us part-time in February.
I haven't re-watched the show lately (have it on tape). Marisa, Phil and I planned to watch it together last week, but the airings were all changed to mornings.
I asked Marisa to write about her experience and it will be plosted on my blog in the next day or so. She's matured as both a designer and person and I hope she'll get another opportunity to let her true light shine nationally.
BTW, her corsage and bout work was featured in Flower& this month.
