Today we’d like to introduce you to Sydney Roberts.
Hi Sydney, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I started Cosmos Floral in the spring of 2022 after realizing I wanted to change my career to become a wedding and event floral designer.
Years before deciding I wanted to get into the art of floristry, I worked in the world of marketing—I worked for start-ups, small businesses, and corporations. Throughout this journey of my marketing career, I realized that I wasn’t passionate about the work, and I would rapidly lose interest. In the early months of 2022, I explored different interests in my life, feeling out if I could make another career move, always intending to find another marketing role, but I slowly started to play around with the idea of changing my career completely and doing something I was passionate about—and in came floral design.
For multiple summers on the weekends, I would always go to the farmers market, buy a bunch of bouquets, and then get home and rearrange them how I wanted. Twice when I was laid off from two different jobs, I remember the first thing I did afterward was go to the grocery store and buy about 7-8 types of flowers, and when I got them home I would arrange the flowers. When one of my best friends had a backyard wedding, the first thing I did was reach out to a local florist and buy an arrangement (and then style the tablescape of course). During the height of the pandemic, I ordered flowers from multiple local designers I was inspired by.
It was that joy that flowers brought me in any situation—a celebration or a moment of sadness—that lit the match. And I always want to bring that same joy to others.
Fast forward to April 2022 during a full moon in Libra, I decided on the name Cosmos Floral. Cosmos flowers represent the month of October, my birth month, and half of the month the sun is in Libra—and I am a Libra. If you look up what Cosmos Flowers symbolize, you’ll find words like “balance, harmony, beauty, and joy” and if you look up what Libra symbolizes, you’ll find “balance and harmony.” When I thought about it more, the more I liked the idea of naming myself after the Cosmos flower, but also playing into the stars and space, or if you will, the cosmos. Not to mention my love of astrology. And then it was set, I became Cosmos Floral.
There are a few key values that I bring into my floral design practice.
The main one is sustainability. I have always been passionate about bettering the earth and trying to be as sustainable as I can be in any aspect of my life, so it seemed natural to have that become a business value. I don’t use floral foam in any of my designs, I prioritize sourcing locally grown flowers when in season, and I compost and reuse as much as I can.
My other main value is inclusivity and making sure that ALL couples are welcome. This is extremely important to me, especially with the amount of hate that is targeted at the LGBTQ+ community.
I would be remiss to not mention the few floral designers I consider mentors, who took a chance on me when all I had was self-taught experience. Without them, I would not have the skills to bring my designs to life. I owe an immense amount of gratitude to Emma, Genevieve, and Kyle.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I wouldn’t call it a smooth road that’s for sure.
I think the biggest moments of struggle that I have encountered are of my own doing, and just not knowing enough. When I first started, I had no idea how to price things, and to be honest, I kind of felt bad asking for money. But! I quickly got over that because I had to pay my rent somehow. Lol.
But the biggest struggle I have learned being an artist and small business owner, is the comparison and the self-doubt that can come with it. Starting a business based on my creativity means that I pour myself into my work, and my work becomes extremely personal. My work is a part of me. And then there is the comparison aspect of the industry I am in. I can, and have, compared my work to others’ work I see on Instagram or anywhere online.
They say comparison is the thief of joy, and boy are they right. I’ve had to learn to shift my mindset—I had to learn that the only work I should be comparing mine to, is my old work. Doing this has allowed me to keep an abundance mindset, continue to be inspired by others, and be pretty damn proud of how far I have come as a floral designer.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a floral designer based in St. Paul, Minnesota who specializes in bringing moments of joy to people’s lives through the art of floristry.
I mainly design for weddings, but I also design for other events, and then for whenever someone may need flowers in their life.
I would say that a few of the things I am known for are:
1. My sustainability efforts in designing.
2. My use of color in my designs—give me any colors, please!
3. And then my style. my style is very Dutch masters, but with a touch of avant-garde.
I think what I am most proud of is that when I started this business in the Spring of 2022, I started it as a part-time side job, and almost a year later, I was able to take the leap and leave my full-time corporate job to focus full time on my floral design business. And of course, I am proud of my design skills and continue to get stronger and stronger with each design I create.
What sets me apart from others? Well, that’s tough. But I think it boils down to incorporating my values into my designs, and then my style. My style is playful, airy, and inspired by nature, and sure there are lots of other designers out there who incorporate those elements into their designs, but we design with a distinct style.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Hmm. Probably I have always been an artist, but I never viewed myself as an artist. (And floral design is art!).
My earliest memory of wanting to pursue being an artist was when I was 5 or 6, I wanted to draw people at Disney Land for a living. I was told that that wasn’t a job, so then I changed my mind. Lol.
Throughout elementary school, junior high, and high school, my favorite class was art, and any type of art. In junior high, I even was encouraged to enter a school district art competition. I didn’t win, but it was fun!
In 10th grade, I carried a sketchbook around with me everywhere, I wanted to be a shoe designer, so my sketchbook was FILLED with drawings of high heels.
I have always been an artist, but it’s taken me 29 years to embrace that.
Pricing:
- My Full Event Design Package minimum is $4,000.
- I have smaller event packages that start at $300.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cosmosfloral.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cosmos.floral/
Image Credits
Nylon Saddle, Madison Gies-Guy, Russel Heeter Weddings, Adrian Steinbach, and Morgan Elizabeth Photo
