| Immigrant entrepreneur: | Lily Roden |
| Company: | Lily Roden Floral Studio |
| Place of birth: | El Salvador |
| Employees: | All contract & freelance based |
Show notes
Lily came from El Salvador with her family when she was 7 years old. The country was suffering from civil war, gangs and drugs. They lived very poor and the area they lived in was considered “the projects.” So her parents decided to move to United States.
When they initially made the move, her mom fell into depression and anxiety. Their family had a very rough start as immigrants in the States. Since her parents didn’t know much of English and always had to make ends meet, her grades suffered in school as a child.
Lily tried her best to get her grades up and landed at UC Berkley where she excelled tremendously. After college she went into the corporate career doing HR. But her job made her miserable, depressed and full of anxiety. Lily didn’t know what to do.
Through her dark journey, she found herself picking up flowers and arranging bouquets. She would post pictures on her social media and it went viral. She started doing flowers for weddings and didn’t even know she was running a side hustle. Lily’s talent was quickly found by transforming flowers into amazing and beautiful pieces that light up every single wedding.
She grew her business in the last 5 years all organically, without any debt or spending any money on advertising.
Quotes by Lily
We literally came with nothing.
My parents were not eating breakfast, toward the end of the month because they gave the food to me.. Money was running low at the end of the month.
The first years were so so hard, very few happy memories.
I didn’t do well in elementary school.
We were just trying to survive.
Being from an immigrant family, seeing my parents take on any job just for paycheck I knew that I didn’t want to struggle.
I didn’t go to art school.
I always say that my bouquets dance.
My background is not even in art.
For years I worked out of my kitchen.
I wish I would’ve asked for more help in the beginning.
We haven’t invested in any ads.
The hottest thing on Instagram right now are reels, and I started making more reels. I think that’s been more successful than what an ad can ever do.
Don’t compare yourself to other small business owners.
Be very careful who you model your business after.
