10
July | 2022
How did you get started in the fl oral industry?
I am a second-generation fl oral designer and educator. I have been around fl owers since I was in utero. My mom
is a fl orist, as well. e connection to fl owers began at the very beginning of my life, but even as I took my fi rst job
in a fl ower shop as a teenager, I tried to deny it for a while. And then I got pulled back in and pursued a traditional
education route, studying ornamental horticulture in college. at really took off into a whirlwind of being a student
of fl oral design and then, eventually, an educator in fl oral design. e roots are there, but I took my own path, as well.
My mom was a fl oral design educator when I was a child, so some of my fi rst memories include being short enough to
stand under a design table and being in a classroom setting while my mom was teaching. Eventually, my mom started
a studio-based wedding design business.
I started delivering fl owers as soon
as I could, legally, as a teenager, and I
worked my way all the way up, in various
retail shops around Chicagoland. At the
beginning of my collegiate journey, I dove
into ornamental horticulture and worked
at the college fl ower shop. I've always been
a part of the American Institute of Floral
Designers [AIFD], even as a child, because
my mom was inducted when I was young.
Growing up around world-famous fl orists
was the norm for me. I was inducted
into AIFD in 2009, when I was 26, and I
received my European Master Certifi cation
[EMC] in 2018. To this day, I'm a big fan of
learning. Even if you're a leader, you have
to be a learner, as well.
S
tacey Bal Carlton, AIFD, CFD, EMC, a second-
generation fl orist and fl oral educator, shares her fl oral
journey from delivering fl owers for her fl orist mother
to creating six-fi gure installations and fi nding the perfect
balance for a rewarding life in fl owers.
Stacey Bal Carlton,
AIFD, CFD, EMC
e Flora Culturist
Chicago, Ill.
@thefl oraculturist | thefl oraculturist.com
Florist Spotlight
