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Emily MacLellan is a creative. She co-owns Evyrose with her oldest friend and together they create florals that are unique, purposeful, connect their clients to nature and celebrate life in an extra special way! Emily enjoys chatting over a cup of tea or a large mug of coffee, embracing the ways that she can laugh and connect with her clients, and empower them to be their authentic selves in the design process. Emily is most proud of leading her business with an eco-conscious mindset; Evyrose now has a large seasonal growing garden and is adding new plants and flowers each year to use exclusively for their designs and events. As well as being a Mum of 2 small kiddos, Emily is the operations behind Evyrose. This role includes building their website, being the client communicator and all things admin, to running the numbers and keeping their books on target. She definitely wears many hats!

In this episode:

• Building a business with your bestie. Friendship and flowers have been a winning combination for Emily and her best friend Liana’s business!
• Flexibility in the workplace can be a driving force for creating a motherhood work juggle that works.
• Creating opportunities for creativity in motherhood can be one way to have that important “me time” and also a way to connect with your kiddos.
• An eco-conscious mindset can start with taking small individual actions that collectively lead to big changes and a world of difference.

Connect with Emily:

• Facebook: @evyrosedesign https://www.facebook.com/evyrosedesign
• Website: https://www.evyrosedesign.com
• Instagram:
  • @evyrosedesignco https://www.instagram.com/evyrosedesignco/
  • @emilymacflorist https://www.instagram.com/emilymacflorist/

• Eco-conscious brands recommended by Emily:
• Clothing:
  • KOTN – https://kotn.com
  • Frank and Oak – https://www.frankandoak.com
  • Mimi & August – https://mimiandaugust.com
  • Franc – https://wearfranc.com
  • Ten Tree – https://www.tentree.ca/
• Other & Skincare:
  • Attitude – https://attitudeliving.com
  • Elate Cosmetics – https://www.elatecosmetics.ca
• Zero Waste Shopping:
  • The Bare Market (in Easton Toronto) – https://baremarket.ca

On this episode of The Part-Time Jungle Podcast, I had a great conversation with Emily about building a business with her best friend that incorporates the flexibility and the creativity that they both value. We also discussed having an eco-conscious mindset and so much more!

It was so much fun to have this conversation with Emily! I loved the opportunity to get to know her better and to learn more about her story in motherhood and work.

FRIENDSHIP AND FLOWERS

Emily’s journey in building a business with her best friend, Liana, has been fun!  She and Liana have been friends since grade nine and they have always been creative together. Their business started when Emily and her mom, who is also a florist, did the flowers for Liana’s wedding in 2013. The two friends found themselves in this place where it was just sparking all of these creative ideas. At the time, they were running a separate business doing home decor. Flowers just became the new medium that they loved. This led them to a path of choosing flowers to be their creative place.

CHEERING EACH OTHER ON

Emily and Liana have always been each other’s cheerleaders through life and business. They find themselves saying more now than ever that they would not be doing this without one another. So many people told them in the beginning that you shouldn’t start a business with your friend. Everyone has horror stories of how hard it would be to maintain a friendship.

FRIENDS FIRST

Emily vividly remembers their first brainstorming session on Liana’s couch. The thing that came out of their mouths at the same time was that they wanted to be friends first. They have really stuck to that motto. Emily and Liana often have to pause their work conversations and ask, “Can I talk to you as my friend”?

LIFE AND BUSINESS

Emily’s friend and business partner, Liana, is a mom as well. They had their daughters seven months apart. Then, they both had their sons about nine to ten months apart. In many ways, Emily and Liana are like sisters. A cornerstone of their relationship has always been supporting each other and cheering each other on. They have moved through the stages of life and business together.

A SCHEDULE THAT WORKS

A mindset that they have implemented to keep things in check is that they create a calendar and schedule that works well for them. They do a lot of weddings, many which take place during the summer, but they also make sure to block off some weekends for that important family time. As well, they make a point of not working on most Sundays. It is important to both Emily and Liana to have those times when they turn their business off and enjoy the weekend and enjoy the cottage. Emily says that this is what will fill you on the days that are hard.

HOME DECOR TO FLOWERS

Emily and Liana had their previous home decor business before having kids and it was more just something they both wanted to do for fun. They are both creative people and enjoyed this side job that they spent time on on the weekends and at Christmas markets. When Emily became pregnant, they decided to choose one thing to focus on and that ended up being flowers.

GROWING FAMILIES

As both Emily and Liana’s families grew, they decided to pursue their flower business full-time. It all just worked. They were on mat leaves at different times so they were able to keep their business chugging along during those times. Five years later their business is booming and they are trying to keep up!

FLOWERS AND FLEXIBILITY

For both Emily and Liana, as it is for many moms who are business owners, the flexibility that came with owning their own business was key. This was the motivation to make their business what it is today. This really fueled their creativity and made going into business an easy decision. Then, there were the hard parts. Having a newborn and working on your computer while you’re trying to breastfeed and all those really juicy moments. However, they can see the light. The flexibility has given them the opportunity to really be the mothers that they want to be.

MULTITASKING

Emily remembers her first panic attack as a new mom was while she was trying to respond to emails and double breast pumping at the same time. She was on her yoga ball because her chair wouldn’t fit the breast pump at the desk. Suddenly, her yoga ball slipped and almost two full bottles of breast milk slammed down on the floor. Emily was crying and so angry at the same time. It has been a juggle.

CREATIVITY IN MOTHERHOOD

Emily shared how so many moms get bogged down in their new role as a mother and kind of lose themselves and their sense of self during this new journey. There’s so much value in exploring that creative side of you again. Just trying to engage and connect with things that really inspire you or used to inspire you will really fire you up again.

CREATIVE SELF-CARE

For Emily, a lot of her self-care is creative self-care. This involves fostering her creative habits that she already has as well as trying new ones. Emily loves to sew and DIY. She will often be sanding down a piece of furniture and repainting it for the house. Doing things that you can consider “you time” or that just makes you feel rejuvenated or energized is vital to feeling like yourself again.

CREATING TIME AND SPACE

Emily says that it can be hard to create the time and space for her creativity. As a creative person, she says that the desire to be creative comes in waves and you have to just jump on it. She has learned that there are times that work and times that don’t. With the support of her partner, Emily takes a lot of time for herself to be creative in the evenings. This can involve putting on her favorite TV show and pulling out some of her projects.

CREATIVE TIME

Emily and Lianna do some wine dates over Zoom while they are both working on their own little projects. She knows when she hasn’t had enough of the important “me time” during the week. Emily also finds that sharing her creativity with her kids is really special. Her daughter, Mary, is very creative. She loves sitting and drawing for hours. Emily has really gotten into baking with her kids and decorating cookies with them.

ECO-CONSCIOUS MINDSET

Emily says that when you are trying to be sustainable or to live an eco-conscious life, it’s really easy to get overwhelmed by the choices or the things that you feel you’re not doing. If each one of us takes one individual step in our day, week, or month to make a choice that aligns with sustainable values or makes just a small little tweak, we can combine forces. Doing this together means that hundreds of millions of steps are being taken every day, every week, and every month.

SMALL CHANGES CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

Emily says that you don’t need to feel like it’s on you to make a huge change. Small changes can make a world of difference. Emily does things like bringing her own grocery bags to the store as a way to reduce the amount of plastic she brings back into her home. She also brings her own coffee cups when she buys coffee. Because of their wax coating, disposable coffee cups aren’t recyclable. When they are thrown out, they can take hundreds of years to decompose in the landfills.

SHOWING YOUR SUPPORT

Emily encourages us to think about how our dollars speak to our actions. This can start with having a discussion with your partner or your family members about what businesses and brands you are supporting.

ECO-CONSCIOUS BUSINESS

Emily and Liana make small little changes every year that bring them closer to their values and closer to feeling good about the choices that they are making. This is a huge reason why they are growing their own flowers. This way they can compost as much as possible because it’s on their own land. They don’t use pesticides so there aren’t chemicals going back into the soil and into the water system. Emily and Liana also source from local growers and farmers that they know.

ECO-CONSCIOUS KIDS

Emily shares how she feels that kids do such a great job of getting on board with these eco-conscious ideas. Give them a reason and a small discussion and they will run with those ideas. Let the kiddos be your guides. They are having these conversations in their classrooms and with their peers. Your kids might have some great ideas for your home that could really change the way that you look at things and do things.

A BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

Emily had a challenging situation with her son while he was in the midst of potty training. She had been busy with work in the morning and they were going to a birthday party in the afternoon. Her partner had organized the kids and had got them in the car. They went through the whole party without an accident. However, about 10 minutes before the cake was going to be cut, Emily smelled a “whiff”. Emily said that her mommy brain deciphered that it was her kiddo.

NO DIAPER BAG

Her son had just pooped in his underwear. It wasn’t a huge deal except she realized that they had not brought a diaper bag with them. Emily tried to use toilet paper to clean up her little guy but they didn’t have another pair of pants. While everyone else was in the living room cutting the cake and taking videos, Emily was trying to wrangle her two children. Emily can now look back at this situation and laugh. She pictures herself running across the street to her vehicle with her pantless child.

MORNING ROUTINE

For the juggle of motherhood and work, Emily recommends having a great morning routine. She gets up at 5:30 AM, before her kiddos, so that she feels grounded and connected to herself each day. Her morning routine involves putting on her diffuser, meditating, journaling, and then, doing so yoga or a workout to get herself up and going. This hour and a half first thing in the morning is purely for herself. It makes her feel ready for her day. Emily says that it is so important to take the time to take care of yourself so that you can take care of others.

Thanks so much to Emily for this fantastic conversation and thank YOU for tuning in!

~Tiana