When Desiree first started making ribbon flowers, it was just for fun.

She learned the basics from her cousin, but eventually turned to online tutorials to learn new methods to carefully shape petals and turn ribbons into roses. What started as a creative hobby quickly became something more.

She made flowers for her aunt, and soon other family members and friends began asking for their own. As interest grew, Desiree realized she had an opportunity to turn her talent into a business. With help from her brother, she set up an Instagram account and business profile, and she was off to the races.

For the past two years, Desiree has been building her flower-making business, steadily growing her skills and her confidence. She focuses primarily on ribbon roses, but she’s always learning. Recently, with a little more help from TikTok, she mastered a new design: a ribbon dahlia. She’s now experimenting with different sizes and colors and plans to keep expanding her offerings by learning even more flower styles like sunflowers.

“I started making them just for fun,” Desiree says, “but other people started catching on and I saw an opportunity for it to be a business.”

Desiree describes herself as very family-oriented, and their support shows up in many ways, like helping her get supplies and sharing her work with their wider network. Their encouragement has helped fuel her motivation to keep going, even when the workload gets heavy.

Desiree was paired with her mentor, Katie, about a year ago. As Desiree began thinking about her next steps for the business, she told Katie that she wanted to expand her clientele but felt shy about talking to new people.

Katie saw this as an opportunity to build both business and life skills. She encouraged Desiree to share her work more openly, starting with staff at Friends of the Children. Together, they came up with a plan for Desiree to go door to door with a flyer, introducing herself and showing examples of her ribbon flowers.

It wasn’t easy to step outside her comfort zone, but orders began coming in, and Desiree could see firsthand how advocating for herself made a difference.

“It’s so cool to see her commitment to both growing her business and building life skills along the way,” Katie says. “I love seeing her step outside of her comfort zone and be rewarded for it.”

Now, Desiree is busier than ever. With Valentine’s Day orders coming in, she has a large number of orders lined up, with some requesting bouquets with up to 100 ribbon flowers. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also a source of pride for her.

Reflecting on what she’s learned, Desiree says, “I learned to never give up and to keep trying, and that when my friends and family are supportive of what I’m doing, I feel more motivated to keep going."

At the heart of it all, her favorite part of the business is simple: making customers happy. That joy is what drives her to keep learning new designs, improving her craft, and dreaming bigger about what her business could become.