Cup of Creative: Jenna Griffin, Aspriring Floral Designer
This is the first article in a series called Cup of Creative, where Jenna and I interview aspiring creative professionals in Atlanta over a cup of coffee (because that's how we roll). We thought it would only be right to interview each other before we asked anyone else to share their creative struggles and insecurities with our readers.
Jenna Griffin believes you can have more than one dream, one purpose in life, one calling.
Her whole life, she knew she was meant to teach, but now she's finding herself tugged in the new direction of floral design, and she's trying to teach herself that it's ok to pursue and cultivate more than one passion.
The spark that led Jenna to pursue floral design as something more than a dream occurred when her best friend asked her to bring a floral arrangement to her bridal shower. Everyone at the shower kept asking who did the flowers, thinking they came from a professional florist.
"I was thinking, oh my gosh. People really like it? I was super proud of it and that made me excited," Jenna said. "Every time I create a [floral] arrangement, I'm just so happy, and I just want to go and share with everybody."
As time went on and teaching consumed most of her time, she thought floral design was just simply something like liked, that it was a phase.
It wasn't until last Fall that she realized it wasn't just a phase. She was was reminded of someone she reached out to when she was first interested in pursuing floral design more seriously.
"I searched my [inbox] looking for that email and I realized it was a year ago," Jenna said. "This isn't just a phase, I've been thinking about this for more than a year."
After realizing she spent a year of constantly thinking, dreaming, and practicing flowers, she knew that first initial bridal shower, and later her own wedding florals, weren't just a random act of creativity. She knew they were signals pointing out what she loved all along.
In fact, Jenna's been crazy about flowers since second grade.
Her teacher told her mother, during a parent-teacher conference, that Jenna was "super sweet, a great student, but all she does is day dream about flowers and butterflies all day long."
Jenna's mom likes to reminder her of that little anecdote from time to time, and it helps Jenna to realize this little passion for flowers was alive for just as long as her desire to teach.
"I took second grade twice. I was held back," Jenna said. "It was a blessing. My second grade teacher was incredible and she's the one who inspired me to be a teacher. I probably would have never known that was something I was supposed to do for part of my life."
While teaching has been such an important part of Jenna, she feels it's time to challenge herself in other areas she's passionate about.
Jenna enjoys teaching and loves her kids, but she struggles with staying in education.
"Ideally, I'd love to work from my house and start small," Jenna said. "I'd start off spending half the day studying, learning, and taking courses. Eventually, half the day would be spent creating for people."
She can't wait to get to that point - creating for people.
She dreams of one day owning a little shop and imagines someone asking her to make a bouquet for their mother's birthday.
"I'd find out who she is, what kind of flowers she likes, or if she's someone who would like a whimsical bouquet or more traditional," Jenna said.
Using flowers to learn about people is one of the qualities that makes Jenna unique as an aspiring floral designer.
"I did do my flowers for my wedding, and that was such a proud moment," Jenna said. "I created my bouquet, and I had everybody else create theirs from what flowers we had. I think most brides want everybody's to look the same, but I was like 'make yours you, make yours to represent who you are."
For Jenna, flowers are storytellers, just like a good book or a stunning photograph.
"Florals can also tell a mood, or the personality of the event that's happening," Jenna said.
Having affirmation that she has the talent to do floral design helped spark Jenna in this creative endeavor.
Now, the process of actually diving into this pursuit will be her focus for the year.
// Share with Us!
If you don't live in Atlanta, but would like to participate, we'd love for you to blog about the following so we can learn more about what you're doing!
Prompt: What was the spark that initiated your pursuit of your creative endeavor?
In other words, describe what kick-started this creative passion of yours, and maybe your journey to discover it.
We'd also love to see your current creative pursuits on social media. Include the hashtag #cupofcreative so we can find and follow you!
// Link Up With Us!
We look forward to reading your Cup of Creative prompt response posts! Please link up the direct URL to your post. We hope you join in this journey with us!
