We had the good fortune of connecting with Brianna Hill and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brianna, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Having the unending support of my community, my family and friends. So far, I have had success in each step I’ve taken to build and establish my brand through the support of my family and friends, whether it be them looking over content I’ve created, making donations, purchasing my products, offering to build my website, etc. I have been extremely grateful for them being willing to use their amazing talents to boost my brand forward.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I think the thing I’ve been most excited about along this journey is learning and growing together with my customers. It probably sounds really corny, but I truly am enjoying the challenges that starting my own business has presented. One thing about me, in my personal life, I am not the greatest at tracking money and sticking to a budget. Being in business has forced me to create better habits and track every dollar, which has in turn, had a positive effect on my personal finances. FloraNoir is still so new and my journey has really only just begun, but I would say that how I’ve gotten my wins so far is by being truly grateful for each step in the process. I work really hard to see the positives in the errors/wrong turns and to remain open to possibilities I had not even considered. I want the world to know that, at the end of the day, FloraNoir is about making genuine connections with others and we want to foster that through the common interest of houseplants and gardening.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Oh, Portland! What an interesting place to live and be. Deadstock Coffee would be the early morning location to get our caffeine fix before getting some fresh air at Multnomah Falls! It’s a beautiful waterfall just outside of Portland. Next up: Cathedral Park to get a great view of my absolute favorite bridge of the twelve in the city: the St. Johns Bridge. To eat, I would have them choose a restaurant from iloveblackfood.com, a website that lists Black-owned restaurants and food carts in the Portland Metro area! Everybody Eats PDX, Kee’s Loaded Kitchen, Fuel Cafe, Abbey Creek Vineyard, the list goes on and on! Gentrification in NE Portland has displaced a lot of the Black community here, so I intentionally seek out places that are for us, by us. For fun, we would rent bikes from Nike Biketown and ride through the downtown area and over the Tilikum bridge, which is Portland’s bridge for pedestrians, cyclists, and mass transit only. Once Covid is over, we’d definitely go see my Blazers play! The saying is “Keep Portland Weird” so the Portland Saturday Market at the Waterfront Park is a must-see, to check out the arts and crafts from various vendors and, of course, people-watch from a park bench while enjoying the view of the Willamette River.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
The Black Women in my life have been THEE most supportive of my ventures. From the volunteer moderators of the FloraNoir Facebook group (Courtney and Charmaine). to my friend Stormy telling me to “just start”, my bestie Jasmine who is my right hand at all of my events, and my twin sister Tichelle, who endures the late nights with me (on FaceTime, no less!) while I’m creating content and working on managing my spreadsheets. Also, my friend Patricia (non-Black POC), who has used her social media following to shoutout my business and hype me up, constantly. Y’all are the real MVPs!

Website: www.floranoir.us

Instagram: @floranoir.plants

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/floranoir.gardenclub

Other: If you love plants and are a Black Women or Black non-binary person comfortable in spaces that center women, please consider joining the FloraNoir Facebook group, a space where we all convene to post our plants and get advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FloraNoir

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