Meet Margaux St. Ledger | Floral Designer, Business Owner, Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Margaux St. Ledger and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Margaux, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The most important factor behind our success is our the relationships we establish and cultivate with our clients. Each and every event is unique and a reflection of our client – the occasion, their vision, their style, their budget. We see each client and each experience as something new and special.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
With all the paths I have followed in my professional life/career, I will always refer to myself as an Artist. I graduated from College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. My degree includes all of the concentrations from oil, acrylic and watercolor painting, to sculpture and printmaking and multimedia as well.

My one concern was what I was going to do with this degree?

A few twists and turns in my life gave me opportunities to work as an on camera actress, spokesperson and program host. Commercials, Television, some small film rolls along with QVC and HSN hosting were some of my jobs.

That was super fun but did not always provide the constant paycheck… but the nice thing about being an artist/creative is that you can always create something and find a way to make some money.

Then I opened my own business and my various artistic interests kind of rotated. My business of designing for special events became my main focus. Starting that kind of a business is not very difficult. There are certain things you have to have. A space to work. I only do special events so I do not need a storefront. My design studio and office are on my private property. I needed a walk in cooler and space…. to grow. Since larger, luxury events usually book out in advance you have the ability to purchase what you need as you go and that ultimately becomes part of your inventory. I suppose the biggest challenge was letting people know I was out there. It was 2006 when I started my business so marketing was a little different then. I sent out 350 packages to venues, planners, caterers, photographers and other types of vendors to get my name and my brand out.

Branding! As an entrepreneur that is key! Working as a show host for home shopping channels was like getting a masters in branding. That education has served me well starting my own business. The first question you ask yourself is – who do you want to attract? I wanted to have a business that attracted clients who were looking for what I do. Creating art with a flowers. Bringing unique and innovative vision to life.

I have french in my heritage and I wanted to bring that element into my brand so I chose Fleur De Lis Floral for our name. Fleur De Lis means “lily flower” or flower of the iris. The history of the Fleur De Lis has many meanings: purity, strength, reliability and feminine virtue. For me flowers possess all of those traits and no two flowers are ever the same.

The biggest challenge of a floral designer is that you are working with a live product. So yes… no two are ever alike and they are like any other fresh item… they don’t last forever, they don’t like it too hot, they don’t like it too cold and you have to ship them from all over the world. That takes a little getting use to, but just like any other job there is a learning curve and you learn. Unlike a flower shop, we are creating for a specific day, so the receiving, processing and development of our flowers have different steps. We have learned how they behave and how to work with them at different times of the year.

The thing that I’m most proud of and what I do think sets us apart is the kind of floral design we do. It’s floral art! It’s an experience we create for our clients… just like what a great chef does with food. Our philosophy is to create a work of art that incorporates texture, movement, fragrance, color, shape, form and value and the bonus is that we get to use materials created by in nature, by nature. The extra bonus is that we let the blooms, the stems the branches, petals and leaves do what they do best. This approach is what I love so so much about what I do. Everything we create, each event is unique and different. This is what sets us apart.

My best friend once told me – stop telling people you’re a floral designer. I said why? That is what I do. She said no – with what you do. You make people’s dreams come true. Now, that is a lofty statement I certainly don’t use that as a job description, but in a small way it is true.. because that is how we want our customers to feel.

If I were to share one thing about us… that would be it. Who knows… my next goal is to have a show that shares our stories, journeys and event process with others to bring them along and share the inspiration.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My best friend and I are travelers… we love to see as much of the world as possible. In fact her wedding was just in Switzerland and I did the flowers.

A long weekend at my place would include:
starting out with a hang out in my garden on an adirondack chair with a nice glass of rose, nosh style food and catching up.
Day 2,… the beach (or as we say in my area, “down the shore”. I spent my childhood summers going to the beach. A day in Cape May would be perfect for sunning, shopping and a great meal.
Day 3… up to New York City. It’s an easy train ride and day of shopping, maybe grabbing last minute show tickets and dinner would be great.
Day 4… relaxing and dinner downtown Philadelphia. We have lots of great restaurants!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shout out is to two people: first my Mom, who has always encouraged me to reach for my dreams! When I started my business my Mom worked with me for many years.

The other person(s), are the dynamite duo of Dial Jensen and Sean McGowan. Owners of Modern Floristry. When I moved to Los Angeles (years ago), I was working in the entertainment business and needed the “day job”. I joined their team for seasonal work and things continued from there. That was my start. I will always think of them as my mentors, teaching me so much but also being a part of helping me find out who I was/am as a person, artist, floral creator.

Website: www.fleurdelisfloral.net

Instagram: @fleurdelisfloral & @Margauxstledger

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaux-st-ledger-2403554/

Facebook: Fleur De Lis Floral & Margaux St. Ledger