Meet Emma Harris

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Emma Harris. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Emma, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

I am a firm believer that creativity must be intentionally nurtured, especially when you work in an artistically driven field. It’s easy to become desensitized to the joy of your art form because of it’s sometimes repetitive nature, which is why I feel it’s important to always be trying new things, in your medium of choice but also branching out to try different mediums. For me, this looks like taking on events with unique color palettes, flower types, and aesthetic concepts. I also aim to take on a styled shoot or two every year, which are centered around vendor artistry and being able to try something new without the pressure of creating for a client. I also flex my creative muscle outside of flowers through mediums like painting, crafts, and film photography. Through habitual and intentional time dedicated to creativity, we stoke the creative fire and develop a way of looking at the world with an artists’ eye.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I own Emma Harris Floral, a Pittsburgh based wedding floral company that specializes in whimsical, garden-inspired florals. My responsibilities are many and varied within my business, as I work on everything from marketing to floral design to customer service. My job enables me to master many different skill sets, therefore my work is seldom boring. Though designing is my favorite part of my job, it is a fraction of the work I do behind the scenes! I always try to communicate to clients that they are not only paying for flower arrangements when they hire us, but a full service experience that stretches from the first design board to the clean-up of their event. There is so much work that goes into a single event, but it is mostly unknown because it all happens behind the scenes. However, that means we have done our job well! I love to joke that we are ‘flower fairies’ because we make your dream flowers appear on your event day just like magic. Our goal for our clients is to be able to book with us and show up on their wedding day to beautiful flowers without having to stress about anything. I feel that our dedication to a lush, artistic final product with high-quality, luxury flower types sets us apart from other florists. We are currently booking for ‘24 and ‘25 (and soon ‘26!) events and are looking to collaborate with clients that want to infuse personality and joy into their event through their flowers!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

A quality I feel has greatly benefitted me as an entrepreneur is what I will call the “It’ll Get Done No Matter What” mentality. In short, it is my belief that I have the internal resources to achieve any goal with the right planning and research. If a prospective client has a request for an intricate installation that I’ve never done before, I know that I have the capability to get it done with research about the mechanics I will use, help from hired freelancers, and drawing on my experience with past installations. Or if I’m working on a tight timeframe on a wedding day, I don’t stress because I have the innate confidence in myself that it’ll get set-up on time no matter what because I’ve put in the proper planning and organized the logistics ahead of time.

Beginner’s mindset has also been impactful in my journey as a business owner. I am largely self taught as a designer and have dedicated years of practice to hone my craft. When I was just starting out, I would get flowers from the grocery store and dedicate a few hours to practice my design work every weekend. I recognized that I wasn’t at the skill level that I wanted to be, but I chose to be enthusiastic about trying something new instead of discouraged that I wasn’t yet as accomplished as the designers that I looked up to. This has also applied to areas of my business like website design, taxes, marketing, etc., where I realize I will get better over time but need to humble myself and look at it through the eyes of a beginner. I think it’s important as an entrepreneur to try to figure something out for yourself first, but also utilize the resources at hand if you need additional expertise. Google and YouTube are an entrepreneur’s best friend!

Practicing gratitude has helped me find the value in my work, even when things are hard or I’m just not in the mood that day. I recognize that I don’t HAVE to run my business, I GET to run my business; that distinction in verbiage is important. I recognize that my clients choose to spend their time and money on my work, which makes me feel that the work I am doing is important. I get to be a part of one of the most important days in someone’s life and I make a living off of doing what I love. I feel that staying connected to the WHY of what you do and continuing to be thankful for it is key to long term success.

The mind is an incredibly powerful asset which can be used to either help or hinder your success. My best advice is to try to be present with your mind and observe the ways your internal beliefs and thought processes shape your view of yourself and what you’re capable of. I am certainly not perfect and developing a healthy mindset around my career has taken a few years of practice. Meditation and mindfulness have been helpful for me in developing the ability to recognize unhelpful thought patterns that keep me stuck in a loop of self-doubt. We all have the capability to achieve our goals, but we need to be careful not to stand in our own way.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

I’ve learned the hard way that it’s necessary to take a break when experiencing overwhelm and burnout. I am of the opinion that setting aside time to rest will help my long term productivity. I think some entrepreneurs have an aversion to rest because they see it as being lazy but I greatly value the privilege of being able to take time off when I need to. I want to be able to enjoy not only my career but my personal life too! Sometimes during wedding season, however, it’s not possible for me to take a break, so I will delegate as much as possible to save my mind and energy for the truly necessary tasks. I used to just try to do everything myself and would reach the point where I was exhausted and not enthusiastic about what I was doing. Now I recognize that something as simple as hiring someone for 2-3 hours to do a late night clean-up on my behalf greatly decreases my stress level. I think a lot of entrepreneurs are extremely independent people who don’t like to ask for help or entrust portions of their business to another person. I’ve come to recognize that taking breaks and delegating when necessary not only helps me feel less overwhelmed but allows me to provide a better end product for my clients and feel more content while doing so.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.emmaharrisfloral.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emmaharrisfloral/
• Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@emmaharrisfloral
  Email: [email protected]

Image Credits

Personal Photo + Photo with Mantle Installation – Nellie Bradford Photography @nelliefilmphotographer
Additional Headshot + Photo with Blue and Green Flowers – Meg Lee Photo @megleephoto
Horizontal + Vertical Photo with White Background – Dawn Derbyshire @dawnderbyshire
Photo with Bright Pink Flowers – Ashley Biltz Photography @ashleybiltzphoto
Photo with Yellow and Purple Bouquet – Corey Taylor @corey.taylor.photography
Photo with Peach and Blue Bouquet – Jess Collective Co. @jesscollectiveco