We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristen Liskey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kristen, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I didn’t feel like I had a purpose until I had children and it wasn’t until my youngest (born 2018) was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome in 2020 that we learned that our journey would be much different than we anticipated. Our lives are filled with so many therapy appointments and doctor appointments, that I was using a year’s worth of PTO in three months. Entrepreneurship was a way for us to make a living doing what we love while caring for and preparing for a life with a child with special needs. I have a floral shop and bakery in Ingram, TX. We do our best to support our community and fellow special needs families. My grandmother owned a flower shop in a neighboring town as I was growing up and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. The opportunity for the bakery happened to become available so we combined the two!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
We are Wild Iris Florals & 323 Bakery, a full service florist and bakery. We have a storefront where we provide daily flower arrangements, sympathy pieces, events and weddings as well as fresh baked pastries, bread and lunch items. We partner with our neighbor to offer pizza on Friday evenings (our neighbor is a wine bar and offers live music) and we’re kicking off the Spring/Summer season with a Farmer’s Market in our backyard supporting other small businesses.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Faith and intuition – trust your gut and know that you’re on this journey for a reason.
Kindness is everything- always be kind
Work your butt off – it’s totally worth it. Parts of the story, you’re doing it completely alone and other times, you have a village. Just keep going.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
Learning to rely on other people for help has been the biggest challenge. I am so hyper-independent that asking people for help before I burn out is so important.
Contact Info:
- Website: Wildirisflorals.net or 323-bakery.com
- Instagram: Texas323bakery or wildirisfloralstexas
- Facebook: 323 Bakery/ Wild Iris Florals
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
