Meet KRISTI HANDLEY

We recently connected with KRISTI HANDLEY and have shared our conversation below.

KRISTI, 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.

As a child, my dad always kept houseplants. I remember plants being everywhere in our home. Fast forward to adulthood, that desire to have houseplants carried over to me. I first started collecting plants when I moved into my current home in 2014. The number of large windows is what captured my attention during my search for a new home. I could just picture the plants I could have with the amount of space and light. LOL! Real plant parent stuff!!

My two children would tease that we live in a greenhouse or a rain forrest. In early 2017, my 19 year old daughter was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia. And tragically, only five months later she lost her battle and was removed from life support on June 9, 2017; two days following my birthday. My whole world crashed. The birth of my daughter changed my life’s trajectory when I had her at the young age of 21. Now, I had a little person who needed me to grow up. Even while hospitalized, my daughter would encourage me and listen to me pitch the research I was conducting for my master’s degree. She actually made me promise her I would not quit and finish! I presented my master’s thesis a few months after her passing.

Needing a way to cope and deal with grief, I immersed myself in plant care and growing my collection. Caring for my plant collection became my therapy. Taking care of plants is so similar to taking care of ourselves! My collection grew and I began propagating plants and giving them as gifts. During my darkest hours, God was using my love of plants and aligning it to my purpose. Years later, God gave me the vision of a plant business while attending my church’s annual women’s conference in Arizona.

A few months later, I got my live plant grower’s and resell license in Georgia. I launched Beauty for Ashes Home Decor & More on Easter of 2024! In Isaiah 61:3 of the Bible, it states that God will give us ‘beauty for ashes; joy instead of mourning’. This season of my life, starting a plant business, is indeed my beauty following the ashes [my daughter’s passing].

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I launched the online platform of Beauty for Ashes Home Decor & More on Easter of this year. Currently, I’m working on expanding my business to vendor markets and small business collaborations, and growing my social media platform.

One of my main reasons for starting a plant business was to teach people the wonderful health benefits plants bring to your home. We all hear how they purify the air. But did you know that being around greenery, such as in hiking or camping, increases the serotonin levels. Serotonin helps us deal with stress and regulates our moods, it’s often called the happy hormone for that reason.

Coming soon, I will be launching some plant and self-care events. With the high level of stress most people are currently living through, I want to educate people on healthy coping strategies to deal with grief and the normal stress that comes from day-to-day living.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back, three qualities that I possess that really helped me as a young mom is resiliency, unwavering faith in God, and goal-driven. All of these combined have helped me get up each time I been knocked down. Whether the difficult time came from financial woes, heart-break, or losing a child, being resilient, having unshakeable faith, and being goal-driven have been the key to my success. Combined those skills and qualities have helped me manage two small businesses and a successful health care compliance career.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

If you speak to anyone who knows me, I am a serious overachiever! I want to do everything well. It started as a child.
Most people call it middle child syndrome! LOL! The constant need to get some type of recognition because you’re not the oldest and the first child and you’re not the baby. So now, you have to do everything good for attention. And when you carry that unhealed need for attention into adulthood you become a serial overachiever. I always had straight A’s, I was ranked single digits in my graduating class, completed graduate school with a 3.9. The list goes on, and on!

That often means not executing anything unless it is perfect which leads to procrastination. Well, in this season of life, God has being guiding me on doing well not perfect and not letting the desire to be perfect keep me from launching my business ideas. Procrastination is the smooth criminal. It will steals all of your hopes and dreams. If you wait for everything to be perfect you might miss the opportunity.

I once heard a sermon that compared the very season of life that I am in like the expert surfer. You see, if you ever watch surfing competitions, watch the surfers on the West Coast, or even surfed yourself. You will see surfers sitting on their surf boards waiting for the “perfect” wave to come. And when that wave approaches they have seconds, not minutes to respond by jumping up on the board and catching the wave. If they move just a few seconds to late, they can be knocked off the surf board by the huge waves or miss the wave all together. But, if they go with their gut, and move even when afraid, even when it’s not perfect, that can be the best surf of their competition or day. My biggest growth this year is just catching the wave of life, not waiting for everything to be perfect. I am focused on moving when my God gut says go!!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.beauty4asheshomedecor.com/
• Instagram: @therealkristirae and beauty4asheshomedecor
• Facebook: Beauty4asheshomedecor
• Linkedin: Kristi Handley
• Other: TikTok: Beauty 4 Ashes Plants