Meet Wendi Phillips

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Wendi Phillips a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Wendi, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

I’ve overcome imposter syndrome by learning these truths.
1. No one knows what they are doing… Even if they are the most skilled, learned, or trained individuals, even masters still have room to learn and improve.
2. The world is constantly changing and evolving so you can reach the epitome of anything and become irrelevant moments in time later.
3. My own zone of influence is my work. The people who I work with are meant to work with me, the people I inspire and inspired because of the authenticity in which I show up as me for them. I can only reach my zone, and I am meant to reach just them. Other people doing the same thing don’t compete with me, they show up for their own zone.
4. I am loved, valued, and appreciated for exactly what I bring to the table, nothing more, nothing less. I simply am already all of those things and embody my work (whatever it is) completely and fully as me. I offer it authentically, imperfectly, and allow others to engage with those same truths in themselves by demonstrating this truth.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I grew up the oldest daughter of three kids of a single mom. She worked very hard to keep our home safe, us kids fed, and us all engaged with our school work. We all worked very hard to make her proud. She always encouraged us to reach further than we thought we could, pushing us in each our own individual ways to seek and create our own paths.

I went to Mills College in Oakland and studied Philosophy on my path to become a lawyer, but was side tracked by a high school sweetheart, promise of marriage, and a simple life. Luckily all of that promise fell right apart and I moved back to the bay area to finish school. However, I was now working my butt off, paying my way through a private undergrad and realizing that I was just not going to make the math make sense.
I dropped out to continue my education at city college of San Francisco, so I could transfer to SF STATE and finish my bachelors and then go to law school.
That also didn’t happen because Flowers found me. I took a relaxing class in floral design and then followed the petalled path all the way to owning my own brick and mortar business in Benicia Ca. I opened the shop doors in January of 2020 and then the pandemic hit redirecting a large portion of my anticipated income to future potential years. The queen of the pivot at this point I just made new offerings and started delivering wrap bouquets door to door for my subscribers. We had an underground flower movement bringing joy to Benicia and Vallejo during the darkest times of my existence so far.

During those years of building Sweetness & Light Weddings & Events, a floral business, I had a young baby and my then husband and I decided it was best for us to part ways. Without going into all of the details about what that did to my heart, I found Yoga and began practicing daily. I still had my shop, but it was failing to provide enough financially for me to be on my own. I met my now Co-Host of my podcast through the flower shop and we became very good friends. In time we realized that we had a lot to say about retail, the true costs of doing business, and launched “Transactional Love” in November of 2023.
I sought my Yoga Teaching Certification and began teaching at various locations in Benicia, recording episodes of the podcast, and began winding down my brick and mortar flower shop to its current on-line offering.
I also work a full time remote job supporting wedding florists and our wedding clients throughout the United States. In my free time, I also sell wine as a rep for a local import company, walk my dog, hang out with my kid and our friends, occasionally paint and just as occasionally get caught up on the dishes.

My newest plan and seed of offering is a newsletter and instagram account called @TheGardenSomm where I strive to pair the perfect glass with gardening tasks. Something I found myself doing so frequently that when my son and I would return home from work and school, he would head into the kitchen to grab himself a juice box and innocently ask me if I also wanted a glass of wine. – he was much to young to pour for me, or even know that wine had an imbibing effect, but he knew it was our ritual and was happy to share it with me.
Ultimately the offering will culminate in a life long vision of dining alfresco with perfectly paired wines, flowers and music, but for now I have the media offerings as well as offer private gardening parties where clients gather their friends to tackle a gardening task as a group and I offer support in the planning, plantings, irrigation, wine and food pairing, as well as help orchestrate all the details to make the task a memorable bonding experience for all involved. Visit www.thegardensomm.com for more details.

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

1. A curious mind – I have a poster that is currently in my home and had always been in my offices that simple states “Why the Hell Not?” I’ve learned that the only person keeping me from my success is me, the only one telling me no is ultimately me, and when it’s time to move and make the changes the only one stopping me is me. No one else will open any of the doors for you, you have got to open them for yourself.
2. A beginner’s spirit – knowing that I can always improve, learn more, or get more refined is key. The moment you think you have it figured out, is the moment your innovation dies.
3. Always come from love. I don’t know exactly when I switched here, it may have always been a quiet part of me, but there is literally never a moment when I don’t engage with another soul where I am not coming from Love. sometimes it might feel like heat, sometimes it might feel like peace, but my heart is always engaged deeply to hear what the other heart needs. Its a magic I posses that allows all creatures to feel safe with me. If you practice coming into every arena with love first, you will be surprised how smooth the path becomes to the next phase of whatever you are heading toward.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I am looking for a chef or cook/gardener/grower to collaborate on the next chapter of my offering.
I believe deeply in the gathering and the vision I have for bespoke dinners requires an expert in the culinary field who shares my passion for connection, experience and gathering.
Im looking to create a return to the table for all people and encourage a world where everything we hold can be set down when we sit down at the table. Allowing us an opportunity to nourish our bodies, minds and souls.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thegardensomm.com, www.transactionallove.org, www.sweetnessandlightflowers.com
• Instagram: @thegardensomm, @transactionallove, @sweetnessandlightflowers
• Other: Apple Music and Spotify: Transactional Love Podcast

Image Credits

Tanja Kopper Photography