Episode 518 Kiara Hancock of K. Hancock Events and HBO’s Full Bloom Season 2

Today's guest: Kiara Hancock of K. Hancock Events In celebration of our Slow Flowers Podcast's 8th anniversary, we launched our new, live-stream video format -- calling it the Slow Flowers Show -- with the goal of sharing the faces and voices of our members, as well as tours of their farms, their shops and their studios -- and most of all, their flowers https://youtu.be/UytU9c7Yq9o Today, you're in for a real treat as we will meet Kiara Hancock of K. Hancock Events, who joined me last week to record this conversation. Kiara is based in Tacoma's University Place and she is a floral educator and wedding and event florist. Kiara Hancock on HBO's Full Bloom Season 2 If, like me, you have just binged on the floral series of the summer, HBO's Full Bloom, you already know Kiara, who was one of 10 budding floral artists who are put to the test each episode in both individual and team challenges. Floral experts Simon Lycett, Elizabeth Cronin and Maurice Harris serve as hosts and judges determining who gets cut and who remains in the running for the $100,000 grand prize. HBO Max released the series on June 10th. Kiara's Episode One winning floral arrangement Kiara Hancock (second from right) in Full Bloom - Season 2 I reached out to Kiara and asked her to share her story, her experience as a reality TV competitor, and to design for us on camera. She writes this on her website: "I'm a wife, mother to two awesome girls, a wedding designer, floral designer, and day-of coordinator. I believe that modern and romantic designs can coexist in harmony and I aim to bring weddings to life in a way that resonates JOY." Kiara' forte is incorporating passionate and confident designs that seamlessly integrate each couple's personalities, both as individuals and jointly. Kiara is a pro at the logistics portion of planning, thanks to her background as an administrative professional at some of the Northwest’s most successful companies. Her passion for events stems from not only wanting to make sure that each of her clients' wedding day runs smoothly and that she deliver something beautiful to the eye, while ensuring the couple feels heard, understood, and seen. Kiara is a huge advocate of authenticity and she encourages, supports and guides her clients to be true to who they are, fight for the things they want, dream big, and to trust their gut. She adds: "I will never get tired of seeing my designs become part of the tapestry of your wedding day...it does my heart serious good." If you haven't fallen in love with Kiara's favorite color palette -- yellow in all shades, I'd be surprised! We also welcome Kiara Hancock as a new member of the slow flowers society. She's one to follow, and we admire all that she's doing to nurture inclusion and representation through her Decency is not Difficult campaign to support ourcommoncause.com. More news . . . I know it's August and that our celebration of 2021 American Flowers Week has passed for this year (the dates were June 28-July 4th), but you'll want to check out the our new article that appears in Growing For Market's August issue. Thanks to editor and publisher Andrew Mefferd, who asked me to recap some of the amazing activities that our members produced for American Flowers Week. American-Flowers-Week-in-August-2021-Growing-for-Market-MagazineDownload Last month, we also jumped in and celebrated the 2021 Canadian Flowers Week (July 15-22), thanks to the support of creator Natasa Kajganic of the Toronto Flower Market who invited Becky Feasby of Prairie Girl Flowers and me to do an IG takeover. During the entire week, we virtually traveled across Canada, meeting florists and flower farmers in seven provinces for IG Live conversations about their floral enterprises. Click here to watch those interviews And thank you to each of our guests: Thank you to our Sponsors This show is brought to you by Slowflowers.com, the free, online directory to more than 880 florists, shops, and studios who design with local, seasonal and sustainable flowers and to the farms that grow those blooms. It’s the conscious choice for buying and sending flowers. Special thanks to our lead sponsor for 2021, Farmgirl Flowers. Farmgirl Flowers delivers iconic burlap-wrapped bouquets and lush, abundant arrangements to customers across the U.S., supporting more than 20 U.S. flower farms by purchasing more than $9 million dollars of U.S.-grown fresh and seasonal flowers and foliage annually. Discover more at farmgirlflowers.com. More thanks goes to Red Twig Farms. Based in Johnstown, Ohio, Red Twig Farms is a family-owned farm specializing in peonies, daffodils, tulips and branches, a popular peony-bouquet-by-mail program and their Spread the Hope Campaign where customers purchase 10 tulip stems for essential workers and others in their community. Learn more at redtwigfarms.com. Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. Formed in 1988, ASCFG was created to educate, unite, and support commercial cut flower growers. It mission is to help growers produce high-quality floral material, and to foster and promote the local availability of that product. Learn more at ascfg.org. Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, a farmer-owned cooperative committed to providing the very best the Pacific Northwest has to offer in cut flowers, foliage and plants. The Growers Market’s mission is to foster a vibrant marketplace that sustains local flower farms and provides top-quality products and service to the local floral industry. Visit them at seattlewholesalegrowersmarket.com. Thanks so much for joining us today! The Slow Flowers Podcast has been downloaded more than 753,000 times by listeners like you. Thank you for listening, commenting and sharing – it means so much. As our movement gains more supporters and more passionate participants who believe in the importance of our domestic cut flower industry, the momentum is contagious. I know you feel it, too. I value your support and invite you to show your thanks to support Slow Flowers' ongoing advocacy, education and outreach activities. You can find the donate button in the column to the right at debraprinzing.com (c) Mary Grace Long I'm Debra Prinzing, host and producer of the Slow Flowers Show. Next week, you're invited to join me in putting more Slow Flowers on the table, one stem at a time. The content and opinions expressed here are either mine alone or those of my guests alone, independent of any podcast sponsor or other person, company or organization. The Slow Flowers Podcast is engineered and edited by Andrew Brenlan. Thank you so much to Andrew for helping me set up our new Video Podcast platform and teaching me the technology! I'll be relying more on his talents in the coming days. You can learn more about Andrew's work at soundbodymovement.com. Music Credits: Open Flames; Turning on the Lights; Gaenaby Blue Dot Sessionshttp://www.sessions.blueLovelyby Tryad http://tryad.bandcamp.com/album/instrumentalshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ In The Fieldaudionautix.com