Working -- Shawni Hartman

-- Story by Mary A. Castillo

SHE IS

Helping people express their feelings with flowers

WORK OF BEAUTY

Shawni Hartman is one of those rare people who can truly say that she

does what she loves.

“I wanted to do something beautiful,” said Hartman, a 27-year-old

floral designer with the Laguna Flower Co.

She discovered her love of working with flowers when she took a year

off from her studies at USC to care for a friend who was terminally ill.

Needing to do something uplifting yet productive, Hartman took a floral

arranging class.

When she returned to school, she did the centerpieces and bouquets for

two of her friends’ weddings. But she felt that she needed to do

something practical.

A LONG SEARCH

After she graduated in 1997, Hartman lived in Hungary for a year

teaching English.

“The students were so eager to learn,” she said. “But when I received

a postcard from one of them, in which she wrote ‘you is the best English

teacher in all of the whole world,’ I felt like I failed.”

It took two more years, during which Hartman lived in Spain then later

worked as an activities assistant for a retirement center, to realize

that she had to do what she loved.

“At first no one would hire me because I had no professional

experience,” she recalled. “So I worked for free for one month at the

Laguna Flower Co. and then they hired me.”

PERSONAL REWARDS

Although she still endures comments from a few people who think that a

USC education is quite costly for someone to work as a floral designer,

Hartman’s boss Micky Ford feels otherwise.

“Shawni takes pride in herself and the business,” she said. “She won’t

just throw something together. It’s just not in her to do anything of

inferior quality.”

Moreover Hartman’s work not only has fans within Laguna Beach, her

work even attracts out-of-towners.

“I have a client who drives all the way from Huntington Beach just for

one of Shawni’s nosegays,” Ford said.

THE SUBTLE ART OF DIPLOMACY

While she prepares a bouquet of purple lisianthus and white hyacinth,

Hartman admits that her favorite clients are those who don’t know what

they want because she can really get to know the person as she designs a

bouquet.

Unfortunately for the men out there, the majority of those clients

happen to be . . . well, men.

“We probably do more ‘I’m sorry’ bouquets than the ‘I love you’ ones,”

she said. “Unfortunately a lot of men think that putting one of every

flower together is a good way to go.”

As Hartman and her colleagues prepare for the busy summer months in

which they handle as many as four weddings in a weekend, she stays

focused on what keeps her motivated.

“It feels good when my clients are happy with the results,” she said.