Brittany Ellis

Amber Bullis shares the journey of establishing Olive Peach Autumn Leaves, a business specializing in custom home and event decor. Initially, the venture began from a personal hobby of crafting unique wreaths that differed from mass-produced options available in retail stores. This passion evolved into a business offering custom-made seasonal wreaths, distinguishing itself by creating one-of-a-kind pieces and never replicating designs. Over time, the business expanded its offerings to include floral arrangements and custom signs, becoming a comprehensive provider for home and event decoration. Amber's entrepreneurial path started during a period as a stay-at-home mother with three young children. Her initial wreaths were made from leftover garlands, and their unique appeal quickly garnered requests from friends, prompting her to consider it as a business. She dedicated time to learning floral design techniques and bow-making through tutorials, transitioning from using salvaged materials to artificial and eventually preserved and fresh flowers. The expansion of her services grew from crafting home decor items to creating centerpieces and custom signage for events like baby showers and weddings, offering printed, wood, acrylic, and mirror signs for purchase and rental. This journey helped Amber rediscover her identity and purpose. Regarding business development and marketing, Amber recounts a significant moment where she took a personal risk to showcase her abilities. As a self-taught floral designer, she recognized the need to actively market her skills rather than waiting for clients to discover her. This led her to host a brunch for friends who had supported her business, transforming her home with elaborate floral installations and custom signs, akin to a bridal shower. She hired a content creator to document the event, leveraging it as a marketing tool. This proactive approach to self-promotion resulted in promising new projects and validated her talent and vision. Amber emphasizes the importance of building strong relationships with her clients, viewing each custom piece as a reflection of their personal story and style. She engages deeply with clients to understand their preferences, ensuring that the final product aligns perfectly with their personality and event. This personalized approach often transforms client relationships into friendships, as she accompanies them through significant life events like weddings, pregnancies, and home decor projects after major life changes. This focus on personal connection and attention to detail, which mass retailers cannot offer, fosters client loyalty and repeat business. She highlights that the love and care put into each custom design resonate deeply with her clients, bringing joy to both her and them. #Entrepreneurship #FloralDesign #CustomDecor #HomeDecor #EventDecor #SmallBusiness #CreativePursuits #PersonalBrand #ClientRelationships

Brooke Williams, a senior at the University of Colorado Boulder, shares her journey from initially pursuing Architectural Engineering to finding her true passion in Environmental Design. Hailing from Santa Cruz, California, Brooke initially chose CU Boulder for its engineering program, drawn by her proficiency in math. However, after two years in engineering, she discovered the Environmental Design program through a friend and quickly realized it offered the design-focused education she craved, which was lacking in her engineering curriculum. She describes the competitive environment of engineering versus the supportive community she found in ENVD, highlighting the unique faculty-student relationships where professors encourage students to address them by their first names. Brooke's academic path includes a transformative study abroad experience in Rome during her junior year, where she immersed herself in a challenging 3000-level studio. This six-week summer program was pivotal, pushing her out of her comfort zone and providing intense, enriching learning opportunities. She emphasizes the value of travel for inspiration and personal growth, having also explored Germany and Venice during her time abroad. Within her major, Brooke appreciates the wide breadth of study in Environmental Design, which encourages understanding the entire human-built environment, encompassing architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning. She believes this comprehensive approach provides her with a unique edge in the field. Beyond academics, Brooke actively participates in campus clubs such as the Illumination Engineering Society (IES), Design Build Institute of America (DBIA), and American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), aligning her extracurriculars with her passions. She recounts a particularly gratifying experience as a Teaching Assistant, where she inspired students during an impromptu lecture on the importance of model-making. Brooke also shares her involvement as the team captain for a DBIA competition, leading a multidisciplinary team to a third-place finish. This experience, which involved responding to an RFQ, creating design concepts, and managing construction schedules, solidified her desire to one day own her own firm and be involved in all aspects of projects. Her summer internship at Fuse, an architecture firm in her hometown, was a significant turning point. Initially, she secured the internship by cold-emailing the firm and was tasked with basic duties. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, she quickly stepped into more significant roles, including drafting renderings for clients and developing a schematic design for a cake shop that is now being built. This hands-on experience confirmed her passion for architecture and provided early exposure to the construction process. She plans to return to Fuse to see the cake shop project through to completion. Brooke's future aspirations include becoming an architectural intern, incorporating lighting design into her work, and eventually earning her architecture license to open a small residential firm, ideally in San Francisco or Santa Cruz. Her advice to underclassmen is to seek out as much work experience as possible to clarify career goals and to fully utilize university resources, separating the theoretical learning of school from the practical, budget-driven realities of the professional world. #EnvironmentalDesign #ArchitectureStudent #StudyAbroad #CareerJourney #DesignInternship #StudentLeadership #ArchitecturalEngineering #UniversityOfColoradoBoulder #LightingDesign