A heartfelt entrepreneurial journey rooted in herbs, family, courage, and the remarkable women who shaped my path. From Illinois to Florida, this story honors resilience, reinvention, and the women who helped me bloom.
My Entrepreneurial Journey (International Women’s Day Edition)
My Entrepreneurial Journey Rooted in Herbs, Family, and Courage
International Women’s Day feels like the perfect thyme to look back on the winding, courageous, joy-filled path that brought me from herbs to flowers to flour — and finally to Florida. My journey has been shaped by the women who raised me, encouraged me, challenged me, and sometimes told me not to do the very things I ended up doing anyway. That’s the beauty of a woman’s story: it rarely grows in a straight line.
Throughout my life, I’ve been shaped by a circle of remarkable women — my grandmothers with their quiet strength, my great aunt with her steady presence, my mother with her practicality and grace, the neighbor who loved me like her own, and the herbal wise woman who taught me to listen to the plants. Their hands, their stories, and their courage are woven into every chapter of my journey. I am who I am because of the women who tended me.
And then there are the friends — the ones who knew me when my dreams were still seedlings. My childhood friends who grew up alongside me, and the women who joined me later in life and became chosen family. They celebrated every new chapter, listened to every wild idea, and stood with me through the losses, the pivots, and the leaps of faith. Their presence has been one of the greatest gifts of my journey.
Sprout: The Dream Begins
Over 30 years ago, something inside me woke up. I had spent my early adulthood working in banking and accounting — steady work, good work, but not my work. I was tired of pouring my energy into someone else’s dream while mine sat quietly on the shelf.
Not every woman on my path lifted me up — and that shaped me too. I still remember the ones who tried to squash my dream with condescending comments about what I “didn’t know” and “why would you want to do THAT?”. Their doubt stung, but it also clarified something in me: I wasn’t building my life to fit someone else’s expectations. I was building it to honor the women who came before me — the ones who taught me resilience, creativity, thrift, and courage. Their doubt became fuel.
For years, a dear friend and I dreamed of opening a dessert restaurant called Just Desserts. We imagined flourless chocolate cakes, pots of scented geraniums on every table, and a menu full of indulgence. Our spouses (and my mother) vetoed the idea. My mother, having worked in my grandfather’s restaurant, insisted that restaurant life was the hardest work in the world.
Years later, I would gently correct her:
Owning a flower shop in a small rural community is the hardest work in the world.
When the dessert dream fizzled, I pivoted — as women do. I started an herb business instead. I taught classes, worked craft shows, and wrote my first (and so far only) cookbooklet, Just Desserts, Herbal of Course, after my dear friend unexpectedly passed away. Writing it helped me grieve, heal, and keep going.
Grow: The Herb Shop, Santa’s House, and Petals & Porch Posts
My parents let me open an herb shop with a tiny greenhouse on their property. The shop itself had a story — it was the old Santa House from the nearby village. As a little girl, I had sat on Santa’s lap in that very building. Family legend says I told my mother, “Santa has green eyes just like my Daddy!” (That’s because Santa was my daddy that day.)
Once the Santa House was moved to the farm, it was transformed into this cute little cottage.
Eventually, I joined forces with two women and one gentleman to open Petals & Porch Posts in a small Central Illinois farming community. At the same time, my husband and I moved back to the family farm to help care for my aging parents. We built a modular home for them in the backyard and moved into the farmhouse. It was a challenging first year, but we learned to share space, love, and responsibility.
Petals & Porch Posts began as an antique and gift shop with a standalone flower shop in the back. Over time, I became the sole owner and left my banking career behind. The original florist even returned to help me. It was a season of growth — hard, beautiful, exhausting, meaningful growth.
Bloom: Loss, Flour, and Florida
My mother passed away in 2014. A family friend moved in to help keep my dad company. In 2015, I purchased an existing pizzeria, downsized Petals & Porch Posts, and moved it into the same building. I renamed the pizzeria Makin’ Pizza and began working with flour instead of flowers.
In 2017, my father passed away at 91¾. Even at that age, you’re never truly ready.
In 2018, my husband and I bought my great aunt’s house in Punta Gorda, Florida. We planned to be snowbirds for a few years… until one grueling lunch rush made me realize it was thyme for a change. I sold the pizzeria.
We moved to Florida in September 2019.
The decision to move to Florida full time meant I would need to sell the family homestead where I had grown up and had lived for the past 18 years. My grandfather bought the farm in 1942 and my parents moved there in 1949. The house was originally built in 1893.
I chronicled the entire emotional process in my series Thyme to Let Go.
And Still, I Bloom
From Kim’s Kakes, Kuttings & Kandles, Too to Petals & Porch Posts to Makin’ Pizza to From Farmhouse to Florida…
…one thing has remained constant:
my love of herbs, decorating, flowers, cooking, and family.
These are the threads that have stitched every chapter of my life together. They are the gifts the women before me handed down — sometimes intentionally, sometimes unknowingly — and the gifts I now share through my blog.
On this International Women’s Day, I honor them.
I honor the women who taught me to work hard, pivot gracefully, love deeply, and bloom bravely.
And I honor you, dear reader — because your story is still growing too.
Other posts about “me” that you might enjoy:
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. The opinions here are all my own. It helps me to continue to bring to you DIY and projects on my blog.
Please see my disclosure page for more information.
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