Rachel Wilson

Owner of Ray’s Room Floristry

Young Rachel, surrounded by a field of wildflowers and her supportive parents, was gifted the seed of purpose and passion. After hearing her story, I can admirably confirm that she has watered this seed and turned it into something truly beautiful: her life.

Seed

Rachel was born and raised in Oklahoma. She grew up visiting her grandparents in the summers and working on their cattle ranch. She described the bountiful sea of wildflowers painted on the farm’s horizon during those times. “My mom loved flowers. When we moved on to more land, a bunch of Indian paintbrushes grew, and those were my favorite. I love how neon they are in a field.” As she gleamed in explaining this core memory, I saw a glance of the little girl who loved those wildflowers so, and realized she has created a life for herself that little Rachel would be more than content with.

During the interview, Rachel spoke fondly of the memories she had with her parents doing everything they could to support her and her sister. They instilled an entrepreneurial spirit and gifted her with the knowledge that she is capable of doing anything she wants. Growing up, she was constantly in a realm of creativity. She would play instruments, paint, and draw. Eventually, she became really good at replicating others work, and what started as reproducing became Rachel creating her own authentic works of art. Practicing the mastery of more instruments than I can count on one hand gave Wilson an immense appreciation for music, making it the foundation for everything. She let me in on this perspective, explaining that when she is trying to elicit a feeling for someone else through her work, she can turn on music to help channel that energy.

Before I was done interviewing Rachel on her background and early life, I quickly learned that much like the Indian paintbrushes she grew up admiring, she too was vibrant and down to earth.

Water

When talking about role models who helped her along the way, Rachel said, “The people that are doing the best work are the ones that say, ‘This is the secret.’ Completely agreeable, because why gatekeep? As a community, we need to normalize watering one another! She then gave praise to many deserving and commendable local businesses that helped her grow in her journey to floristry. “TJ McGrath”, a florist she found on Instagram that is community and sustainability focused, inspires her through his content. “Anthousai”, a small florist business in Tulsa, was always available to give her the advice she needed anytime she reached out. Rachel talked about them admirably, describing them as “incredibly sweet people”. Another local florist shop that served as Rachels mentors, “A Date with Iris”, pushed her boundaries. Same for “Wild Mother”, an Oklahoma City based florist that does instillations for indigenous women who are victims to violence. “There’s enough room for everyone”, Rachel said to me, concluding her praise to her mentors and inspirations regarding the support and guidance they so willingly gave to her.

Rachel’s first major introduction to the art of floristry was during the pandemic, and like many people during that time, she was forced to create work for herself. Prior to this, she was a wedding photographer, but during the pandemic, there weren’t too many weddings going on, so she had to get crafty! “I started to market myself in a different route, by offering Oklahoma City’s first picnic company. It was catered by me; food, flowers, photos. I would decorate with rugs and pillows I sourced and tables that I built myself. I was creating content for party rental companies as well and networking with local vendors.” In creating this iconic service, something clicked with Rachel that little did she know at the time, would change her life. In looking at her beautiful array of pillows, rugs, and decorations, Rachel realized something. The tables that she built were lacking a crucial detail to finish off the desired aesthetic… centerpieces! And thus, her passion and dedication to the world of floristry was born.

Rachel started her profession in floristry at Cheever’s Flowers, where she found community and people with like interests; people to show her the ropes. When Rachel felt she learned all she could in the floristry realm working under someone else, she started doing wrap bouquet pop-ups on the side, creating the one and only, “Ray’s Room”.

Grow

“A big issue in the florist industry is single-use plastics on top of CO2 emissions, which is why it’s good to source locally”, Wilson stressed. Rachel finds many ways to remain sustainable, one of which being recycling rubber bands and giving them to local farmers to use. She’s also a foam-free florist, meaning she doesn’t use foam bricks that break down into microplastics, which are unable to be filtered out of water systems. One of Rachel’s favorite gardens to source from is Amanda Zoey, who makes dried floral wreaths and does arrangements and pop-ups. Amanda and her partner are driven by sustainability. They love uplifting indigenous flowers and not letting them die out. Rachel loves sourcing from Amanda Zoey and sees her as an inspiration. “There is a whole co-op of flower growers in Oklahoma who meet and talk about what they are planting, what’s working for them, and what’s not working for them. They have their own community, so connecting with this group has been really helpful.” Throughout the interview, Rachel stressed how important it is not to be scared to reach out and ask for help. When asked if she would have done anything differently throughout her process to becoming a florist, Rachel said, “Freelancing. Not being scared to reach out and ask for help. Networking. Traveling to work with other people. Don’t be scared of rejection.”

“Be compelling in the product you’re putting out there. Do giveaways, utilize partnering with local businesses”, Rachel explains in the topic of marketing. “Align yourself with businesses that agree with your motivations and morals. Volunteer yourself, especially when you’re starting out, to get eyes on what you’re doing. Build lasting connections through networking. Eventually, people will think of you and reach out to you. And always put your best foot forward with your clients.”

In Rachel’s creative process, she approaches everything open ended, with exceptions of client preferences such as their favorite colors, flower types, etc. In designing wedding arrangements, she prioritizes planning and building a connection with her clients. It starts with a meeting, and then the couple and Rachel will share a vision and creatively align. This comes with a line of questions, such as: budget, size, and style. The art of her wedding floristry is focused on portraying the couples love story. “Storytelling is the key difference in knowing your client. Within any budget, I ask myself: how do I tell their story?” My favorite detail Rachel explained about this process is that she shows the clients the final vision before really making it come to life, by sketching and watercolor painting the flower arrangements beforehand. She then surprises her clients by framing these paintings and gifting them as a wedding present. “Making people happy and finding my own ways to tell their stories is important.”

One of Rachel’s flower arrangement watercolor paintings

In digging into the creative process, it’s easy to rely on outside sources. Rachel, however, tends to unplug her electronics and find her creative inspiration from within. She’ll start sketching up ideas using her client’s preferences and her best judgment, creative problem solving, and researching materials. Her projects tend to change as she does, and she finds herself thinking on her toes and figuring it out by getting her hands dirty. She often questions herself to get every perspective possible, asking herself, “Am I deviating from the plan, or evolving my vision?” and “How were they designing flowers in the Regency Era? What were they using?” This fascinated me, as I have never considered florists reverting back that far for the sake of the mechanical side of their art, but it makes total sense considering Rachel’s devotion to sustainability. She also explained to me that she thinks of how plants exist in nature, and how they grow together… “How they stagger, how they group, how they thrive in certain conditions. How trees align themselves and stay away from each other to not obscure one another’s sunlight.” When it comes to conquering creative blocks, Rachel’s advice is: TOUCH GRASS! Her exact words, actually: “Touch grass, frequently. Lay in it.” Find the answer from within, do physical research, and don’t stray from your own creativity by relying too much on media sources for inspiration!

Bloom

“Humble yourself. Serve your community. Get your hands dirty.”

Culture, connection, and sustainability are the pillars that make up Ray’s Room. Rachel revealed to me that she recently decided to dial back her existence in a physical retail location. She has reverted back to her home studio, because she is wanting to be more economically efficient. In talking about the future of Ray’s Room, she explains that she is in a period of change. This evolution will lead her to be more focused on events so she can better prioritize her time. I’ve always known her to be very passionate about her business, so I asked her, “Do you want to say goodbye to the studio?”. Her goodbye went as follows:

“I love this place. I have lived so much life in these four walls. Just in a year, to see how much life has come to this space and how I’ve redefined and reinterpreted my business. This has made me ask a lot of critical questions about where I’m going and what I’m doing. It’s really hard to admit when you’re in the midst of a failure, and it’s not to say that the studio is a failure. But it’s not a success. Dropping your pride and being able to say ‘Okay, this isn’t working right now. Pivot’ So I made it work, and I pivoted. There’s no shame in walking it back. The business has changed into this whole other entity that I don’t think I ever saw it becoming. I cannot be more thankful for this space, and how it has made me ask critical questions to myself and connect with people.”

To Be Loved by a Wildflower

In the meaningful, down-to-earth, heartfelt words of the wildflower that is Rachel Wilson:

“None of this will ever mean anything if it makes me money. This will only mean something to me if it touches people’s hearts, tells their stories, and helps my community. That’s the only thing that matters to me. This was my healing. This saved me. This saved my life. The most important story you can tell with any form of art is that you were here. And my job is that I get to tell others that these people were here. I get to be this intermediary in all forms of love. Whether that’s missing someone, loving someone, losing them and trying to get them back, or telling your mom you’re eternally grateful for bringing you into this world. It doesn’t matter what it is, the center of this entire thing is love. I think people are scared to reach out about working with them if they’re on a strict budget, because we live in a society that doesn’t support people. It doesn’t give them the resources to say ‘You are here. You matter.’ And anything I can do to make sure people know that I see them. I see the love they have. I see the stories they are trying to tell. I want to make that happen for them. Whatever it is. I’ll figure it out.”

Rachel has opened my eyes to the beauty of being an intermediary of love, and I have the honor of being that by sharing her words and unwavering authentic passion with you.

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