Being a florist would seem an appropriate job for some called Liza Rose.
However, it took a traumatic turn of events for the Yarraville resident’s career to match her name.
In 2015, Ms Rose was working as a graphic designer in the corporate world when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Her cancer battle not only took a toll on her physical and mental, but her corporate career too.
She credits the power of flowers with helping her recover.
“Flowers helped reinvent my life after diagnosis and there are studies the show evidence around scents with healing the body and mind,” said Ms Rose who began studying floristry in 2018 as part of a post-cancer career change and started her own floristry business the following year.
“So as part of my recovery and reinvention, I began running flower arrangement workshops with friends and people I knew in the community, and soon enough after that the interest from people wanting to learn the art of flower arrangements and candle making has grown considerably.”
Thanks to growth in demand and a grant awarded to the Williamstown Community and Education Centre (WCEC), Ms Rose now runs free Flower Power for the Disadvantaged workshops there.
“As floristry workshops are very expensive this project allowed those who are disadvantaged to have access to an opportunity otherwise unattainable,” she said of her collaboration with WCEC.
“Our focus was for people recovering from trauma, such as cancer, MS diagnosis,” she added of who the workshops, which are also held at the Yarraville Community Centre,
are aimed at.
Those interested can contact either community centre or visit: https://www.lizarosefloristry.com/
