 Well, hi. Thank you for staying with us. You are still watching the Lydia's breakfast show in this here town in this city I'm trying to say the whole world. I'm confident like that So in the morning on a channel Y254 if you have been with us since the Benin gig Thank you for staying We still have so much for you one more time if you will allow me to tell you how you can interact with us at Y5 from Facebook Y254 channel on X formerly Twitter Y5 for underscore channel on it The gram a lot of us is gonna pay at reds Y5 for channel take talk You know YouTube and all those wonderful wonderful things in case another one comes up and it's just a radar kindly Would you have some more times minimum shambas? So yeah, but either way we'll be there Y254 channel and you're always always always welcome to interact with us Now we have a question and I am on Facy Boku. We're asking Yeah, that is what we're asking What you have answered is I have Ali Baba Kuske says moist bridge while represented I see you Pablo Mojas is watching from railroad young zombies Zombie tenor. I like your hand or watching from ombasa Kisaoni John Hespons is watching from Kaka Meka Nenda now Curtis is watching from Neversha. Well, where do I keep out a family name Danny? I see you BC Jason When you are not stood jamani jibbaraka, we just wanna cope Ha ha ha ha When you are condo a neighbor Raskalevis is watching from Kisi Nyanchua massive bus Makavella says innocent Mwangan All right, amen James a top fan Oh, yeah We'll see pop again. You wanna stand our own up again. You wanna conduct up a leg for stage. Can you focus me my James? That's a question kindly We have surveyed Zed Zed Eh? Submit it to Savage I don't not pronounce that other one HM Kizito N probation says good morning watching from Moanda Bungoma County Benito Masa is watching all the way from Kituowest Saida Kang Golia Where is that? I think I'm going to start with places like this. At the same time, I'm looking at my grandmother. Ah, another top fan. As I said, I'm a man who is older than you so that by the time you're losing your beauty, he's also losing his eyesight. I have to go to the bus. But please do keep commenting. We still have a couple of hours left on the show. A couple of very, very exciting and riveting hours, if I may add. We have one segment called the strength of a woman, not literally, but basically celebrating women all over the place. So today we have Shore for the flowers. She is just as beautiful as a flower truly is now. I will allow her to introduce herself. Okay, comment kindly. We'll see the comment of it to Mingi. Questions that have mannerisms. Okay, conduct yourself in a proper manner. I don't remember. But it's good. Good morning. How are you? I'm good. Welcome to the show. I'm feeling quite great actually. Thank you for asking. Would you please introduce yourself to the people? Hi, my name is Millie. I run a company called Blume Flowers and Gifts where we deal with flowers mingle. Yes. First of all, is the name a coincidence? Because the flower blooms, so it's Blume Flowers. Yeah. Coincidence? It's a coincidence. I wanted something to show that the flower blooms. And also we wanted to add a bit of gifts, but we are mainly a flower shop. So the difference between a gift shop and a flower shop is we deal more on floral designs for hotels, restaurants, weddings, and we attend competitions. So that's what we're doing. And the gifts part is just, we have a few gifts to give. So yeah. So that's the main flower shop thing. Okay. I'm very interested in the competitions. But before that, tell me how long you've been in business? Well, we started, I started Blume Flowers let's say almost seven years ago. And then after that, I went for further studies where I learned more about flowers and plants. Then I just came and picked it up where I left. This is a pleasure for you. You even went to school for it. Yes. I was going to ask, seven years is three dates COVID. What happened during that COVID? I'm assuming the demand was... So we were still working. We were still working, but we had not yet opened our branches. So we were just laying the foundation on how we are going to do the Blume Flowers Network and how we are going to talk to Marj with Teleflora and bring the best flowers to Kenya. Okay. So if maybe we're talking to people who have no idea about this particular industry, who is Teleflora and how did you get in connection with them? So, when it comes to flowering culture, there are some companies that were formed long time ago and like almost eight, like Teleflora eight years ago. And it's because we, in Kenya, we do plant the flowers but we export most of it. So this culture of gifting flowers and using flowers is quite new. We are not yet matured into it and there's still gaps and I feel like that's where we come in. We want to fill those gaps. So you'll find that companies that are 100 years old, they are broad but they deal in flowers. So Teleflora, for example, is a network of florists. So a network of florists, basically it means that you are registered in that, you're a member of that Teleflora and it means when, let's say you have someone in the U.S. and you want to make an order. So long time ago, they used to just place an order. We didn't have the internet. So you just place an order with them then they call their florist in the U.S. So it still works the same right now. Instead of going online looking for flowers you can just come to Blooming Flowers say you want to purchase in the U.S. And this is the address and then I will reach out to our network member in the U.S. or the specific city that you mentioned. Then your flowers will be delivered by a local florist. So two things happen here. You get to get extra revenue and then we promote the local florist. So you find like now our network, if you want to deliver to Kisi, Meru, Nyeri we have a local florist there that is trained with us. So we just call them and then they will make the delivery. It's still their business and it's just that they are members of Blooming Flowers. So they get all these orders from us and then now we do the marketing abroad, marketing within the country so that even the florist in small towns also get to reap the benefits of being a florist and to learn more what's trending, what's new. That's quite lovely. So for example, if I was... I would be surprised to see Kisi. I would be surprised to see Kisi and I would be like, I'm not that easy. Wow, Kisi is romantic. That is a shock. I'm learning something every day. It's a very good day to learn. There's a florist in Meru too. Meru! When I'm talking to customers, they react very well. Wow, okay. Very good job. We have a Nyeri florist as well. I'm not a Nyeri florist because... No, I'm not. I'm not a Nyeri florist. Okay, alright. So let me just backtrack it a little bit. I have seen different cultures and I can attest that you are very right. It's a very new thing to us to express ourselves by sending flowers. I'm a Nyeri florist. I'm a Nyeri florist. I'm a Nyeri florist. That's the only time we know flowers and Valentine's. I'm a Nyeri florist. So really the concept of expressing oneself or just basically appreciating flowers is not something that we are ingrained to experience. But then you brought up also hotels. So tell me how that works. And then I'm assuming it's a very lucrative business because fresh flowers are on demand in hotels. That means almost every day. Yeah. And for hotels, for example, we offer a service called florist services. So florist services is... Let's say we are a partner up with the hotel. So we deliver to them once a week. So the thing you have to learn is export quality flowers should last you even up to two weeks. Oh wow. So when we deliver a bouquet to you or some flowers to you, it should last you up to a minimum of 10 days. And we replace it at no extra cost if it withers. Yes, because of the quality of flowers that we are trying to introduce to the Kenyan market. What happens is all the export quality gets sent out to, you know, gets exported. So we remain with flowers that have withered. So you get your flowers after three days. It no longer serves you. So that's why you're like, do I really need flowers? Yeah. So let me go back to florist services. So florist services is we provide the hotels with vases. We provide them with the tools for arrangements like unique... Sometimes we use log goods to make those designs. So we provide the hotel with that so that you don't even... even our customers, the office clients so that you don't have to purchase a vase every time maybe you're changing your theme. You don't have to. It's our job to do that, to keep changing it up for you. So that's what we do. And then also what we do, we come and maintain those flowers. So let's say we deliver on Monday. We'll be there around Thursday. So we make sure we wash the vases, change whatever needs to be changed so that it's like you... This service belongs to us. You don't have to, you know, have an in-house florist and you don't have to, you know, train your... train your waiters to do that. That's our job, yes. Hey, that's what you do as a service, that's an experience. Yeah, so we do that and then we also do for honeymoon, you know, come and... Yeah, I just want to get it. So it's quite a wide range. Yes! Yes! So once you sign up with that, there's so many offers we give you. Services we offer you. So, yeah. Wow! And here I thought it was just a couple of days in the... Wow! Okay, all right. Just out of curiosity, when you said you went for further studies, what exactly... what course did you study so that you understand what you do right now? So, how I entered into flowers is I used to be an accountant in a flower company. Wow! Yes. So, and then after that, I really loved flowers and I figured, oh, okay, this is something I want to pursue. Then I started my business. And then after that, I went to... I did a master's in business creation and entrepreneurship. Wow! But I was lucky when I was doing my master's, my part-time job was at a flower shop. Wow! Yeah. So everything just came together for me in this industry. So you spent an X number of years as an accountant. Yes. Before you stumbled upon your passion and then you just went to it. I was an accountant for, I think, the longest time. But when you say, I come here, I don't know what to do. Thank you. You really... I figured it out. Yeah. Not very many people who know what they want to do and are doing it well. Yeah. But you take time. You take time. Because you panic sometimes. Running a business is a bit ectic. And then there is panic and there is self-doubt. And you just have to, you know, motivate yourself and feel like, what do I want to achieve? Yeah. Okay. So the secret is always start at the end. This is the results you want. Then now you figure out now to get here, what steps should I take? It's funny that you said that because just the other week we were talking about imposter syndrome. Yeah. And imposter syndrome, at a glance it sounds like something that would possibly just affect maybe someone who has very low self-esteem or likes to keep themselves. But imposter syndrome is for the very high achievers. Yeah. That you achieve something and you just take it back. And am I really supposed to be here? Do I deserve this? Either you second-guess yourself at every given moment or you're finding it impossible to just be content at where you are just always. You're lacking sleep but you're doing the very best. In fact there's someone thinking, wow, I want to be like this person. But you, you're not seeing. Is that at one point that you have ever felt this way? Like twice a week. Wow. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. It's a feeling of self-doubt. It's the self-doubt I was telling you about. Uh-huh. And sometimes you're like, cause you get a lot of, I've been lucky. Uh-huh. And one of the things that I've been lucky with is investors. Uh-huh. I've gotten a few investors who really believe in what I do and who like, they tell you, okay, we want to see the books. How can we inject smoke, how can we do it? Then you know when you sit down you're like, oh my God, I'm going to let them down. What am I doing? What am I doing? It's, you are so anxious about it. Uh-huh. And then, you know, I feel like, um, what keeps me going is like, okay, they believed in me, let me just do my best. Uh-huh. But also when, sometimes when you do your best you feel like, I feel like I'm not doing enough. Uh-huh. Yeah. And when you stumble, how do you pull yourself back together? When you're burnt out, how do you, you know, rest and come back to Zen? Zen. Ah, one of the things I do a lot is swim. Ah. Yeah. And then also like, I like, contrary to popular belief, just being home. Uh-huh. Yes, I can just, you know, binge watch a series and... I seem to have shit in my head. Maybe Friday, we are outside. Kuta is a nini. Burn out. Yeah? Of course, I'm seen as well, but yeah. So Kuta is a burnout nini and then also is a, I just like, you know, to relax, to chill and then also, you know, to talk to friends about it. So one, I think I'm a big talker, not a talker like I share. Uh-huh. And it helps a lot. Yes. Uh-huh. Yeah. A program shared as a program. Yeah. Or just maybe beach. Then it's out of your system. Uh-huh. Yes. So then you're back to it the following day. Uh-huh. Because, you know, sometimes there's this, ain't nothing to it, but to do it. Uh-huh. That's my motto like, okay, it's here. We have to face it. We have to do it. Uh-huh. Yeah. And we love what you are doing. Uh-huh. Yeah. I like that attitude. You must be very physically fit. Swimming is not for the weak. Am I? No, I'm not. Yeah. Okay, we will talk about this later time, but I honestly don't think you're physically fit. For swimming is this. Works everything, like all your muscles. Yeah, but I don't swim every day. Ah, okay. Yeah. So. Thank you. Offside. Offside. Offside. Huh? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I've seen you. Yeah. Tell me about this competition. Like, what really are you competing for? Is it the arrangement or? The arrangements, yes. So, you know, most of the time, we have, just like any other, like fashion competition, also the flower industry has flower competition, where, you know, you arrange, like big arrangements, car arrangements, you know, like wall arrangements. We do have those as well. Yes. So, it's just to, to show, to get you out of your head and to, you're a designer as well. Mm-hmm. As a florist, you're a designer as well. Mm-hmm. You need to learn, okay, what else can I do apart from just making a simple bouquet? Mm-hmm. Ah, I'm sure you've seen that there's this extravagant bouquets that are coming up. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, one of the, so this, these competitions are to see the designs. Mm-hmm. Yes. Do they, do they have names, like a particular design, or is it technique? There, there are some techniques. Mm-hmm. And then, like, you know, simple round bouquets or groupings. Mm-hmm. So, there, there are some techniques and whatever names they call a certain design. Mm-hmm. Maybe groupings. Mm-hmm. So, grouping is mainly a design where you have grouped the flowers together separately. Mm-hmm. And then, it's different from, like, a simple bouquet where everything is mixed up. Mm-hmm. Yes. Do you have a favorite flower that you work with or that just depends on the client? Like, is it roses, lilies, sunflowers? Ah, my favorite flower is called Lisiantas. Hey! Hey, you know flowers. Yes. And it's just a normal, sweet flower. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. When everyone else is dying and fighting for roses, you are... Roses are very common. Very. Yes. And they are... they are common here. Mm-hmm. It's the same way in Netherlands, in Europe, these tulips. Mm-hmm. It's the same way we have roses here. It's the same way we don't have tulips here. Mm-hmm. And, you know, they don't do a lot of roses. Mm-hmm. All right. So we talked about how, let's say, okay, the setting we had was a hotel. Mm-hmm. So if you were to deliver flowers to hotels, set minimum 10 days before it starts showing any signs of withering. Mm-hmm. Is that specific to a particular flower or just standard? Ah, ah, depends on the weather, actually. Ah, yeah. Yes. Not the weather, really, like how hot or how warm your place is. The flower should open up. So if it finds the correct conditions, it's warm, the sun is up all the time. Mm-hmm. Of course, something like rose will just open up. Mm-hmm. So, um, the difference between a good rose and a good quality rose and just another normal rose is a good quality rose will open up. Mm-hmm. To start with the rain. Mm-hmm. Then the other one will just drop. Yes. So that, it has withered, like it's just drops, but this just takes time to open up and open up till the petals fall off. There was one, what's upon a time, very, and, hey, near five lifetimes ago, there was someone in my life who, their love language was flowers. Yeah. And at the time, I was very obsessed with roses. Yeah. But, is that, is that like a Yeah, that's okay. That's how to preserve it. Yeah. Like it's kind of just continues to the growth process. Yeah. Wisdom. Wisdom. So I know this thing, guys. Yes, flower food is just like sugar. Oh. Because, yeah, it's a, the sugar is like flower food. So it will just continue opening up. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Until, and then now, okay, again, I'm heavy on the roses because that's what we are used to in the market, in the Canadian market. So, when the petals, you know, fall off, it's opened up all the way. Yeah. Is that something that we can do with other flowers? Like, are there petals after they've gone? Are they Yeah. useful in any other way? I, I think so. Depending on, because there's some that you can dry them. But, yeah, other flowers, when, when the petals fall off, you can always dry them. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And use them for decor or stuff like that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, guys, we're going to take a very, very short break and then we'll be back and I'm hoping that we can play a little, little game with Millie. I'm very excited. Okay. Yeah. Yes, yes, yes. Are you excited? Remember, to connect with us at Y54Facebook, Y54Channel on X, Y54UnderscoreChannel on Instagram and then do not go away, the interview is not over, okay? Reintroduce yourself just in case they have just joined us to do the conversation. Okay. My name is Millie and I'm the CEO of Blooming Flowers and Kids Kenya. Mm-hmm. And we deal mostly with fresh cut flowers. Mm-hmm. Yes. Oh, and if they're watching and they want to get in touch with you and reach out for your services, how can they do that? Okay. You can check out our website, www.bloomingflowers.co.ke. Mm-hmm. Or you can call us 0110 669 203. Okay. Yes. We will be repeating that number so don't worry, don't worry. Yes. And you can follow us on Instagram Blooming Flowers Kenya. Oh. And Blooming Flowers Lovington. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Alright. So we have a grouping like I was told of flowers right now. So what are we looking at? Okay. I can tell the yellow ones are roses. Yeah. Yeah. You can see we have the yellow ones are roses. Mm-hmm. The white ones are called chrysanthemums. Chrysanthemums. Yes. carnations and these are gladiolus yes and the fillers are called astromaria the the astro wow yeah okay all right okay so they yes the question take turn in him to turn your quanzar astromaria I like how she thinks astro astro astromaria astromaria I'm a carnation I'm with gladiola oh gladiola see do you have gladis already I am a two point oh all right all right okay so so what I'm looking at when it comes time to bloom do they all bloom differently that does one bloom faster than the other or it will just mature as I said oh no they bloom differently yes so you'll find that maybe the astromarius will bloom and before the carnations and this one is called an arrangement so the arrangement is basically when you when we put a sponge the flower sponge inside yes that's an arrangement a bouquet is when it's a you have the stems yes that's a bouquet so that's the difference between an arrangement and a bouquet yes and there's usually like some wiring over that yes yes told it now operating with actions okay so what are the tips to keep this arrangement as is for as long as I possibly can so normally when we send you an arrangement we send you with a flower food a small suchet of some flower food inside so you just mix it with water and you don't get the flower food you can use sugar mix it with water and make sure the sponge is always moist so you can like put half a cup of water every day yes and I'd be pouring yeah you just yeah you pour it inside not outside the the flowers yeah you are when you do that you can give the you are going to give it some spots yeah okay yeah you know in the movies how when someone gets a bouquet the first thing they do is smell it do flowers actually have a scent yes okay so we have we have scented roses and scented flowers so because of commercialization you'll find that most of the flowers nowadays they're trying to remove the smell so you find like even these roses probably don't have a smell right now so you have to request for scented because of allergies comma so they don't so scientists or farmers agriculturalist have come up with these roses they don't have smell yeah they don't have if they have a smell it's quite subtle yes it's not as strong so because of allergies you have to pull into the smell and now because we want to commercialize it yes it's not like the ones you plant at home that you can even smell from a mile away yes okay that that was brand new information so well we were on the break as we were talking about or other my very very able producer of the day was asking the weirdest thing that weirdest kind of a quest you've gotten from a client and and please repeat it because I was quite amazed no okay we we do a lot of gifting and I think some of the weirdest requests we get like people want to send gifts anonymously without putting their names and sometimes that can bring a lot of commotion because they you'll find the recipient doesn't want to a gift from someone they don't know wow yeah would you receive an anonymous gift would I depends what is it if it's flowers it's very challenging because it depends on what the flowers are saying that's another thing okay so different flowers have different meaning yeah off the top of your head give me like three the flower and its meaning okay like red roses of course we all know that's basically for love white roses apology or sympathy yeah and then we have pink roses that's for friendship oh yeah what happens when they come all mixed together is that just ignorance or is that also sending a certain type of it's a party yes because if like you know we have like sunflower some sunshine bouquet it's just you know something like to tell you have a good day have a bright day or something like that oh especially when you want to say congratulations we use a lot of sunflowers yeah so if I got promoted and got like this amazing bouquet of sunflowers yeah okay can you get ready to send me some flowers as I'm manifesting something quickly quickly yeah all right so now as a very important question I was going to ask you know you've confused me a bit hey hey come on set guys in case you've missed it and we have determined different flowers bloom differently in this particular arrangement and it's called an arrangement when cuna sponge and the wiring to place it to get to hold it together rather than bouquet it's the one that has a stem I'm ready I'm ready to get it to this business I'm so ready to get it you can be a florist now train me for a couple more weeks today I'm good to go okay all right as to Maria as to Maria Astro Astro Astro Astro Astro I can manipulate I can hear it already well all right yeah I want finishes with a riddle like I was going to ask you something really important though what happened I got too excited with anonymous gifts the weirdest thing it's going to come to me give me and do men receive flowers yes they do yes there we go there we go that's what I wanted I saw previously I was telling us we were discussing how and this is something I've seen for myself I have been around people whose love language is flowers so I get it but I also see a lot that it's not or rather it's absent in our culture however it was very sexist of me to believe that it's just females who receive flowers even men get flowers yes men receive flowers okay and send men flowers now okay Benjachu I will send you flowers let me first figure out what kind of flowers to send you so okay now toxic masculinity I don't think once yellow anything we have some blues oh yeah okay yeah so if this was an arrangement to send specifically to a man yeah we'll put some blues and then we have something like some rough flowers okay not rough roughish they have an edge that we mix them together yeah it's not so dainty yeah not screaming feminine no no but generally I care about you yeah okay okay and then is it us or that's in the semi-ass is it just me who thinks that flowers are very very expensive is it out of most people's reach I would say it's the purchasing power yes it needs like when you talk about like it's purchasing power some people have the purchasing power to purchase the flowers some feel like it's it's against the wallet but we have made it affordable like we for us we have as low as like 750 for a bouquet for a small bouquet sometimes yeah yeah so we've really tried to calm down to make it affordable for everyone yes and yeah the significance of the flower itself like I was talking to one of our very good clients and we make really good arrangements for him and the thing is I was telling like the best gift you can give to the richest person in the world is flowers my thoughts is because even if you say like oh let me buy them let's say a whiskey for example for them maybe they they are so used to this like very expensive that you cannot afford that yes so something like nice they can enjoy with the whole family and yeah that's it yeah actually I'm thinking I come out to co-insync you will see myself in 15 I'm gonna say come on I'm gonna afford them a wach yeah it's you I'm talking to don't don't time the turn no it's still I'm talking to come on I'm gonna buy this one it's not so bad also just enjoy it's kindly I mean just with the family yeah that's the peak Mother's Day International Women's Day everything to do women's yeah and then now Christmas time yes yeah because you know like a lot of people are wishing their clients they are wishing their relatives who are near and far like I'm Merry Christmas yeah all right we'll start with buying man flowers yes what the boy child yeah then you must care so all right and I met at the benches on it's like there are no other men in studio all right so I want us to finish with at least one riddle I don't know where time has gone yeah I'm at time flies and you having fun all right all right so let's say too that the promise that simple huh so what has four legs but can't walk has four legs but can't walk a chair table chair yes yes yes what you got it hey you are smart okay all right what comes once in a minute twice in a moment but never in a thousand years like who's I think the answer is just literally it's just what comes what comes once in a minute twice in a moment but never in a thousand years heartbeat sorry heartbeat no it's it's it's let me say it one more time and then I'll give you the end it comes once in a minute twice in a moment but never in a thousand years and it's all it's part of the alphabet once in a minute twice in a moment but never in a thousand years what is it the letter m had a missing minute you see you see you see you see this shouldn't be riddles vane teasers all right okay last one last one okay so it doesn't have an answer so I'm tall when I'm young and short when I'm old what am I tall when you're young yeah and it's a thing I'm tall when I'm young and look at you not just a pretty face alright let's wind this up and and please once again tell us how to find you someone who's maybe quite interested in purchasing something so you just follow us on Instagram blooming flowers Kenya and blooming flowers lovington and check out our website www.bloomingflowers.co.k and my name is Millie and looking forward to serving you yes all right you can clearly tell you're going to have a service with a smile and based on what I have been hearing it's not going to be just a service it's going to be an experience I think we need at least one of those in our lives no especially beautiful things coming in I I don't want this interview to end but all good things do come to an end at Y-5-4 Facebook, Y-5-4 channel on X, Y-2-5-4 underscore channel on Instagram we will be back in a couple of minutes to finish the day show with a very interesting conversation please do head to our social media platforms and answer the question asked we will be with you shortly see you in a bit