Episode 36: Interview with Renee Tucci AIFD PFCI: An unusual Journey to Success
Some floral careers start with a childhood in the family flower shop. Renee Tucci's started with a shoulder shrug at a grocery store. In her first-ever podcast appearance, the Philadelphia-area designer — inducted into AIFD in 2016 and PFCI in 2018, an AIFD Education Partner educator and member of the national Teleflora education team — joins Vonda and Lori to talk about an unusual journey to the top of the industry, and the "community over competition" philosophy that fuels it.
From bagging groceries to building for Monaco
In high school, Renee worked her way up from bagger to the customer service desk at a local grocery store — until the day someone said, "we need someone to cover floral." She went because she doesn't say no to anything. It wasn't love at first sight; it was "well, this is okay, I'll see where it goes." That shrug led to a BS in ornamental horticulture with a floriculture emphasis and a business minor, a first shop job that started the week of Valentine's Day (sink or swim, with vivid memories of jumping in the dumpster), and a steady climb: junior designer, special events coordinator, manager, and eventually floral manager and events coordinator for a shop's Philadelphia and South Florida locations at once.
The crown jewel came in early 2020, her fifteenth year at the Philadelphia Flower Show. After a decade on Bill Schaffer and Kris Kratt's team and three years coordinating the main entrance gardens, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society asked her to produce a major exhibit on behalf of the principality of Monaco — a "Riviera Holiday" tribute built around Princess Grace, Philadelphia's hometown princess, with a ton of pink roses. The crowd was three to four people deep around the exhibit for the entire run. They moved out on March 11; the world shut down March 13.
Her business secret: community over competition
Asked for a best-kept industry secret, Renee doesn't hesitate: make friends with the florists around you. Nobody outside the industry understands what it's like two days before Mother's Day, or how many holly pricks your hands take in December. Your local network is where you trade two lilies for three roses when a customer needs a dozen yellow roses and you only have nine and it's too late to call the wholesaler. It's who tells you what ladder you need for the chandelier at that venue you've never decorated. Bounce marketing ideas off each other, study each other's Instagram, twist what works to fit your brand, and grow together.
The hosts have seen the shift too — Flower Clique members now refer nearby competitors to them, saying "they're three blocks from me, but they need your help." Renee thinks despising your competition is an old-school reflex, and the personality types who refuse to help are usually the same ones who refuse to change. The new generation finds its niche and supports each other — because that's how everyone survives. Her new favorite shirt says it all: pick flowers, not fights.
Teaching, and why she'll never stop learning
Renee fell into teaching through customer workshops at a shop — a low-pressure hobby crowd that let her hone how to break skills down before she reached the higher-stakes world of AIFD and Teleflora education, where students are building careers. Her favorite moment: the student who walks in muttering "mine's not going to look like that" — and walks out with an arrangement that does, plus an instant boost of self-esteem. And she's still learning herself, right down to a mid-sentence lightbulb moment about wire-twisting while teaching at her local college.
Her advice for anyone who wants to own a business — for 18-year-old Renee: pursue education relentlessly. You won't wake up knowing how to be a successful "floral-preneur." Study the business side, study the craft, consume YouTube, message designers you admire and ask how they did it — and pursue AIFD certification, which she calls the networking and educational opportunity that will change your career more than any other.
Being your own boss — and too many ideas
A year after leaving retail to consult and educate on her own, Renee names her biggest challenge: there's no one to tell her "your plate is already full." Case in point — inspired by this podcast's recent flower subscriptions episode, she spent a few days building a small, simple subscription offering of her own, set to launch. With traveling and freelance gigs canceled, she's treating the pause as a COVID silver lining: try everything now, see what worked in six months, and pivot again. One more thing you should know: her favorite flower isn't a flower, it's a type — small and round. Ranunculus, spray roses, craspedia, hypericum berries — a preference that shapes her whole compact design style.
Key takeaways
- Careers compound: every "okay, I'll try it" — grocery floral counter, dumpster duty, customer workshops — built toward the big stage.
- Community over competition: your local florist network is your emergency wholesaler, venue guide, and marketing sounding board.
- Never stop pursuing education — classes, YouTube, direct messages to designers you admire, and AIFD certification.
- Teaching low-stakes hobby classes is a great way to hone skills before the career-level stage.
- If you're your own boss, your job includes telling yourself no — prioritize the ideas, don't chase all of them.
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist