Episode 80: Interview with Special SAF Guests: Kate Penn CEO and Laura Weaver Kern CMP
Vonda and Lori welcome two heavy hitters from the Society of American Florists: Kate Penn, Executive Vice President and CEO, and Laura Weaver Kern, CMP, Director of Meetings and Conventions. The conversation ranges across the industry's biggest headaches — finding staff, keeping up online, supply shortages — and the resources SAF is building to help, capped with a preview of the September convention in Orlando.
Education you can actually use
SAF's mission, as Kate frames it, is to connect and cultivate a thriving floral community — which in practice means constantly translating consumer, technology, and business trends into things florists can actually do. Lori shares her pet peeve about training videos that eat 45 minutes and leave you with no bullet points, and gives SAF credit: their pandemic-era webinars (free, and how many Flower Clique members first discovered SAF) consistently deliver actionable walkaway points. Kate agrees it's deliberate — people are too busy to watch something and leave empty-handed.
Career Connections: a one-stop learning hub
Kate introduces SAF's new online learning hub, Career Connections, born from years of members saying the same thing: we can't find staff. Rather than reinvent wheels, SAF's volunteer councils curate the best existing training in the industry (including Flower Clique's course) and create new courses only where voids exist — like a free "Introduction to the Floral Industry" that walks a day-one employee through breeders, growers, wholesalers, and where product actually comes from. The platform also packages years of webinar and Floral Management content into topic bundles — succession planning, selling your business, delivery profitability — plus an Explore resource section, virtual events, and a community discussion board. Courses are currently à la carte with member and non-member rates, and some pieces are free on purpose, "for the betterment of the entire industry."
The number one question: where do I find employees?
Lori says the question she hears daily is "I need a designer — where do I find one?" Kate confirms it's universal, across growers, wholesalers, suppliers, and retail alike — and it shows up in every SAF survey, especially after holidays: we had a strong holiday, but with more staff we could have sold more.
Part of SAF's long-game answer is Seed Your Future, the movement SAF recently gave a permanent home as its own 501(c)(3). Funded by major industry companies, it partners with Scholastic to put plant curriculum in front of middle schoolers, runs "plant power" YouTube videos, and now targets college students too — the undeclared majors and first-year accounting students who could still fall in love with floriculture. There's even an interactive map of university horticulture, floriculture, and design programs, and a budding mentorship idea where industry veterans field calls from people curious about floral careers.
Vonda names the industry's own role in the shortage: for decades, when someone said "what a great business," florists answered "it's a lot of work and we don't make any money." That narrative has to flip. It's hard — and it's amazing, and you can absolutely make money. Lori adds that when one veteran florist asked "who makes money in this business?", her phone lit up with younger owners insisting: if she's not making money, that's a business problem, not an industry truth.
Convention 2021: inspire, refresh, recharge
Laura previews the SAF Annual Convention, September 21–23 at Loews Royal Pacific Resort in Orlando — deliberately shorter, mid-week (to protect fall wedding weekends), and at a lower price point. Her buzzword is connection: four concurrent education tracks instead of three, more repeated sessions so attendees miss less, a flipped seminar format with as much discussion as presentation, and built-in peer round tables so you leave each session with an implementation plan, not just notes. Tracks cover e-commerce, trends and design, and labor and talent.
And for anyone wavering on the spend, Lori gets real: after 18 months of nonstop work, shop owners are burned out and their buckets are empty. The way to fill back up is to go be with your people — you're worth the money, and your business deserves it. Early-bird registration runs through midnight July 16.
Key takeaways
- Explore SAF's Career Connections hub for curated training, topic packages, and a free intro course to onboard brand-new employees.
- Staffing is the industry's number one challenge — support long-game pipelines like Seed Your Future, and offer mentorships or shadowing in your own shop.
- Change the narrative: stop telling prospects "it's hard and there's no money" and start saying "it's hard and it's amazing."
- Plan purchasing far ahead — demand is expected to exceed supply into next year, and Vonda is already booking crops for next Valentine's Day and Mother's Day.
- Combat burnout by investing in yourself: in-person events like SAF convention are how depleted owners get reinspired.
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist