About Stephanie

I always knew I would own a business. Both sides of my family are entrepreneurs and growing up, I spent what seems like my entire childhood at work at the family business. I saw first hand how difficult it can be, but also, the satisfaction of knowing you can make a difference in someone’s day by how they are treated. 

Flowers were always a part of my life. I was always at garden centers with my mom and when I turned 16, I began working at one. Helping customers select the right plants and flowers brought me joy. The garden center also had a small flower shop in the back and it was thrilling to make a bouquet for someone to take to a loved one. 

Going into college, I was sure I was meant for social work. I wanted to change the world. Make a difference. After a semester at The Catholic University of America, I realized that, while I still wanted to make a difference, social work was not the way for me. After much thinking and praying, it became apparent that horticulture was my path. I applied to Penn State University and was accepted for the Spring semester, but before leaving CUA, my suite-mate (who is in the social work field today), told me that if I was going to study horticulture, I would have to make her a blue daisy; her favorite color is blue and her favorite flowers are daisies and blue daisies do not exist in nature. As it turns out, Plant Genetics was not my best class, so creating a real life blue daisy wouldn’t be in the cards for me. 

Upon graduation from Penn State with a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture and a business minor, I went to work at a high-end retail garden center outside of Philadelphia.

As I worked through that job, it became more and more clear that I missed floral design. In my spare time I drew up plans to start my own flower shop. Eventually, my position there was eliminated (my prayers were answered!) and I knew right away I would be moving back to Pittsburgh to start my business. Before I left, a co-worker who knew about my dream asked me to be the florist for his wedding the following summer. I hadn’t even settled on a name yet, but I already had my first customer.

Once back in Pittsburgh, I quickly set up the legal side of the business. That was 2011. HQ was in my parent’s basement and I was moonlighting as a florist while holding a full time job in horticultural sales. In January of 2014 I was able to quit my sales job and pursue The Blue Daisy Floral Designs full time. Then, in March of that year my husband and I were married!

Over the next 6 years, I rented a design space, grew my team, and bought our van, Sally. During that time, my husband and I also adopted a dog and had two beautiful daughters.

In 2020, I signed the lease on our much larger space at 1105 Rochester Road where we now have several employees and freelancers who love flowers as much as I do and who help keep us running and growing. We’ve survived a pandemic, opened an online retail shop, and have curated two unique service options (Full Service and Little Flower) within the company to fit the needs of multiple markets.

In 2025, I knew it was time to grow the retail side of the business. In searching for a location several people told me how wonderful Zelienople, PA is and that it would be the perfect spot for another store. So my family and I went up one December day to see Santa in the park and we all fell in love. My daughters told me “Mom, you HAVE to open a shop here!” So after a year of chasing leads and talking to whoever would listen, the opportunity came to open The Blue Daisy Floral Designs at 109 E. Spring St. Zelienople, PA 16063. We couldn’t be more grateful to be a florist in this wonderful community. We have hired 3 talented and kind women to help run the store and two are Zelienople residents themselves. 

At both our Pittsburgh flower shop and our Zelienople flower shop our goal is to create not only beautiful flowers but beautiful experiences for our clients. That could be for a couple getting married, a family planning a celebration, mourning a loss, or someone sending a birthday bouquet to their best friend. Our job is to make flowers easy and enjoyable so that their natural beauty can make a positive impact.

We are called The Blue Daisy Floral Designs as a reminder of that dream to change the world. To make a difference. Flowers have the power to do that. And so do we, in our own little way.