Today we’d like to introduce you to Evgeniia Omarova.
Hi Evgeniia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story began far away, in Kyrgyzstan, with my grandmother and her garden.
She owned a large garden, and as a child I loved watching her work among the plants. Despite her fragile appearance and small stature, she cared for every flower with incredible tenderness and patience. Her hands were always dry from the soil, rough from hard work — yet she had the biggest, kindest heart I have ever known. That is where my love for flowers was born.
Later, my parents had a summer house, and every time we went there, I would try to make everything beautiful — planting lawns, arranging plants, creating harmony in the space. When our family gathered around the table, I would make small floral arrangements to turn an ordinary meal into something festive, to create a mood, an atmosphere, a feeling.
Interestingly, my professional path initially led me elsewhere. For over ten years, I worked in sales and management, running optical salons in Kyrgyzstan. I was fortunate to work alongside one of the best doctors in Central Asia, and that experience shaped me deeply. It wasn’t simply about selling glasses — it was a true optometry profession, built on precision, prescriptions, and individual client needs. We carefully selected the best solutions, and I became very successful in this field.
Yet no matter how busy or fulfilled I was, my connection to plants and flowers never left me.
Whenever life felt overwhelming, the best therapy for me was to work with the earth — planting, pulling weeds, touching the soil. This connection grounded me. I am a visual person by nature, and beauty — the harmony of colors, shapes, and textures — has always been essential to me. I can never walk past unusual flowers or striking forms without stopping. Nature constantly amazes me with its uniqueness. It is the greatest creator of all, yet in our fast-paced lives, we so often pass by without noticing its miracles — from vibrant emerald grass to extraordinary tropical plants with unexpected shapes and color combinations.
Before moving to the United States, I fulfilled another dream and earned a diploma in landscape design. I worked on small projects both in Kyrgyzstan and later in Houston, creating front yards and backyards. It brought me immense joy. However, due to climate conditions and the specifics of the market — and simply because I am not very tolerant of extreme heat — I realized that spending long hours outdoors was not sustainable for me.
I knew one thing for sure: I wanted to work with flowers — but indoors, with air conditioning.
I then worked as a florist assistant, and I fell completely in love with the craft. Seeing the profession from the inside was a transformative experience. I finally understood how I wanted to express my creativity and what kind of floral artist I wanted to be.
I earned my professional diploma from Lacy Bird, one of the largest and most respected floral schools in the world today. Their team teaches globally — from Singapore to Mexico to Bangkok — sharing professional secrets, techniques, and knowledge to help florists create beautiful compositions and succeed in their careers. Receiving this diploma gave me strength and confidence to fully commit to floristry.
After that, I created my website with the help of an incredibly talented IT specialist who intuitively understood my vision and translated it into design. That marked the beginning of my true creative journey in floristry.
Of course, this path has not been perfectly smooth. Entering a new market means navigating cultural differences, tastes, and expectations. Finding a delicate balance — staying true to myself as a creative artist while creating designs that resonate with my clients — has been both a challenge and a gift.
Today, floristry is not just my profession. It is my language, my way of seeing the world, and my way of sharing beauty, emotion, and meaning through flowers.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Of course, this journey has not been perfectly smooth.
I am still learning how to find the right balance — between how people respond to my creativity and how to thoughtfully promote my studio. At the moment, we operate exclusively through delivery, as we are still searching for the right physical location. This stage comes with its own challenges.
Along the way, I have encountered companies that, due to a lack of real market knowledge, promised growth, visibility, and online success, but ultimately only drained resources. I have also faced dishonest suppliers who committed to delivering specific products or services and failed to do so. These experiences were difficult, yet invaluable.
Despite everything, I choose to see this phase with gratitude.
All of this is happening at the beginning of my journey, before I reach the scale and impact I envision in the long term. I am grateful that these lessons are coming now — while I am still building — because they are shaping my discernment, strengthening my resilience, and helping me avoid far greater mistakes in the future.
Every challenge has refined my vision, clarified my values, and reinforced my commitment to building something honest, intentional, and lasting.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Today, I consider myself a truly happy person.
I have fulfilled myself as a woman — I have a loving family and wonderful children. I have found that rare place where passion becomes purpose, where a hobby turns into a profession, and work no longer feels like work at all. I am exactly at that stage of life now, and I feel deeply grateful that I can create, express myself artistically, and build something that also brings financial stability.
What I am most proud of is that I was not afraid to take a step toward my dream. I let go of fear, trusted myself, and in doing so, found the freedom I had been striving for for so many years.
I began my professional career at the age of eighteen and worked consistently for many years in sales and management. It shaped my character. Whatever I do, I do with intention and responsibility. At the very least, I strive to do things well — and more often, I aim to do them better than expected. This drive comes from within; it is an inner standard I hold myself to.
What truly sets me apart today is honesty — with my clients and with myself.
When I create floral compositions, I always ask one simple question: Would I love this myself? I never use tired or wilted flowers. I personally attend every flower purchase, selecting only the best stems by hand. Even the wholesale suppliers I work with have noticed this and often say, “You prefer to come and evaluate every flower yourself.” That is true — it is my philosophy.
I also believe my design approach distinguishes me in the market. While there are a few florists who work in a similar style, each of us has our own vision of beauty, our own understanding of color and how it speaks. For me, floristry is not repetition — it is interpretation.
Not long ago, I designed florals for a wedding, and to this day, I continue to receive incredibly touching feedback. Nearly 80% of the guests who felt comfortable approaching me personally said the same thing: they had never seen flowers like this before. These were not empty compliments. I approached this project with deep love and responsibility — not only because it was my friend’s wedding, but also because it was one of my first large-scale professional projects.
It was a great responsibility — and we delivered far beyond expectations.
When I later saw the photographs, I knew the work had been done at the highest level. I am genuinely proud of that experience, and it gives me confidence that I will continue to grow, refine my skills, learn new trends, and bring meaningful, elevated floral design to clients across Texas.
How do you think about happiness?
What truly makes me happy is the freedom to choose my own path-to do what I love, to move towards my goals, and to genuinely enjoy every step of the journey.
Pricing:
- $80-1000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.velvetbutterflystudio.com
- Instagram: velvet_butterfly_flower_studio
- Facebook: Velvet Butterfly Studio
- Yelp: Velvet Butterfly Studio
