Q&A: Picking Posies with Zoë Galitz

Photography by Ryan Troy on December 20th, 2017 in Editorials, Lifestyle

Miami, FL – December 20, 2017 – Zoë Galitz is the owner of The Posy, a unique floral delivery and subscription service that focuses on creating one-of-a-kind, colorful Posies for their customers. The Posy takes the hassle out of ordering flowers by creating for you a stunning Posy filled with a wide variety of market fresh and in-season flowers, while their customer just chooses the size arrangement (or budget) they want. After devoting her life to medicine and, specifically, working in the field of cancer research, Zoë realized it was time to switch it up and leave the medical field to begin a new business venture, The Posy. Galitz, the Miami Beach native, has a creative soul and green fingertips (not just her thumb) as she handpicks and creates the unpredictable Posies each day. World Red Eye caught up with Zoë to get a closer look at the creator behind the Posies.

Zoë Galitz

In Miami, I feel we’re also much more open-minded and free to express ourselves, compared to other cities, so using exotic florals and combinations as we do at The Posy felt very right and welcoming.

Zoë Galitz

WRE: How has growing up in Miami influenced your career and life ?

ZG: I was born and raised in Miami, but specifically Bay Harbor Islands. I feel very lucky that I can call this city my home because it is truly magical. I feel I’ve always grown up surrounded by so much life, color, love, vibrancy, and excitement. Nothing about this city ever really felt intimidating, mundane, obnoxiously over the top, dreary, or blah. I feel the exact same way about The Posy. I guess you could say the sense of life, whether it’s the music and dancing of people around you or the waves of the ocean we get to see driving down Collins, and the vibrancy of the colors in Miami, either plastered on every wall or in the sunset reflecting over the ocean itself, influences all the Posies I create—extremely vibrant with color and super fresh with life. In Miami, I feel we’re also much more open-minded and free to express ourselves, compared to other cities, so using exotic florals and combinations as we do at The Posy felt very right and welcoming.

WRE: What influenced you to leave a career in medical field ?

ZG: This is a tough one for me because I still struggle with it. Medicine had been my entire life up until a little over a year ago when I started The Posy. My dad is a surgeon, whom I used to watch do surgery on patients when I was younger, and my mom was a nurse so I grew up surrounded by it. I always wanted to be a surgeon. I studied Biology/Pre-Med at Florida State University in the hopes to later go to medical school and fulfill that dream. I completely failed the MCAT (entrance exam to medical school) three different times and did not end up getting into medical school. This completely crushed me. However, I went on to get my Master’s in Public Health (MPH) at the University of Miami instead, which was a fascinating program. After this, I got a job working as a clinical research coordinator for a private hospital in Miami. I was assisting in running the clinical trials for cancer patients. The work was extremely innovating and rewarding and I absolutely loved my job, but after some time, I became extremely burnt out. I don’t know if it was seeing death so often and so up close, or the fact that I wasn’t a surgeon, but I had to leave it behind.

WRE: Who are the biggest inspirations in your life ?

ZG: I have a few. Of course, there are some of the incredible women entrepreneurs that I can’t get enough of: Sara Blakely, Bethenny Frankel, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Kendra Scott, Kate Spade, Jessica Alba, Barbara Corcoran, to name a few. They’re all bombshells in business and fight every day to not take no for an answer, but what I’m really most inspired by, is their stories about how they got to where they are today; how they built their businesses. I listen to this podcast every week, NPR’s ‘How I Built This’ hosted by Guy Raz, where he interviews not just women, but all entrepreneurs who have started these billion dollar businesses—Instagram, Whole Foods, WeWork, Angies List, etc. I get so captivated (and inspired) by the stories, the struggles, the downfalls, the breakthrough moments, I think because I can relate to them. My real inspirations in my life though are my parents. I know that can sound cliché or cheesy, but I really mean it. My parents are the hardest working people I know. Together, they’ve built a successful medical practice from nothing, now 30 years running. They’ve struggled extreme difficulties, which sometimes were hard to witness, but they’ve achieved a million more successes. They’ve shown my sisters and I that no matter what, you just keep working harder to be better, always take pride in what you do, but most importantly, always love what you do and make sure you’re happy doing it. If you’re not, move on.

WRE: At what point did you realize you wanted a career shift? What sparked the interest to start The Posy?

ZG: After I left the private hospital I was working at, I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew I wanted to start something on my own. One day, my sister’s boyfriend, John, was upset that he couldn’t find an easier way to send flowers to my sister. He was telling me how frustrated he was with the [many] options online, the prices, and the quality, that he wished he could start his own floral business. I didn’t know anything about flowers but for some reason I was completely drawn to his idea. The next day I asked him if he was serious about starting a floral company and if not, could I then do it. Enter, The Posy.

WRE: Tell us more about how The Posy works?

ZG: It’s very easy. You go on our website, click Shop, you’ll see a few different sized Posies to choose from, select the size (or budget) you want, and order! Once you order your Posy, we choose florals based on the season, freshness, the availability at the market that day, and our vibe that day. Your florals are always extremely fresh, as we buy to order, and will last 2 weeks on average, IF you change the water and cut their stems frequently (as our Posy card instructs). We do same day delivery if the order is placed before 10 AM as well. We also do subscriptions! Our Posy Package offers weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly Posies at a discounted rate, which can also be ordered online. This is super fun because the Posies will be different every time you have a scheduled delivery! It also makes for a great gift (that keeps on giving)!It’s very easy.

WRE: What is so unique about The Posy?

ZG: EVERYTHING! First of all, we pick the types and colors of the florals for you, which are always exotic and extremely vibrant. Second, our Posies change every day based on the season and what is available at the market that day. Third, our website and ordering process is SO simple, especially for a floral company. Fourth, we build ALL of our Posies (with the exception of some event florals) in our hands, rather than in a vase. Fifth, our Posies are 360 degrees so they look good from any angle. Sixth, we hand tie all of our Posies so that when lift up your Posy to change the water, the stems aren’t displaced, which could change the look of your Posy. Seventh, we won’t ever use one type of floral in a Posy, we use at least 4 different types in every Posy, so the dozen roses thing – don’t even ask!

WRE: How do you determine what flowers are going to be used for certain Posy arrangements?

ZG: Well, first of all, it depends on the size arrangement. Not every flower is going to fit into our Petite Posy. But really depends on what our floral wholesalers have that day. I almost NEVER know what I am going to make that day until I get to the market and see what they have on the floor. I usually walk around the whole market 2-3 times really looking at everything and then I start with my favorite thing I saw. Based on the color/style of that flower, I then pick out the rest. I must say though, when certain florals are in season or in stock, like Silver Brunia or King Protea, I just have to buy it no matter what! This is to make life easy for our customers so they don’t have to scroll endlessly on a website through a plethora of floral images or choosing between tabs labeled ‘For Her’ or ‘Birthday.’ What if the birthday is for her? Too complicated. For us, it’s simply how much do you want to spend? Ok, we got you. Our Instagram @the_posy which shows our style and all the previous Posies we’ve made so you can get a better idea on what yours could look like.

WRE: Do the Posy arrangements change based on the season?

ZG: Definitely. There are certain florals that you can get year round, like roses, which we do incorporate some of in our arrangements, however, we really like to use florals that are specific to the season we’re in. Even when we know a season is starting to end, and there are still some stragglers there, we tend not to use them because they’re not in their prime. To my customers: if you want the best ranunculus, now is the time – they’re huge this time of year!

WRE: What has been one of the hardest challenges starting your own business? How did you overcome it?

ZG: I would have to say just juggling it all. The creative part is easy and building a business, logistically, isn’t too difficult either, just takes a ton of time, hard work, and research (which I love to do!). The most difficult part of the business is keeping it all straight in my head. I have so many ideas, so many things to do on a day to day basis (some that don’t even have anything to do with the actual flowers), and so many things to keep track of. Being a very organized person, I am easily stressed if I feel even the smallest thing is out of place. But honestly, the most difficult part of ALL of this, has been juggling the business, my family, my live-in, longtime boyfriend, my friends, my wannabee-healthy lifestyle, my non-business day to day tasks, and time for myself. It’s very hard to make everyone happy and I constantly feel I am failing someone or something (usually myself) and it’s been a definite learning process for me. I still haven’t overcome it, I’m not sure I ever will, but I try my best to be extremely present in everything I do and not think about what I haven’t done yet or who I still have to see that week. If I’m home with my boyfriend, I try to be off my phone and especially The Posy Instagram (because I can fall into a deep hole there) and be present with him. If I’m having dinner with my family, I really try to be involved and see what they’ve been up to that week so I don’t fall behind. And if I’m by myself and have a moment where I’m not acting Posy-obsessed, I try to workout or catch up on any of the Real Housewives franchises—don’t judge, it’s my mental break!

WRE: Do you have any plans to expand your business?

ZG: Definitely. First of all, I believe a business needs to continuously grow, in one form or another, or else it will die. So, I’ll constantly be innovating new Posies, creative additions and products, and fun ideas for events in order to stay on trend and on brand with our clients and The Posy. But physically, yes. I would love to expand to a larger space within Miami, with more employees, and continue to take on more events and clients. However, we won’t be expanding into the wedding and large scale event scene (150+ guests)—that’s a whole other ballgame that we aren’t totally interested in. Geographically speaking, I would also love to expand to New York City one day. It’s one of my favorite cities and we’ve had a ton of push from our followers and clients via social media about when we’re going to be offering our Posies in NYC. The goal would be to open a Posy studio space in the city and deliver our Posies daily, ordered via our website, as well as do events similar to what we’re doing now, here in Miami. NYC has a TON to offer (including a wider variety of funky florals!) and we definitely hope to be there in the near future, so keep an eye out!

WRE: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

ZG: Where do I see myself when I’m 36 years old, hmm. Hopefully married to my longtime boyfriend, Scott, with a few kids running around, living in Miami Beach, of course, and still running The Posy full time.

Zoë Galitz

no matter what, you just keep working harder to be better, always take pride in what you do, but most importantly, always love what you do and make sure you’re happy doing it. If you’re not, move on.