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A Rose Speaks a Thousand Words
Interview Phadria Prendergast
Seema and Sunny Chadha are the power couple dominating the globe, one coffee table, event and milestone at a time, with their classic, luxe rose arrangements VENUS ET FLEUR, that mark every occasion. The go-to floral option for many celebrities like Kevin Hart, Addison Rae, Gigi Hadid and the Kardashians, WOTC caught up with the Chadha’s about dynasties, giving back and going against all the odds. Flowers are a language and the bombshell duo definitely understood the lingo.
Phadria: Where did it all begin for you both - first individually and then together? What were you doing beforehand and did entrepreneurship already run in your families?
Seema: Yes, absolutely. So I come from an entrepreneurial family actually. My dad came to Canada without much money and so worked a really challenging job. He was making like three dollars and seventy five cents an hour, but always wanted to have his own business. So he got into plumbing and lighting and as a child I had to work there on the weekends every Saturday. I worked at the store, answered the phones, and helped customers. That taught me a lot about business and service. I wanted to be a business owner at some point in my life and because I was in this interior design; plumbing; lighting space, I thought I wanted to be an interior designer. So I went to school for two semesters to do interior design, then I realized it wasn't really what I wanted to do. I didn't see myself personally enjoying that as a career, so I pivoted and I was still working for my parents.
Phadria: What was it that sparked your interest in interior design in the first place?
Seema: I think because it was my family's business. We did a lot of renovations and new builds, and I worked with interior designers. So I loved seeing the process from start to finish. It was the development of seeing this image on a computer and seeing the finished product at the end. I just loved that idea. However, I just didn't find that, it was what I wanted to do. Then I pivoted and I decided I wanted to get into marketing because again, that's a very similar process. You come up with this idea and then you market it to individuals, especially with product development. So I went into that and really loved it. I finished marketing school and was working full time for my parents at the time, plus doing night classes. What I was doing for my parents was all the purchasing of their lighting products, plumbing products.. basically anything that you hadn't seen in that industry. I would go out to different shows and buy them. It was actually a lot of fun, but again, it just wasn't what I wanted to do forever. So I had these contacts for packaging and that's how it led us into creating Venus ET Fleur.
Sunny: For me, I too come from an entrepreneurial family. I think that was one of the things that the two of us, when we first met, got us really connected - if you will. I had to work with my family from a very young age; going to school in the morning, then driving from New Jersey to Manhattan every day. In the beginning, I thought 'I love what I'm doing', but I wasn't challenged enough. My father had created a business where he was selling electronics and appliances globally, and for me it was really cool, but I wanted to take us to the next level of going to the Amazon platforms and online and selling e-com. I started doing that with them and got it to a point where I felt comfortable and wanted to challenge myself. I ventured off into a few other sectors and also started different brands and companies with friends and family. It was definitely a fun experience, but for me, working with the family really helped teach me about owning every single aspect of the business, not just putting all your eggs in one basket. For one, you can buy all the inventory and sell all you want, but if you're not good at customer service and experience, then that can end up being the defeat of your brand. So I really learned that early on and just brought all my experience from the past forward. So the two of us together, as we were conceptualizing going into this business, we just really wanted to make sure we had all bases covered. For the first couple of years, it was a challenge for sure and long, long nights with no sleep, but that's what makes it the best for us to look back. We can see that we never want to take our finger off in any area of the business. It’s all just as important.
Seema: Yes, and I think it's really rare to find couples or even just our story as a whole. We have such a similar upbringing, and when we met, that was something we connected on like, 'oh, like we used to work for our parents' and, you know, did this and that. Eventually we were supposed to take over our parents' businesses; it’s just something they expected, but it wasn't what we both wanted to do.
Phadria: And how did they take that?
Seema: With my parents, I was moving to another country. I was from Canada, so I moved to the US. I think that was really challenging for them, because I was moving to another country and starting a business. It's not that they didn't have faith that I could do it, it was that they couldn't control that situation. So I think that was really hard. But, you know, my parents have been very supportive - so as have his parents (motioning to Sunny). They're always the first ones to like things on Facebook and [they’re] just always there for us. So we're really, really lucky.
Phadria: That’s really special. And I love that you were able to connect on that level, but I'd like to ask, what is it like working with your spouse? (they both laugh)
Sunny: You know, a lot of people ask that and it's funny because we both come from working with our families. Honestly, when we talk about it when working with family, it becomes difficult to separate business and personal life. I think because both of us really had already experienced that, we realized that, one, we would never want to be in that scenario again and two, if we were to ever do something with a significant other or a family [member], it needs to be very clean and clear. And so just early from day one, we made it very clear, Seema has her specialty and her strengths. I have my strengths and it was always that we trust each other. We love each other so much that if you make that decision, I stand behind you one hundred percent. Never going to contest you and never going to try to convince you otherwise for areas of the business where you take that lead. I think making it very, very important that we stand by that from day one and even till today, is what's allowed us to to really work together so well, whereas other people may not have been able to do that.
Seema: And I think it's exciting to have the same goal at the end and just push each other. I think, like he said, it's very important to set up the roles and responsibilities in the beginning and just let them be and of course, collaborate when needed. But own your own voice and your own sector and then things don't get messy.
Sunny: Yes, and being supportive. Every goal that you set, you're going to see challenges and you may at times feel defeat. I think for us, not allowing each other to feel defeat, to be able to pick someone right back up and be like, ‘no, listen, you got this. You're going to be able to get it done. We'll do it together.’ Just continue to drive each other. You need that person sometimes to give you that push and we're so blessed to be able to have each other do that.
Phadria: And what do your employees find it like working with both of you? (They both laugh)
Sunny: I think it's definitely fun because our employees - our team is just amazing. We've been able to, thankfully, have such a supportive and great hardworking team. It’s been a little bit of a challenge over the last year now with covid and not being able to see our staff in person every day, but as things have been able to progress, we've caught back up with staff in the office at times. I think again, keeping that separation of exactly what each other does is very clean and clear. In meetings for example, we'll go into a product development meeting and I might just be there working in the background and I'll hear something and I'll be like, 'I don't know if I agree with that.' It’s funny because the team just laughs about it and looks at Seema and she's like, 'well, it's my call at the end of the day,’ (Seema laughs). At the end of the day, we make it very clear together that each one of us is going to own a particular area of the business and our team is always on board with it.
Seema: I think we're really lucky because we have identified our weaknesses and we know that we aren't good at everything. So we brought in people that are amazing at what they do and we let them own their specialty. They come to us when they need to but really they run their own department, so I think that's what's really beautiful about working with us.
Phadria: You both formed the business, of course, before actually getting married. That's very interesting. What made you make that decision? I can imagine that the bond must have been extremely strong for you both to even have had enough trust to say, “I'm going to go for this and form a business together” even before "making it official.”
Seema: I am very intuitive. When we started talking, I just knew there was something really special about him. When we were talking about this business, the fact that he was so willing to just help and pick up the slack in certain areas, it felt like the right move to be business partners. I know it sounds silly, but you just know when you know. We had already talked about what our future had looked like, even though it was so early on, but we weren't taking that step at that moment. We just knew, “'OK, I think we're going to be together forever. Let's take a leap of faith here and trust this.”
Sunny: I think both of us were just so similar. From the minute that we met, we realized we liked all the same things. We like the same types of music. We're both into fashion. We both are passionate about business and we have that entrepreneurial spirit. So I think there were so many similarities, that every single day it was nonstop conversations. People called us crazy and looking back at it, it definitely was a risk, but I think we both knew that and still know now that we're so well connected. We knew that from that exact moment that we met and luckily, our bond continues to be as strong as ever.
“I think that there are a lot of naysayers in any sort of business, especially if you're going to create anything new that hasn't been done before, people just cannot imagine what that is.”
Phadria: What was it that had you both set in your minds - and even if maybe there was one second of doubt, what completely solidified to you that 'we're just gonna go for this'?
Seema: I think that there are a lot of naysayers in any sort of business, especially if you're going to create anything new that hasn't been done before. People just cannot imagine what that is, so they're going to put that down, but I think the fact that we believed in the business so much, that we had no doubt in our mind that it was going to be successful, that it was successful. We just kept pushing forward. I had every single person in my ear saying, 'you're stupid. What are you doing? You're making a huge mistake and you're wasting a lot of your finances.' But I just knew it in my heart, and he also was the same.
Sunny: I think for the both of us, we wanted to be challenged. Particularly for this business, we were just like, 'this feels right. We want to do this.' And with everyone saying, 'you guys are crazy,' it just fueled that even further. We thought ‘we're going to do this and we're going to show you why the two of us that everyone called crazy, were able to come out with something that we put our mind to.’ We never, ever take the foot off the gas and we continue going forward. It's just what we do.
Seema: Yeah! And just having a really positive mindset towards the end goal. I think that's something that we're both very strong at.
Phadria: Would you say that people were against the idea because you weren’t married?
Sunny: I think it was a mixture of a lot of things. Obviously we were starting something that was completely new and it was such a risk. It had never been done before, and so I think that there were a lot of people that were like 'this is a cool idea, but is it going to be big?' The families that we come from, they're all about security. Our parents risked everything to be able to build a foundation and build security for their children. They're very strict because they want us to make the right decisions, and so at times it was a lot of, 'listen, if you want to be crazy and think you can do this, then go ahead and do it. We're not going to be as supportive one hundred percent right there and then,” but obviously they say that because they really want to protect you and prevent you from making a bad decision.
Phadria: And of course, you both work together. You're both married. You spend all, if not a lot of your time together. How do you make time for yourselves? Do you make time for yourselves? Was that something that you really had to learn how to do and at what point?
Seema: I’m someone who really believes in self care, so I always take at least a day in the week to reflect on how the week went. I journal every day. I meditate every day. That's really important to me. And then also a day where I just catch up on things - whether it's TV or whatever, that self care to me is very, very important. Also going for walks, making sure I am exercising; I try to do that on that day, if I haven't done it throughout the week and it makes me feel very grounded and connected. For Sunny, I really do encourage him to do these things, too, but I think his form of self care is probably golf (they both laugh).
Sunny: For me, it's really just getting out and being able to clear my mind. My go-to as Seema said is golfing, getting into the gym or going on drives. I'm somebody who loves to be outside. I love to be moving around constantly. It's funny because on a Sunday night, after a long work week, Seema's like, 'let's just hang out all day inside and watch movies.' And I'm just like, 'hmm no, I'm going to be out.’ But as we said earlier, for both of us, although we're together all day, every day, we understand how to separate business and personal life, and we really partake in the same things together. So even when we are having down time away from work, it'll be the two of us going for a cruise together and then having lunch or the two of us cruising out at sunset to a beach to watch the sunset and hang out. It's very much like we're still always together and there's times that we'll both step away to do our own thing.
Phadria: And what do you do to give back to your community?
Seema: I think I'll definitely let Sunny speak on this because he actually initiated it, but for Women's Day this year, he wanted to do something really large for the company. We are mostly women. I think we're about a 70 percent female workforce. So Sonny wanted every woman in our company to feel like they had a voice. So he said every day of the month, we're going to honor one woman from our team, every day and they get to pick a charity of their choice and we will donate a thousand dollars to their charity. So for the entire month of March, we did that. And I thought that was such a beautiful initiative and I loved that he thought through that.
Sunny: I think at the end of the day, we have people that are so supportive in our team and those that may not be on the social media team or part of the finance team to actually see how big of a business [we are], or the reach that we actually have. So I really think it's special to have someone like a designer; that's super passionate about the business, be rewarded, be heard and be recognized by the world. And for our audience to be able to really appreciate what they do and give thanks to what they believe in. We're young entrepreneurs, we do have a younger team for sure, but we're always trying to encourage our team, our community, our family, our friends, people within our community that reach out to Seema and I. Even on Instagram, you'll get a direct message from someone that is just appreciative and would love to get any type of advice. We're those kind of people who listen to that person, help that person in any way we can and enable them to really get the life of their dreams. Even internally, we've had staff in the past that maybe had started to really accelerate through their career and wanted something more. We've always said 'hey, we will help you. We'll help you get to the next level. If you want to start your own business, let's try and help you do that.’ So we've always been very encouraging. We're passionate about business. We're passionate about entrepreneurs as a whole. The world is full of them. There's a lot of people that may not be given the right push from family or friends who say, 'hey, you already have a job, you already have that security. Why do you really want to go after that?' But there's so many brilliant innovators that are just hiding under a curtain right now. Having more people enabling them by saying, 'you can do it. Go after your dreams. Really build something that you are passionate about,' it's going to unlock this entire new group of people that will continue to innovate. We are big, big believers that enabling those individuals is what’s going to continue to drive a better world - because of all the new ideas or businesses that come to fruition.
