Yulia Kim is the Founder and Floral Designer of Blooms Forever, which specializes in sustainable, handcrafted, preserved and dried flower creations. We recently caught up with this mentee entrepreneur of FSI’s 2024-25 Mentorship Program for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs to learn more about her experience of the program.
Read our interview with Yulia to find out how FSI’s programs, community, and resources have uplifted her solo entrepreneurial journey, and why she thinks FSI is an ambassador of ethnically diverse entrepreneurs in Hong Kong.
Tell us about yourself, Yulia.
I moved to Hong Kong three years ago. So I’m an ethnic Korean but I was born in Uzbekistan, which is in Central Asia. I lived in Moscow, Russia, for about 10 years, then in Seoul, South Korea, for five years, and now I’m here in Hong Kong. So I have a multi-cultural and multilingual background.
I have always been into flowers. It is a Russian mentality to have flowers, not only for special occasions but also to decorate your space at home. I started to think about how to make floral decorations eco-friendly. I didn’t want the reusable plastic ones while fresh flowers die too fast, which adds to environmental waste, not to mention that they are quite costly. After some digging, I found out about preserved flowers.
How and why did you start Blooms Forever?
I was transitioning between my full-time job and creating Blooms Forever. I didn’t think I was going to do Blooms Forever full-time. I was just looking for an eco-friendly floral decoration for me and for my space, but there weren’t many options for sustainable flowers in Hong Kong. The preserved flowers we found all looked the same: they were either boxes of roses or flowers that came with glass domes, and you can’t distinguish between the flower shops because they are all like copycats.
That is how I envisioned Blooms Forever’s mission and vision: to redefine the floristry of preserved and dried flowers, and show people that they can look differently. In our bespoke bouquets and centrepieces, we try to highlight our clients’ personalities by giving them the flexibility and freedom to choose the colors and the flowers they like.
Some people are particular about flower types, so we would always try to find out where they plan to put the flowers. Is it on a bookshelf, a dining table, or a coffee table? This is important because a flower type’s suitability depends on where the bouquet is placed and various other factors in the surroundings. For example, if it’s for a dining table, then we would recommend something more compact and smaller.
Our clients’ needs come first, and of course, we always prioritize sustainability and craftsmanship. It can take approximately three to five business days to create one bespoke bouquet. I need to dismantle preserved flower petals by hand to recreate the signature Blooms Forever “blooming” effect to highlight the flower’s life cycle stages for the most natural look. We also try to use fewer plastic materials – for example, we don’t use PVC wrapping paper for our bouquets. Although using plastic can simplify covering technical aspects of a bouquet, we prefer using less plastic and choosing more eco-friendly alternatives whenever we can.
Why did you join FSI’s 2024-25 Mentorship Program for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs?
I accidentally saw a message from Vivian (Vivian Seo, FSI’s Executive Director and Community Business Support Program Manager) in a WhatsApp group. I didn’t know FSI, I didn’t know anything about this program, but it sounded quite interesting. Being a solo entrepreneur, everything is happening inside my head all the time, all the debates. How should I develop the business? What should I do next? So I thought it was worth trying the program.
What business challenges were you looking to resolve and what knowledge to gain from the program?
When I started the program, I had been doing Blooms Forever for less than a year, and I was still not sure about the brand identity, about how I should approach clients. There were times when I didn’t have any inquiries for months, and I was creating a schedule for going to different pop-ups and also tried to host workshops. For me, the biggest goal was to understand how I could build the brand for Blooms Forever and get more clients and sales.
How would you describe your experience as a mentee of the program? What skills and learning are you able to take away from the experience?
During the program I had a lot of ups and downs. My main takeaway from this program is not to be afraid to try multiple things even though you might not have the final picture or the brand identity – it’s all part of the journey. Don’t expect that at the end of the program, everything will be done like you have run the business for 10 or 20 years.
As a solo entrepreneur, I had a lot of enthusiasm at the beginning – I was taking a lot of opportunities. By the end of the program, I started to ask myself questions like, “What does this thing bring?” “What am I doing it for?” “Do I need to do this at this current moment?” I think the program helped me to be more strategic and I understood from my mentors that KPIs can be different. It’s not only about selling and making a profit from the sale, but it can be brand awareness, it can be networking, and building your personal brand.
What specific support did you receive from the FSI team, your mentor, or the broader FSI community to address the challenges you face as early-stage under-resourced entrepreneurs?
I have plenty of examples! I would say I had great help from the FSI community, first of all the guidance from Dani and Vivian, and all the interns like Adriel Heng and Mohammad Abdul Rehman, who helped me research and design Blooms Forever’s logo, which is printed on the T-shirt that I’m wearing right now. The pro bono legal help provided by Linklaters and Johnson Stokes & Master was a huge support for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs.
As a member of FSI’s community of ethnically diverse entrepreneurs, I was also featured in The Beat Asia’s listicle for 10 Ethnically Diverse Women Entrepreneurs and Founders in Hong Kong.
Through another FSI event, I had a workshop together with the Hive Sheung Wan for Valentine’s Day, which was also an interesting experience. Even though I had previously worked with the Hive Sai Kung, it’s always nice to get more connections and spaces to tell the story about Blooms Forever and preserve flowers.
Were there any memorable moments?
As a participating vendor at FSI’s first GuideFong Bazaar in September 2024, I landed one of the biggest and most exciting clients. My client has an allergy and was looking for alternatives to fresh flowers for her wedding decoration, and I managed to tap into this business direction, which I didn’t consider previously. I was offering only the flowers, like bridal bouquets, but she was really interested and we discovered that we could create the centerpieces for the tables at her wedding venue, and she would give the centerpieces away to her parents, family-in-law, friends, relatives etc. after the wedding. I was really happy because we can promote an allergy-free and sustainable approach to wedding ceremonies as well.
How have the program and FSI’s resources and network enabled you to achieve for Blooms Forever as well as yourself as an entrepreneur and human?
Before joining the Mentorship Program, I worked by myself. I didn’t have a community. I didn’t have people to talk with, even when I wasn’t talking about business topics. The only person I could brainstorm with was my husband. Joining the program means that first of all, I have you guys, a community I can always reach out to. I have other mentees, mentors, and coaches. We still keep in touch and it’s always nice to have people who are having the same journey, the same struggles, the same wins. It’s always important to celebrate the wins and not talk only about the challenges in the entrepreneurial journey.
In terms of my personal growth, I have learned that it’s okay to ask for help, that I don’t need to be perfect all the time. As a straight-A student, I was always expecting to have all the answers to the questions. During my sessions with the coach, I was like, I don’t know. And I realized it in some situations, it’s okay to say, I don’t know, I need some time to think and understand where to go, what to do. And it’s absolutely fine. So yeah, it’s like this!
Would you recommend FSI’s Mentorship Program for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs to others?
No. Joking, of course I would recommend the Mentorship Program to others. FSI is like a big ambassador because we don’t know the local language, right? Unfortunately, for now, we don’t have the time, or resources to learn Cantonese or Mandarin. And being a solo entrepreneur without the biggest budget and support, it’s always good to know that you have this island where you can come to recharge and ask for advice or even just to chat. Definitely, I would recommend the program to young entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
I want to say that you’re doing such a great job. I really appreciate everything what you all have done together as a team. And I think that I got really lucky that I saw that WhatsApp message – there are multiple messages in that WhatsApp group during the day, and I caught the right one.
