This interview offers several business case studies at once. A case on how to start a floral studio. A case on crisis management and making sharp business pivots. A case on finding new ways to work in a market that’s definitely not a “Blue Ocean.” And—it’s the story of a woman who wasn’t afraid to bet on herself.

 Alina, hi. Before we met today, I thought back to our first interview. It was that summer, during the first year of COVID. The pandemic and lockdown basically became the godparents of your floral studio, didn’t they?

Yeah. I remember that time like it was yesterday. Right before lockdown, XO Studio looked like this: we had 16 full-time employees and another 10 part-time. We had an office and a warehouse—both rented. The warehouse was 1,000 square meters, packed to the brim with chairs, tables, tableware, and equipment. And we had 60 deposits taken for future events—naturally, all of that money was already in circulation, spent on wedding prep.

Then on March 17, a state of emergency is declared, and the event business shuts down indefinitely. Which, as it turned out, meant nearly six months. So now you’re stuck figuring out what to do with 20+ employees, how to return the deposits, and what happens next. Panic?

Actually—no panic. Lockdown started in March, and Easter was in April. Our warehouse was overflowing with decor. I thought, if everyone’s stuck at home and everything feels so grim, why not try cheering people up with flower baskets? Lockdown didn’t ban flower deliveries.

So, would it be fair to call Easter 2020 the unofficial birthday of XOstudio FLOWERS?

Pavel! It’s the first month of lockdown, HoReCa is in despair, the event industry is in despair—and we’re already breaking even one month into this global catastrophe!

Back then, you were basically a walking power bank for positivity…

Let’s not exaggerate—there were still tons of problems. But I was genuinely happy. In just four weeks, we completely redesigned the office. It used to be just a workspace; now it was a floral company HQ. We renovated it, bought all the materials we needed. I took several floristry courses in Moscow, finished them myself, then trained the team. And on June 12, we had the official opening of the new office.

Honestly, if someone had started filming a documentary on March 17, 2020 and wrapped it up 85 days later on June 12, it would’ve made a perfect case study in crisis management. You were 29 at the time. Where’d you get the experience to handle a crisis like that?

You once said to me, “Anyone who’s served in the army doesn’t laugh at the circus.” By 2020, I had already run my own wedding agency for eight years. If you can imagine that business from the behind-the-scenes side—not the happy bride, bouquets, cake, and fireworks, but the real side—then you know what eight nonstop years of wedding and event planning means.

Let me do the math. You started your wedding agency at 22?

Yep. Before that, I worked at Okhotnichiy Dvor, where I helped organize concerts for Boyarsky, Ottawan, and Guf. Then I was involved in launching a nightclub, Flamingo—I got thrown into construction, set design, and event planning. Then I worked as art director for InStyle magazine. After that, I told myself: “That’s it. From now on, you only work for yourself.” And I launched the wedding agency.

Did you start small, with your girlfriends helping out?

My first event was a destination wedding in Mamaia, Romania. A Russian bride and a Romanian groom who was born in Switzerland. Though yes, I did get help from a friend—she called me from Switzerland. She studied with the couple and they needed a wedding planner who spoke both Russian and Romanian. She thought of me and asked if I had experience and would take it on.

And you?

I didn’t have any experience, but that’s no reason to turn down an opportunity like that. Not long after, I found myself at customs for the first time in my life, standing next to my first ever fully-loaded wedding truck. The wedding had 200 guests—it wasn’t exactly a small one.

Quite the debut. And it went on like that for eight years?

Yep, eight years straight. While other people were walking through parks in the summer, I was behind the wheel after three sleepless nights, my leg shaking from exhaustion, driving home and thinking, “Why can’t I just get out of the car and go for a walk like everyone else?” So yeah, when the lockdown hit, I kept thinking—this is your new business. Commit to it. Stay with it.

Sounds like you did commit.

When lockdown ended, I went back to events, but I kept the studio going too. A few years passed, and I started to rethink my life. I thought about the future and decided to focus fully on the studio. It’s not that running a floral business is stress-free—but it’s not the wedding business. That’s for sure.

What makes XOstudio FLOWERS different from other floral studios?

Let me think how to put this... Got it! Pure floristry mastery. I don’t hire people without experience. And I always look for a certain level of refinement in a potential team member. Because our clients value that. What I’m fighting for is to offer “two in one”: high-quality service and high-quality floristry.

That’s what sets us apart. I make sure our florists speak beautifully, respond properly, think clearly, and can help several clients at once without anyone feeling ignored. That’s critically important to me, because I’d be ashamed to face a client who walks out of here with a random bunch of flowers, feeling like no one cared or helped them find something that brings emotion and genuine joy.

Let me jump in here. I remember when you made a bouquet for me to bring to the opening of Cristis’ new salon—Lucia Berdos was hosting. It wasn’t a massive bunch of roses, just a small bouquet. But it was such a hit that Lucia ended up holding it in half the photos from that night. She absolutely loved it, it matched her style perfectly…

Thanks for the compliment.

It’s not a compliment—it’s just the truth. You already know I only order flowers from you… Okay, back to the florists. How do you manage to keep creative people on your team?

For starters, florists don’t unload flower shipments, mop floors, or carry 130 liters of water in a day. Everyone on the team has their own area of responsibility.

How do you source your flowers? Yours are very different from what you usually see in other studios or at the flower market. Do you import them yourself?

We don’t have the sales volume to be direct importers, and I’m not interested in wholesaling. But I found a solution—with the help of our supplier. He gave me access to his personal account on the Dutch auction, and now I handpick our flowers myself three days a week.

Seriously?

Yep. I select and order them, they get packed into boxes, and our supplier handles only the logistics. I save him time—he doesn’t have to deal with my “picky requests”—and I get to offer something unique. Our regular clients really appreciate that. Like you said about Lucia, I hear it all the time—our bouquets stand out not just in their design, but in the flowers themselves. So when a corporate client wants 50 bouquets in a specific color, I can go on the auction, order exactly what we need, and sleep well knowing I’ll get those exact varieties of roses.

So you order every week?

Yes. We pick them up on Mondays and store them in our fridge. The cold slows down the flowers’ life cycle, so I can always guarantee the freshness of our bouquets.

Do you specialize in corporate clients?

Not exactly. I’d say we’re about 40% corporate, 60% private clients. But we’re very convenient for companies to work with. The company’s been around for 15 years, we pay VAT, and we often work with businesses on long-term contracts. For example, if a company regularly sends flowers to clients throughout the month, they don’t have to pay for each bouquet individually—we just send one invoice at the end of the month. We’ve basically become a flower concierge for them.

Let me give you one more shoutout. When I order bouquets from you with delivery, I know they’ll arrive on time, handled with care, and in perfect condition. And then I always get a call or a message saying, “Thank you! That bouquet was stunning—it made my day.”

That’s not just you—it’s the same with our corporate clients. From the very first call, we say: “Hello, this is XOstudio FLOWERS. We’re calling to wish you a happy birthday, and we’re delivering a bouquet from…”

And people are genuinely happy. Honestly, I think it’s a crime how rarely we give flowers to loved ones, friends, clients, or good partners.

One thing I always try to do is assign a dedicated florist to each regular client. Over time, they understand each other better and the client feels more comfortable working with us.

Can you send a card or a gift with the flowers?

Even croissants, if you want. But then it has to be a morning bouquet—after lunch, there won’t be any fresh croissants left.

What haven’t we covered in this interview?

I haven’t had time to talk about XO FLOWERS Academy. That’s our next step. As we grow, it’s been hard to find new staff. So we decided to launch an online floristry training program. We’ll start in Romanian, because we were recently invited to Romania to help launch a floral shop chain, and we spent five full days training their team—from how to buy flowers to the entire process.

Are you competitive in the Romanian market?

It’s a total disaster there. Just in the past few months, three women reached out to us—from Cluj, Bucharest, and Iași. They were ready to come to Chișinău, stay in a hotel, and work with us—just to get proper training. And we’ve built up so much experience that we really have a lot to share. That’s why I’ll launch the Academy in Romanian. I see huge potential in that market.

But you’re not planning to leave Moldova, right? I’ve gotten used to ordering flowers the same way: “Alina, hi. Can I get a bouquet delivered tomorrow at 11?”

Don’t worry. You can keep calling or messaging me. The bouquet will always arrive on time…