Life & Work with Ashley Skandalakis of Marietta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Skandalakis.

Hi Ashley, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started making orchids for a new restaurant several weeks before Covid hit. Wow sequestered during Covid. I decided what I really wanted to do was start a container business for outdoor seasonal planters. So I researched a name and Atlanta Planters was not taken. Applied for business license and started working every social media branch I possibly could describing what my services would be. By May I was booked! People were staying at home and putting money into their outdoor spaces so they could enjoy staycations. By that fall, I was doing the Ritz Carlton at Lake Oconee and had already hired an extra employee. By the next fall, I was looking for a space so that I could have delivery trucks bring wholesale plants and containers. We were working year-round doing outdoor containers and indoor plant compositions. In April 2022 I got my Landscape design degree from Emory university in August 2022 opened a home and garden store in Marietta. We now plant 150 clients seasonal containers twice a year, decorate over 60 houses for Christmas, have a robust home and garden store that has been voted one of the best by Atlanta business journal two years in a row and I have six employees.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
If there’s a smooth day, accounted as a blessing! There’s always a challenge in each challenge brings a new lesson. Their challenges in running a day-to-day business, there are challenges being in the service industry, and there are challenges, managing people. I just try to take everything in stride and make the best decisions that I can.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’ve always been an enamored by color texture and pattern. I was in interior design, major Georgia and feel like II’ve always been an enamored by color texture and pattern. I was in interior design major Georgia and feel like I have just transferred my love of the interior to the exterior. When I meet with clients, it’s always important for me to see their interior because their exterior is just an extension of the interior of their house. I’m known for my creative design, beautiful unique, Planters, passion for what I do and pleasing people.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
In 2005 I’ve been at a product called lapper’s. They are a nonslip dinner tray and I actually ended up having eight patents. I grew the lapper’s to a multimillion dollar business, including having them in 3000 stores, 12 catalogs, sky boxes across the southeast, and a staple on QVC for five years.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.atlantaplanters.net
• Instagram: @atlantaplanters