Life & Work with Lauren Youmans of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Youmans.

Hi Lauren , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My story starts as little girl when my love for flowers started. My grandmother, Adeline, instilled in me a love for flowers from a young age. I remember spending summers with her in Albert Lea, Minnesota and helping her with her garden. She always stopped to admire nature and flowers and I fell in love with their beauty. A dream was planted in my heart to someday own a flower shop. I decided in high school though to follow in my father’s medical footsteps and become a doctor and later ended up becoming a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, mostly working with children with cancer and blood disorders and later primary care pediatrics. When I became a mama to two and after facing some traumatic life events, flowers became my safe place and a source of healing and peace for me. I’ve always done floral design for fun for myself and family, but I started spending hours designing at a time and started selling arrangements in my neighborhood and on Facebook. I decided in October 2022 to start a floral business from home and helped my Aunt, who also is a flower enthusiast, with the florals for my brothers wedding in December of 2022. I knew after doing wedding florals for the first time that that was what I was meant to do with my life. I fell in love with hosting floral workshops and doing wedding floral design. I went from hosting floral workshops in my neighborhood clubhouse and designing flowers in my home to starting to sell flowers in collaborative spaces and hosting events at Home and Seasons in Acworth, GA and Made Mercantile in Downtown Woodstock. Both of these spaces helped my business grow exponentially in 2024 leading to me opening my first storefront, Gather & Bloom, in November 2024 in Downtown Woodstock and my second storefront in Downtown Acworth in November 2025.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Honestly I feel as if I’ve been on a fast moving train with a lot of consistent growth in the business over the past 4 years, however, there have been many twist and turns and challenges along the way. I’ve realized managing people is not for the faint of heart. We have cultivated an amazing team now at Gather & Bloom, but leading a team of 20+ people is not always easy! There have also been obstacles along the way and challenging decisions, but I always say that God is my CEO and I lean heavily into prayer and seeking wisdom and advice when faced with these obstacles.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a floral designer that now owns two Parisian Style Floral Boutiques in both Downtown Woodstock and Downtown Acworth in Georgia. We are so much more than a flower shop, but a place where we focus on creativity, connection, and community. We now have 30 local woman owned businesses that we feature in our boutique and many of those business owners also host workshops in our storefront including painting, floral, cupcake and cookie classes, earring painting, pottery, sewing, crochet, and so much more. We also feature a robust Bloom Bar in both of our stores where you can come in and pick your own blooms and we can help you create a custom bouquet. This allows our customers to give very intentional gifts and florals that speak from the heart. Our designs are unique, stunning, one of a kind, garden-inspired, lush, and made with love.

Any big plans?
I am a dreamer. Always thinking of what’s next and I have so many dreams. To be honest the big dream on my heart and mind is to build a family compound and a wedding venue! We’d love to create a family compound on a lot of land and use part of the land as an event venue for weddings and retreats. Of course I am asked all of the time where our next location for Gather & Bloom will be and as of now we have no plans of opening another location, but I do see that happening potentially down the road as well!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gatherandbloomboutique.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gather.and.bloom
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564283734209