Today we’d like to introduce you to Christie Holloway.
Hi Christie, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hi, I’m Christie—a wife, mom, Delco native, engineer-turned-floral entrepreneur, and the founder of Rooted Farmstead, a full-service floral design studio specializing in weddings, events, and creative experiences.
A few years after graduating from Villanova University, my career led us to Central Pennsylvania, where I spent years in construction and facilities project management for higher education. During that time, I started Rooted as a small flower-growing side hustle while I was still working full-time.
Ultimately, burnout, COVID, motherhood, and the “girl boss” era of the late 2010s created something of a perfect storm, and in 2022, I decided to pursue Rooted full-time.
What began with growing flowers quickly grew into workshops, markets, and eventually floral design. I found myself obsessed with the planning, problem-solving, logistics, and experience of bringing floral designs and events to life. I realized this was both my passion and my value proposition: combining the project management skills I had developed throughout my career with the tangible beauty and connection that drew me to flowers in the first place.
Now, having recently relocated back to the Philadelphia suburbs, we’re excited to build the next chapter of Rooted with a focus on weddings, private and corporate events, floral installations, and creative experiences throughout the Mid-Atlantic.
It has been an unexpected path, but each chapter has ended up preparing me for the next one.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, although I’m not sure I would change that—nor was I particularly surprised by it. My path has never been especially conventional.
One of my biggest personal challenges was making the leap from a stable, established career that I was incredibly proud of—especially as a first-generation engineer and a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field—into small-business ownership. And I wasn’t just starting a business; Rooted’s original entry point was agriculture, where, as first-generation farmers, we were often reminded that we didn’t necessarily belong there, either.
Even now, as a florist, I don’t have the traditional backstory. I didn’t grow up in my grandmother’s flower shop, and I haven’t been classically trained—but there’s also something really exciting in that. When you’ve never done something before, you don’t have a deeply ingrained sense of “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” I’ve had the freedom to experiment, develop my own techniques and style, and build a business around what feels right for me, my values, and my family.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Rooted Farmstead is a full-service floral design studio specializing in weddings, private and corporate events, floral installations, and creative experiences like workshops and bouquet bars throughout the Philadelphia region and Mid-Atlantic.
I believe what truly sets us apart is our untraditional journey.
Rooted began as a flower-growing venture, and that experience continues to inform the way I design today. Growing flowers gives you a deep appreciation for what it takes to get a stem onto your design table—and for how much you’re rewarded when you work with nature rather than against it. There’s something to be said for working with seasonal flowers and letting a flower behave as it was built to behave.
But the ability to create something beautiful isn’t enough to sustain a business. My career as an engineer taught me to look at the whole picture—to take an idea, figure out what it will take to bring it to life, and make it work within real-world constraints. I think that’s why corporate clients in particular enjoy working with us. We understand that beautiful work still has to function within a defined scope, schedule, and budget, and we genuinely respect those constraints.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Most people who know where I came from are surprised by my brand, while most people who know my brand are surprised by where I came from.
People who know me primarily through Rooted are often surprised to learn that I didn’t grow up on a farm—not even close—and that I have no formal training or lifelong passion for becoming a florist.
On the other hand, people who knew me as the quiet honor roll student with zero athletic ability whatsoever are probably still a little surprised to see me getting mic’d up to teach hundreds of people floral workshops and schlepping 50-pound buckets of flowers around a venue like it’s nothing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rootedfarmstead.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rootedfarmstead
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rootedfarmstead
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rootedfarmstead
