Amelia – Business owner and floral designer

Amelia Addis was doing her floristry apprenticeship in Palmerston North when she ‘caught the WorldSkills bug’.

She went along to the 2014 National Competitions for Floristry in Hamilton, and then to Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2015. “WorldSkills changed my perspective on floristry from being a job to becoming a career. When I went to my first WorldSkills Competition everyone was really into what they were doing, whether they were a plumber, electrician, florist or someone else. They were really all into their work. It was an electric atmosphere.”

“The introduction to competition floristry was very different to what I had experienced in retail. It made me think of flowers in a different way, think about design and process differently too. I loved it.”

“When you are young, you worry about what other people think. You might think ‘where is this going to lead me?’ Competing changed my perspective about the opportunities available to me as a florist and set me up with a really good base as a floral designer. It made me confident in my own decision, knowing floristry was what I really loved, and then helped me step up the way I pursued it.”

“Now, as a business owner, I see the broader benefits of competing. Resilience, endurance, going over things until they are right, and being in a high pressure situation. All those things which I experienced during training and competition have better prepared me and made me more equipped for what else I have chosen to do.”