Meet The Florist
Rachel (Owens) Zerby
As with most florists, my love for flowers started at a young age. Both sets of grandparents and my Mom were always tending to beautiful gardens with me trailing a step behind them. I vividly remember my grandmas bright pink ant covered peonies, the towering sunflowers, and the fact that my grandfather himself was a certified Penn State Master Gardener.
In 2006 I started college at Penn State majoring in the only thing fitting for my love of plants and animals - Agricultural Sciences. I took quite a wide range of courses from Horticulture, Agronomy, Entomology, Soil Science, Fly Fishing, Equine Science, this list goes on… but my favorites were the flower arranging courses where I learned everything about flowers like shape, design, styles, history, color theory, flower care, and flower varieties.
After college I worked in various green house nurseries, landscape design businesses, and floral shops. I went on to work at a large floral wholesale distributor for over three years, where I saw every type of fresh cut flower come through the doors and how to care for them properly. Floral wholesale distribution started very early in the morning and I was done working in the early afternoon. After work I would help local florists in the area that needed an extra hand including working at a large floral farm. This experience enabled me to work on different styles ranging from farm fresh grown wild flowers to elegant largescale work and everything in-between.
As with all young adults I had college loans, rent, and other bills to pay so after years in the flower industry I went to work in the corporate world. While it wasn’t my passion, I’m thankful for the experiences and skills I learned that help me with owning my own business. While working in the corporate world I was still maintaining some floral side jobs to scratch that itch.
No matter where I’d go or what job I’d be doing, I always longed to be working with flowers and doing floral design work. With over 15 years in the floral industry, the love and support of family, friends, husband, and my fur kid Ruger, I decided on officially, and long overdue, starting my own business - Compass Rose.
