The theme of Fleurs de Villes’ Hudson Yards Show in New York City was “Voyage,” and what a voyage it has been for “Best in Show” winning florist Serbio Uzcategui.
The owner of a thriving eyeglass store in Venezuela, he fled the South American country and got political asylum in the United States five years ago in 2017. Like many legal immigrants in New York, he got a job as a waiter at a restaurants. He also supplemented that income by working as a waiter for catering companies, where he noticed so many leftover flowers from weddings and corporate events.
“I would take the ones that were going to be thrown out and make my own arrangements,” he recalls. “I had never worked with flowers before but found myself so drawn to them.” He then also started learning about floral arrangements.
His bosses at Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards noticed his talent, too – and gave him a flower concession store. As Florists Review and the New York Post’s Page Six also reported, I was at the restaurant and noticed his talent too.
I didn’t need a big, powerful place to call him a talent. After all, so many talented florists work invisibly just trying to get their daily responsibilities done and have little time to promote themselves.
Read more at flowerpowerdaily.com