Meet Celia Milla of Pretty lil Things

Celia, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
As I’ve become older I’ve realized I’ve become so much like my mom.  Although our styles were always different like my mom I’ve always been a creative person, and I absolutely love decorating,  entertaining and doing for others. I grew up surrounded by flowers, fruit trees, ferns and my mom’s precious bougainvillea that she loved so much and shaded the patio in our backyard.

My parents hosted many fiestas; I have many memories of them dancing the night away to salsa and cumbia music. As I became older, I would make wreaths for my front door and friends for the holidays, deck my house out for Halloween and Christmas and throw the best parties (dancing included).

It all started when my daughter got engaged she and I designed and created the flowers for her bridal shower, wedding, and her baby shower, needless to say, I was hooked!

People started asking us to do the flowers for their events. My daughter Rachel thought it would be a good idea to start doing flowers as a business so I ran with that idea and she ran and started her family, she helps me when she can, she’s busy with my two grandchildren and has a full time job herself. July 14, 2013 was our first post on Instagram and today I continue to hustle through as I sleep, breathe and constantly think about flowers, events and growing my business; I absolutely love what I do!

I’m going on three years of having my own floral design studio and have had the honor of being chosen to be a part of so many beautiful events, I am truly blessed and so grateful.

Has it been a smooth road?
When your passionate and love what you do and have a positive attitude things run pretty smoothly.  I do have a few struggles though,  PLT’s is my side hustle, I have a full-time job, I work 40 plus hours a week and some weekends at the Port of Los Angeles.  When events come up I use a lot of vacation days, that along with growing my business and freelancing adds up to a lot of late nights and literally no days off.  Only other creatives who do what you do understand how hard flowering can be, it can take up to 3-4 days to prep for a medium sized wedding and more for larger weddings and events.  Processing the flowers and prepping vessels takes a lot of time and I’ve finally learned to hire help for certain events.  Although it is a lot of hard work the best part is the outcome of it all, the enjoyment of being a part of someone’s special day and witnessing an event unfold seamlessly and smoothly.  I also have a great support system, my two adult children Rachel and son Justin two grandchildren Aiden and Charlie and my husband of 29 years who is my biggest fan and supporter and has sat through countless hours of me talking about ideas, growing my business, my passions and what I love to do, I absolutely love him for that!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Pretty lil Things story. Tell us more about the business.
Pretty lil Things is a boutique floral design studio. Whether we are working in the wedding industry, festivals private events, shops or homes we transform spaces with our vision, passion and the love we have for flowering and design, we build long-lasting relationships with our clients and our community.

I believe that a giving hand is a blessed hand and that kindness is magic! We take the utmost pride in what we do, and we love bringing all the Pretty lil Things that are dreamed of to life!

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I believe that with social media and Pinterest the event business will continue to boom! So much opportunity for everyone to grow, there’s so many great and talented people out there. There will always be new ideas and trends which is great for us all and keep us all on our toes.