Liberty Ranch FFA Alum Lexi Lupton poses with a bouquet.
Liberty Ranch FFA Alum Lexi Lupton was accidentally put in a floriculture class during her freshman year of high school.
From there, her floral teacher, Mandy Garner, recommended that she attend the Greenhand Leadership Conference and join the novice parliamentary procedure team. Both experiences sparked her love for FFA, and she quickly built lifelong relationships with other members and teachers. Being enrolled in her floriculture class helped Lupton realize that she loved seeing and holding the work she had done.
Working with her hands fueled her love for floral and plants. When the world shut down in March 2020 because of COVID-19, Lupton worked as a college student in a plant shop. By May, she had missed working and making floral arrangements so much that she had started selling her arrangements out of her garage.
She started small, making floral arrangements like table centerpieces for special occasions and holidays. Eventually, she decided to take on a wedding. Lupton loved designing for this wedding on her own, so she started taking on more weddings. This led to her taking a big leap and starting a floral business. Lupton made a website and an Instagram page for her new floral business, “In Full Bloom.”
Lupton’s wedding piece overlooks a breathtaking view.
Through her time in FFA, Lupton learned valuable life skills she still uses daily in her business. She learned to be resilient through tough times and never to give up. She learned that “You have to get a lot of ‘nos’ to get some ‘yeses.’” She applies these lessons to her business. She realized you can’t focus on the losses; you must let it go and move on. Despite her losses, she still succeeds and does not let mistakes bring her down. Lupton has learned, “You’ve got to let it hurt to grow.”
Lupton ran for a California FFA state office during her senior year of high school. She was slated, but unfortunately, she did not get elected. Looking back four years later, she is grateful this happened. If she had been a year behind, she would have never started her floral business, would have still been in college and would not have met some of her closest friends. At that moment, Lupton did not see it this way, but she has since let herself grieve and overcome her pain.
Lupton’s arch and aisle pieces on display at a spring wedding.
Lupton is now 22 years old and a California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo graduate with a degree in agricultural communications. She has designed arrangements for more than 100 weddings and has a big media presence. She attributes her success to FFA, her friends and family, her agriculture teachers and her FFA chapter.
