Because we deserve it! Albury florist and award-winning small business owner Renee Williams is embracing a new self-love movement for women with her new ‘Pleasure & Petals’ hampers. Photo: Supplied.
It started with a conversation not intended for her young daughter’s ears.
Renee Williams recalls her eldest child saying to her afterwards, “Thankyou for standing up for me – you deserve better than this!”
Those words would stay with her for several years, through a separation and into the precarious world of online dating apps.
“It was horrific – it was where my soul was going to die,” the 38-year-old says of that short adventure.
A good friend thought it would be a better idea to buy the bubbly Albury florist her own “self-love gift”, declaring it was time she got herself together because she didn’t need anybody else.
“That (gesture) actually made me feel like I was capable on my own to do what needed to be done to support myself and my two daughters,” Renee says.
Renee, who has owned and run The Real Florist for the past seven years, had long toyed with the idea of a subscription option for women to buy flowers for themselves.
“One of the biggest complaints from women is they don’t get flowers from their ‘other half’ unless it’s an apology,” she says. “But flowers make them feel loved …”
She was sharing that story with friends in June this year when she came out with the analogy that there were in fact similarities between buying flowers for yourself and buying an intimate device.
It went something along the lines of: “You might as well do it for yourself, the way you want it done, because no one else is going to.”
Screaming with delight, her friends declared, “You should sell that idea!”
The next day that’s exactly what this award-winning small business owner set out to do.
Armed with her daughter’s own words and a renewed belief that women deserve so much more – more joy, more confidence and more celebration – Renee has founded what she calls a movement for modern women.
What began with a spark of self-love is something she hopes will blossom into a national conversation about empowerment, pleasure “and reclaiming our worth”.
On Friday 5 December, Renee will host the official launch of She Deserves, an online brand and gift hub designed by women, for women, blending flowers and feel-good gifts designed to spark connection and self-confidence.
Renee has deliberately collaborated with female-founded Australian brands to create the signature ‘Pleasure & Petals’ hamper ($199), which includes flowers, a vase, a VUSH vibrator, and She Deserves card, described as a beautifully curated blend of sensual self-care and floral joy.
Other gifts can be added or purchased separately including a locally made ‘She Deserves’ cap and ‘Sparkling Sarah’ produced by Cofield Wines at Rutherglen.
Renee says she was heartened by the fact all the companies she approached with her “elevator pitch” instantly embraced the concept.
She envisages women buying these gift hampers for other women – or for themselves – and even imagines “the good men out there who will buy it for their partners”.
Renee’s passion – and struggles – as a small business owner received national media attention recently when her insights into the crippling impacts of bank fees were reported in a Daily Telegraph story, closely followed by a spot on Nine’s Today Show in November.
But this community-driven campaigner says the real “pinch me” moment came when she was featured in a Mamamia article sharing the ‘5 money lessons that changed everything for me this year’.
In it she describes the unrelenting pressures on small business owners including the fact she had to let go of her full-time staff during a rough patch last year – and the emotional, financial and physical toll it took on herself and her family.
Over the years Renee has collected a swag of local business awards, she’s been a board member of Albury Business Connect, the chair of Albury CBD and was asked to be a judge at this year’s Albury-Wodonga Business Awards.
But this busy working mum, who rises at 6 am with coffee and smile in hand, is also the first to put up her hand to support local charities and fundraising initiatives – even finding time to learn how to rock and roll for the Stars of the Border Dance for Cancer major fundraiser in 2022.
Lugging 20 kilograms worth of vibrators back from the Albury Post Office ahead of Friday’s sold-out launch, Renee reflects on what this new venture means to her.
“I’m a single mum of two little girls and I need to keep us financially stable,” she says.
“I work hard here six days a week – every cent that comes in my door I have to bring in and I still can’t pay myself every week in this current climate of rising costs everywhere.
“This is one way to diversify while sticking to my business values. I do this because I love it and can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Renee insists She Deserves is not just a brand.
As communities across the country gather to mark 16 Days of Activism Against Gendered Violence (25 November to 10 December), she believes this launch is also a rally cry.
“It’s a reminder that empowerment doesn’t always roar – sometimes it blooms,” she says.
“It’s a symbol of women choosing themselves first. And that’s something worth celebrating every day.”
You can find The Real Florist on Facebook or drop in to the cafe/shop at 489 Swift Street, Albury NSW 2640. To order from She Deserves, visit the website.
