About Me

Hi, I'm Amy!

I'm the founder of Petal & Pink, and if you'd told me ten years ago that I'd be opening a mental wellness boutique in my 50s, I probably would have laughed. I'm a CPA, for goodness' sake! Spreadsheets and financial statements I understand. Opening a store dedicated to helping people take care of their mental health? That wasn't exactly part of the plan.

But sometimes the best things aren't.

The idea for Petal & Pink came from my own experiences with mental health. And I'll be the first to tell you, I certainly don't have it all figured out!

Growing up, talking about feelings wasn't exactly encouraged in my house. “Suck it up, Buttercup” was a favorite family saying, and I took it to heart. I got REALLY good at pushing through, keeping everyone else happy, and ignoring what I needed. Throw in some anxiety and a few unhealthy habits, and let's just say I had some things to work on.

Therapy made an enormous difference in my life. It helped me understand myself, recognize patterns that weren't serving me particularly well, and realize that taking care of my mental health wasn't just something to do when things got difficult. It was something I needed to pay attention to every day.

As I started exploring ways to do that, I discovered all sorts of helpful books, practices, and tools. The problem was that they were scattered everywhere. I'd find a great book in one place, a useful tool somewhere else, and then spend an afternoon researching whether something actually worked.

I kept thinking, wouldn't it be nice if there were one place that brought all of this together?

Eventually, I decided I should be the one to create it. Because opening a retail store with absolutely no retail experience seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do!

And that's how Petal & Pink came to be.

My hope was to create a place where taking care of your mental health felt a little less intimidating and a lot more approachable. We work with therapists and look to research when choosing our products because I want people to feel confident about what they're finding here. We're not therapists ourselves, and we're certainly not suggesting that a journal or a good book can replace therapy. But there are so many little things we can do to care for ourselves in everyday life, and I wanted to make those things easier to discover.

One of my favorite surprises has been watching Petal & Pink become more than just a store. We've added classes, workshops, and gatherings, and I love seeing people connect over a shared interest, try something new, or simply enjoy spending time together. It turns out that sometimes taking care of ourselves looks like learning a new skill, making a new friend, or spending an afternoon doing something just because it's fun.

And I think that's pretty wonderful.

When I'm not at Petal & Pink or doing CPA things, you'll probably find me reading, crocheting, watercoloring, playing Mahjong, or spending time with my family. I'm a bit of a serial hobby collector, which probably explains why I think almost anything can be turned into a class or workshop.

I'm still learning what it means to take good care of myself, and I suspect I always will be. But that's part of the point, isn't it? We don't have to have everything figured out to start taking better care of ourselves.

I'm so glad you found Petal & Pink, and I hope you'll stop by sometime. I'd love to meet you!

Amy