Downtown florist has conquered many arrangements

Colorado Springs Business Journal, Apr 11, 2003 by Lance Gurwell

Sherry Brand and her high school friends lived for the St. Louis nightlife. They danced the night away as the thumping speakers blasted out songs like "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Locomotive Breath."

She loved dancing close to the speakers, where she could absorb the full impact and volume of the music, where she could feel the thud of the bass and the piercing screams of the singer and his guitar.

By the time she was 17 she started losing her hearing. The loud music had taken its toll and before long, her hearing worsened.

She stopped going dancing, hoping to stop her hearing loss. It was too late, and she continued to lose her hearing.

"I was pretty scared, and I knew I had to find something I could do (career) with little or no hearing," Brand said.

Her college efforts resulted in a master's degree in counseling the deaf and hard of hearing. She also became an excellent photographer, a beneficial byproduct of her naturally artistic tendencies.

Her journeys in the years before moving to Colorado Springs were exciting, she said. She lived in California, Arizona, Detroit, Boulder, and points in-between before she landed in Colorado Springs.

Brand left Detroit after just three years, realizing her neighborhood wasn't a safe place. But while there she developed her photographic portfolio and some of those photographs became part of a one-person show entitled Walls and Windows.

By 1995, Brand realized with her hearing further deteriorating, she needed a final fallback. She realized her hearing was getting progressively worse, and she feared she might become profoundly deaf.

She decided to go to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. Gallaudet is the nation's only four-year university dedicated to the hearing-impaired. Spoken English is the second language at Gallaudet, and tuition costs close to $10,000 per year.

Among the first things Brand learned is that she is not alone.

More than 28 million Americans have a hearing loss, and about one- third suffer hearing impairment by age 65. More than two million Americans are profoundly deaf, and one in 1,000 infants is born deaf. There are more than 20,000 deaf and hard of hearing students enrolled in post-secondary education nationwide.

"It was really hard at first, because I was entirely out of my element; there is only sign language there and I didn't know any sign language," Brand said from the flower shop she purchased just over a year ago. Her artistic skills are evident in the floral displays and the way she displays her flowers amongst a variety of antiques.

In two years at Gallaudet, Brand earned a master's degree in counseling and she headed back to Colorado and family.

Ultimately, she got a position at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind in Colorado Springs. In 1999, she got a job as a dormitory supervisor, but found the work repressive and unenlightening.

Brand did not renew her contract with the school when the term was over, and she again found herself on the outside looking in. She kept looking and talking to people about prospects.

Those who avoid eye contact while conversing might be uncomfortable talking with Brand. Eye contact, deliberate speech and pronunciation of every syllable help her understand what people are saying, she said. That's why she fixes her gaze on a speaker's mouth.

Family and fate brought Brand to Colorado, and ultimately to her present vocation: flower seller and designer in a tiny downtown store called Bijou Gardens, just off Tejon St. in Colorado Springs.

"I didn't know what I wanted to do; I was frustrated that my hearing was getting worse, and I felt bad the deaf school thing didn't work out," she said. However, fate intervened.

The co-owners of the store she now owns decided to sell and go their separate ways, and Brand decided to give it a go. Nevermind she had no floral training, knew little about flowers and practically nothing about operating a business.

The women she purchased the business from were supposed to spend some time with her until she learned the basics, but it didn't happen.

Soon, though, word got out she owned the business. Friends and acquaintances started coming by. News also arrived at the Mennonite church Brand used to attend before moving into Colorado Springs.

"The whole church supports me. These people still stop in and see how I'm doing; they buy flowers from me," said Brand.

Her store is decorated in 'primitives,' which too many times is a euphemism for junk. Not to Brand. An old newel post is wrapped with dried ivy; iron gates from Europe, rusted and paintless, take on new charm leaning against a wall.

Brand said she practices the art of decorating with what you have, not commiserating about what she doesn't have. Her eye for antiques developed early, prior to starting to lose her hearing.

"When I was 16 years old, I would skip school and hang out in the antique shops in St. Louis," Brand said. "Finding a way to decorate with them (antiques) sort of came naturally."