Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna LaBeau.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Born and raised in Cape Coral, FL. Moved to Orlando in 2010 to attend UCF. Graduate with a B.S. in Event Management & Hospitality. Met my husband in college and we got married in 2015.
Now, I am a photographer and floral designer, as well as the Yelp Orlando Community Manager.
In 2016, I decided to leave my corporate job to pursue some of my creative passions and see where they might lead. I started by putting my event management degree to good use working with The Dinner Party Project (https://www.thedinnerpartyproject.co/), coordinating their 8 “dinners with strangers” each month and helping to streamline processes as they continued to grow. During that year, I also began working part time for Yelp as the Community Coordinator here in Orlando, planning cool events that connect the Orlando community with amazing local businesses. I continued in that role for 4 years (2016-2020), working alongside the lovely Andi Perez who was the Yelp Community Manager at the time. These two opportunities allowed me to meet so many fabulous people in Orlando and truly made me fall in love with my city. Little did I know, that year would be one of the most formative years of my career and kick start such an incredible journey.
Constantly surrounding myself with other creatives, makers, and artists during this time inspired me to amp up my side hustle game as I found a new love for photography — specifically interior and food photography. My husband & I are both interior design nerds, and we’ve always loved capturing the beautiful spaces and hidden gems we discover. One day I picked up my husband’s old Canon Rebel t2i and just started shooting wherever we went. Hotels and restaurants quickly became my favorite photo subject, and working with Yelp, I found myself documenting all of my food adventures along the way (and sharing them on social media). Before long, I began taking on photography clients, including Airbnb, Alforal.com, Sonny’s BBQ, Hawkers Asian Street Food, local interior designers, hotels, and more. Many of these clients have become great friends and I’m so grateful they took a chance on me.
Now, this is where things get a little random, haha. In 2017, I decided to try my hand at wedding floral design while working for an event planning company. I’m a self-taught florist, having learned mostly through video tutorials and trial & (a lot of) error. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the wedding industry just wasn’t for me, but I did discover my passion for working with flowers. I started taking on freelance floral gigs and shortly after that, I joined the team at Porch Therapy inside East End Market in 2018. They were about to open their new concept in Winter Park, The Heavy (https://www.theheavywp.com/), and I was asked to open & run the flower bar in their new space… what a dream!
While I was slingin’ stems at The Heavy and continued my freelance floral journey, I fell in love with dried & preserved materials, as well as the sculptural aspect of design. Creating more long-lasting arrangements and permanent floral installations became my muse, and that’s when I really began to push the limits with my design. I finally launched AnnaLaBeau.com, which is a combined portfolio of both my photography and floral work. In December 2019, I was recruited to audition for a floral design competition show coming to HBO Max. I ended up going for it (I was terrified lol), and even though I didn’t make it through to the final round, I’m so glad I tried. It was such a fun experience that allowed me to test the boundaries of my design and resulted in one of my favorite installations to date!
In January 2020, I opened a dried floral shop under The Heavy/Porch Therapy umbrella. Their third concept, Janet’s Dry Humor (http://www.porchtherapy.com/janets-dry-humor), was located upstairs at East End Market where I was the lead designer and shop manager. Of course, the pandemic hit 2 months later which came with many challenges for small businesses, but fortunately, we were able to pivot and continued operating as a floral studio (closed to the public), accepting custom orders. I was beyond grateful to find that there was increased interest in dried flowers and home decor/projects during this time. This allowed me to continue working and kept me busy creating beautiful things for peoples’ homes, as well as photographing interior design projects and products. I’ve had the opportunity to design florals and installations for some pretty cool businesses including, Gideon’s Bakehouse at Disney Springs, Hawkers, Gypset Co, Hellcats USA, Uniqlo, Deeply Coffee, and The Robinson Cafe.
After 4 years of living my creative nomad journey through florals + photography, an incredible opportunity came my way… my dream job. I’m so thrilled to now be the Yelp Orlando Community Manager full time, partnering with local businesses to host fabulous parties & events that connect our community to all the things that make Orlando so special. You can follow along with @YelpOrlando on IG (that’s me!) where we share business owners’ stories, hot & new places to check out, local eats, giveaways, and more!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Even having lived through a pandemic, still the greatest challenge of all has been facing imposter syndrome and gaining the confidence I needed to start my business. I’m sure many creatives and artists can relate, especially when you don’t necessarily have formal training in a particular trade or craft. Putting yourself out there like “Hey, I’m really good at this and you should pay me to do it…” it’s a scary thing. Even after gaining a long list of clients and experience, it still took me FOREVER to finally launch my website and believe that I was good enough to do this for a living… that people would actually want to buy the things I create. It took a lot of encouragement from my husband and friends, positive self-talk, and reframing my mindset to take that leap.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Hey there, I’m Anna. 👋 I am the Yelp Orlando Community Manager, and my heart beats for this city + all things local! You can always find me around town with a camera in hand, exploring all the best places Orlando has to offer. I’d like to think that I’m known as a “connector” in my city and that’s what this dream job allows me to do: connect people to the incredible local businesses that make Orlando so special. In my role, I plan and host free events for the Yelp Elite Squad (our most positive, local influencers on Yelp) as well as the greater Yelp community in Central FL. I connect with small businesses to share their stories and answer questions about all things Yelp. I also manage the @YelpOrlando Instagram where we share local eats and drinks, hot & new places to visit, our “Meet the Owner” series, cool happenings around town, giveaways, and more. I truly love to highlight the hidden gems Orlando has to offer and live each day as the “unofficial mayor” of my city — AKA Orlando’s biggest fan-girl!
Additionally, I am a Florida based photographer and dried floral artist. My personal brand focuses on my two biggest passions: creating beautiful imagery and one-of-a-kind floral designs. As a photographer, I specialize in interior design photography. As a floral artist, I specialize in the design of dried floral installations and sculptural arrangements. I just love the idea of flowers that can last forever.
I’m proud to be self-taught in both of my crafts and to see how far I’ve come over the last 5 years. I took a big risk leaving my full time job all those years ago to do the things that fulfill me and give me life. I’ve never regretted it even once, but I wouldn’t have made it this far without the support of my amazing community!
What would you say has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Accept progress over perfection. The biggest threat to perfection is action, and there’s no better time to start following your dream than right now. Don’t wait for the perfect time, perfect circumstances, a perfectly airtight business plan… I’ve cost myself so much valuable time in building my dream waiting for the magical unicorn that is “perfection.” There’s so much beauty & learning that comes from the journey, the failures along the way — don’t rob yourself of that. Take it one day at a time, give yourself grace, and trust that you’re a little closer to your goal than you were the day before.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.annalabeau.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anna.labeau/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=-KLas32p0Wlk5GrUkk5kaA
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/yelporlando/
Image Credits
Headshot + Image 1 & 7: Kartsie Photography
