Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly Daft.
Hi Kimberly, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I moved to Nashville at the age of 19 with an already broad background in political work, healthcare and hospitality. I built on my creative freelance work while working at a local diner and eventually transitioned back to healthcare before working in Insurance for seven years. During this time, I built a beautiful family with my husband, Thomas, with whom I’ll be celebrating 20 years of marriage with next year.
While working in Insurance my health began deteriorating rapidly, and I was forced to pursue other employment options that could accommodate my health. After trying my hand briefly at medical coding I realized that I could no longer work in corporate offices. I coped with my deteriorating health through gardening and found that helping others was the only truly fulfilling thing I’ve ever done. My dream of entrepreneurship seemed risky and reckless, but I pursued it anyway, believing in my heart it was truly life or death and that I needed to escape the rat race that was compounding my medical problems.
Believing I may only have a few years left on this earth, I set out to make the biggest impact that I could for both my community and family. I launched Lawrence & Clarke Cacti Co. in September of 2017 at the Donelson farmers market. The business quickly gained traction so I pressed hard into it and opened my brick & mortar store in December of the same year.
From the beginning I sought to give back to the community as the business grew. Donating as much as possible to teachers and classrooms around middle TN through our “Teacher Plant” project. I also coordinated fundraisers for local schools donating thousands for underfunded local sports programs and more. My heart is directly linked to the welfare of the community around me, and I enjoy serving every person that walks through our doors.
As I worked in plants I found that my health greatly improved and some illnesses even went into remission. While I still navigate a host of other illnesses, I find immense joy in giving back and serving others.
When I first opened in Old Hickory I sought a location within my community that needed revitalizing, then over the years we renovated multiple buildings, built and sold a second business and worked with law enforcement to push out criminal operations within the block. I did what I set out to do, improving the space in which I lived and worked. Over the years we’ve been featured on multiple local news networks and won awards as both the “Best place to buy a cactus” and “Nashville’s BEST Plant shop” through the Nashville Scene. However after years of rapid business growth my body began to struggle again so we moved our family to Donelson for closer healthcare access and a home I can one day retire in.
Our new shop location allows me to have space to continue to serve our retail customers as well as space to grow and establish our 501c3 non profit. Building a space to welcome all members of the community including retirees and school children. The mission is very simple, as we set out to do good work by providing plants and plant education to those who may not have access or opportunity. I intend to expand our footprint by creating space for markets and pop-ups, so that other small businesses can build their businesses through our network just as we tried to do for others in Old Hickory. I am excited to lean into this next chapter, building my business and giving back to the local community.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My health has definitely been the biggest challenger to everything I want to do. I’ve had multiple surgeries and hospitalizations over the years due to complications from hEDS as well as MCAS. While I try to be fairly open about my health struggles on social media. I don’t want it to be the focus of my business. It’s something that I have to cope with, but it’s not the label that defines me or my future. I am far more than the illnesses that plague me.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a house plant Specialty shop with experts here at all times to answer any and all plant questions you may have. We are Nashville’s largest indoor only House plant shop, and have intentionally focused on indoor plants, curating the healthiest collection of greenery we can bring in so that our customers have the best quality Plants and can trust that we are going to guide them on their plant parenthood journey. We don’t carry anything here that we don’t know how to care for, we make sure our staff are well educated in house plant care and repotting expertise. We also offer free repotting if you buy a plant or a pot from us so that we can set you and your plant up for success with top quality, soils drainage, and the best plant food on the planet. We exclusively carry a plant nutrient solution called Dr. Peaches plant tonic, and it truly works like a miracle for ALL plants. We have customers that come from out of state buy it by the gallons and drive it back to where they live. It’s truly the best product on the market. We’ve used it for nearly a decade and it is made locally just for us.
Ultimately, we love serving our customers and the community around us. We look forward to hosting markets on our large front lawn in the future and expanding our teacher plant program into a 501(c) three by next year. We are truly in love with what we do in the community we serve.
How do you think about happiness?
Helping people with their plants brings me more joy than anything else, especially when someone is going through grief or experiencing a serious hardship, I feel a great calling to stand with those in need, to be present with them and to help them navigate their grief through the fulfilling joy of gardening. Gardening literally saved my life, my physician will attest to the incredible transformation it was for me when I left the corporate world and built my dreams. Plants have been so healing to me and I want to share that with anyone and everyone.
Pricing:
- We have plants starting as low as $3
- Our cactus range from $5.99 to $699.99 we can
- Succulents Start at $3.99
- Tropicals start at $4.99
- Twice a year we do a huge sale with 30% off all plants and in between there will have flash sidewalk sales with even deeper discounts!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.lccactico.com
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/lccactico
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/lccactico
