About
Jo was born and raised in Chicago by two serial entrepreneurs. His Mom Jody who started a clothing & jewelry business while he was growing up and now works for herself as a residential Real Estate Broker at Coldwell Banker. His dad, Larry skipped college in pursuit of starting his own business. At the age of 18 Larry bootstrapped a tee-shirt company that later had 3 retail stores around the city of Chicago. In his mid 20's he opened hot-dog stand on Chicago Ave & Rush St to later sell in order to start his next Company, Land Partners in Commercial Real Estate that he has owned and operated for the last 20 years. Jo was taught at a young age how to create his own dollar.In 2008 while at Indiana University getting his bachelors degree, Jo and his High School friend Steven, decided to start a business to help pay their way through college. They set out to sell a few hundred roses to parents outside a high school graduation ceremony, which was easy for them to operate during summer vacation. The plan was to use half the profit to upgrade their college diets from frozen pizza to takeout, and the other half to buy backpacks for the low income students we tutored during summer. Make a little money and make a difference.
A couple of neighboring high school’s got wind of the concept, invited us to their ceremonies, and a summer business was born. Not even two months later, they donated a total of 600 backpacks. Unbeknownst to them, Jo and Flowers for Dreams become a successful case study in profit and purpose working together.
After several summers of doing this, they gained intimate exposure to the not-so-pretty sides of the flower industry. From the exploited workers to the carnation cupcakes and everything in between, we concluded that florists were trapped in the past. So, when Jo graduated, Jo and Steven set out to become the alternative. The alternative to overpriced flower delivery. The alternative to hidden fees and silly up-sells. The alternative to tasteless baby’s breath and pesticide-ridden roses. They wanted to make flowers more inspiring and accessible. In 2012, Flowers for Dreams created their first website with a unique suite of organic bouquets, fair and honest prices, and a model where each purchase would benefit a local charity.
