Alexandra Bromson

“Construction in New York City is extremely challenging, especially in a co-op LandMark Building! There are lots of rules, which make it extra interesting to try and design a functional space when you are limited to things such as which walls you can move. “

WomenWhoBuild, Meet Alexandra Bromson!

Alexandra, is an entrepreneur who has managed to merge her passion for floral design with her profession of clean energy infrastructure, and integrate it in her current real estate project, a gut renovation on the Upper West Side. Alexandra sat down with us (virtually) to discuss her entrepreneurial background, FlowerForThePeople, a floral firm she has co-created, and the real estate project which has allowed her to combine all of her skills and passions.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background. 

I grew up in a small farm town in Connecticut, surrounded by a family of entrepreneurs. From a young age I was told I could do anything I set my mind to; hence my half dozen failed business ventures in my early 20s!  Practice does indeed make perfect and by the end of my 20s, I had multiple successful ventures.  My journey is one that most people advise the exact opposite of. When I started my career I changed jobs every six months,  completely switching sectors every time (tech, match making, recruiting, law).  I was constantly told by everyone around me to  just stay put. Eventually, I did find my passion which is clean energy where I now work in clean infrastructure private equity investing.  

You are the co-creator of FlowerForThePeople, can you tell us what led you to create your own company?

My mother is an extremely accomplished floral artist and I wanted to create a platform to showcase her work.  We saw a void in the market for a publication /firm that highlighted flowers not just in interior design, but other sectors like music, fashion, and art.  The publication ended up garnering a large global readership and from there we started being commissioned for large scale installs.  

Real estate and flower arrangements are highly intertwined, both aesthetically and functionally, flowers bring out the best in a space, can you tell us a little bit about the interior design projects your company has been involved in? How do you approach each project? 

Flowers have a way of making spaces and places feel relatable and warm.  They can highlight certain furniture and color pallets as well as change the focal point of an entire room. For instance, FlowerForThePeople is brought into environments such as homes, airports, banks and a plethora of other venues with the goal of improving the feng-shui (funkshway) and giving the space life. We find the key to successfully executing these activations is working very closely with our clients and getting to know them as people. It is much easier to bring their floral dreams to fruition if we get to know their style and vibe. 

You are currently in the middle of a renovation on the upper west side- can you walk us through that? How did you approach the renovation? What were your main challenges? What do you plan to do with the space once it is done? 

I wanted to create a sustainable space that mimics the aesthetic of some of my favorite boutique hotels.  I pulled a lot of inspiration from Ramble Hotel in Denver and 1Hotel in Dumbo.  My career in clean energy is at the core of my design style.  During my time at  Tesla my role required me to go into peoples homes and evaluate their energy usage.  It was incredible how much electricity even small homes were consuming and wasting.  This inspired me to want to build a smart home where technology could help reduce the energy output and identify/mitigate unnecessary inefficiencies. Currently, I work for a clean energy infrastructure investment firm where I evaluate hundreds of sustainable companies and investments a year. This allows me the unique opportunity to integrate the newest and best sustainable building products into my projects.  In the UWS, for example, I will install Cozys from Radiator Labs which allows the exciting luxury of being able to finally control your own heat in NYC. All of the energy usage in the home is tracked by a smart home monitoring device from Emporia Energy.  

Construction in New York City is extremely challenging, especially in a co-op LandMark Building!  There are lots of rules, which make it extra interesting to try and design a functional space when you are limited to things such as which walls you can move.

Upon completion, "Little House of Flowers" as the apartment has been deemed will be hosting many events and photo shoots in the two-story private garden that is attached to the back of the space.