So nice to meet you! First off, what’s your name? Tell our readers a bit about yourself—where you’re from originally and where you live now.

Hello! I'm Chelsea Beutler. I grew up in Houston, Texas and settled in Lindon, Utah where alongside my husband we raise our 6 kids. I initially went to school studying health sciences and minoring in Spanish. I ended up doing neither and became a flower farmer-florist! My husband and both my parents are entrepreneurs and creatives. I feel fortunate to have had an immense amount of support in pursuing this non-traditional career path.

Tell us one thing you love about where you live now?

I will forever be the girl who never grows tired of seeing the sunrise and set over our Mountains each day. My job requires the bookend hours of the day, which is such a joy for me to experience nature in the most beautiful hours of each day. While there is beauty experienced on the farm in those hours, the Mountains really call to me. I love to hike, climb and explore. When things in life or on the the farm get really stressful, you'll find me escaping there. I love how accessible the mountains are from my home.

Tell us a little bit more about what your company does and how it started? How does it help your customers?

Sunnyside Urban Farm and Flower Studio is a cut flower farm and design studio. We grow, sell, and design specialty cut flowers for local weddings and events. We specialize in high production, high quality seasonal and local stems.

If someone wants to start a business, what advice will help them?

Starting a business rarely looks the way you imagined it would in the beginning. The original idea or business plan is just a starting point — not a straight roadmap. As you test ideas, serve customers, and learn your market, you start to discover what truly works and where your strengths are.

Sunnyside has evolved so much over time, and our customers have evolved with us. What’s guided that growth is paying attention to where I feel most energized, what I genuinely love doing, and where we see the greatest success. Sometimes the best thing you can do as a business owner is stay flexible enough to grow into the business you’re actually meant to build, not just the one you first imagined. Don't be afraid to make big pivots. Be honest with yourself. And, lastly, it's so much harder than you think it will be, but stick it out.

What was one feedback from a happy customer/client that you won't forget about?

One moment I’ll never forget was creating sympathy flowers for a couple who had lost their baby girl just days after she was born. I used entirely locally grown flowers from my farm and poured so much care into creating something that could quietly hold the weight of that grief and love.

Delivering those flowers was incredibly difficult, though nothing compared to the heartbreak the parents were living through. When I arrived, it didn’t feel right to simply hand over the arrangement and leave. I offered a hug, a shoulder to cry on, and just a moment of human connection. She broke down in tears and later told me how much that gesture meant to her.

She eventually asked me to create the funeral flowers as well. Designing that tiny casket spray and the urn arrangements was one of the greatest honors of my career. It reminded me that flowers are so much more than decoration. They can hold emotion, offer comfort, and help people feel seen in some of life’s hardest moments.

Where do you see your company in the future?

I see Sunnyside Urban Farm and Flower Studio continuing to grow into a destination flower farm with multiple avenues of connection and sales. Supporting locally and American-grown flowers will always be a core part of our mission. Through that lens, serving florists with seasonal wholesale flowers remains the heart of Sunnyside and the foundation we’ve built everything on.

At the same time, the floral design side of the business is growing quickly, and I’ve found so much fulfillment in that creative outlet. We’re intentionally investing in the infrastructure and hardscapes of the farm to create something that feels like more than just a place where flowers are grown — we want it to feel like an experience.

Over time, I envision Sunnyside becoming a space where people can fully immerse themselves in the beauty of seasonal flowers through workshops, classes, events, and hands-on creative experiences. I want people to come not only to buy flowers, but to connect with the farm, the seasons, and their own creativity in a meaningful way.

What is the biggest misconception about your industry?

One of the biggest misconceptions about the flower industry is that it’s simply a creative or “pretty” job. People often see the finished bouquet or arrangement, but they don’t see the years of farming knowledge, weather risks, business strategy, labor, logistics, and emotional work behind it.

As a flower farmer and florist, you’re constantly balancing art and agriculture. You’re growing a perishable product that depends on unpredictable conditions, while also designing for some of the most meaningful moments in people’s lives — weddings, funerals, celebrations, and milestones.

There’s also a misconception that flowers are overpriced, when in reality most people don’t realize how much time, care, and loss is built into every stem. From seed to harvest to design and delivery, flowers are incredibly labor-intensive. What customers are really paying for is not just the product, but the expertise, experience, and emotion behind it.

What has been one of your biggest struggles building your business and how did you deal with it?

One of the biggest challenges in building Sunnyside has been operating within a residential area and navigating the restrictions that came with that. Our vision for the farm and business didn’t fully fit within the existing city code, so instead of giving up or scaling back, I spent nearly two years working alongside city officials to help rewrite a business overlay that would allow farms like ours to legally function within residential limits.

It was a long process that required persistence, patience, and a lot of advocacy — not just for Sunnyside, but for the future of urban agriculture and small farm businesses in our community. In the end, the code passed, which was an incredibly rewarding moment. It taught me that sometimes building a business also means helping build the path that didn’t exist before.

Any shoutouts you want to make?

I’d love to give a shoutout to all the women building businesses while also raising children. There’s an incredible amount of unseen work happening behind the scenes like balancing motherhood, marriage, homes, schedules, and the emotional weight of caring for others, all while trying to grow something meaningful of their own.

So many women are building businesses in the margins of nap times, school pickups, meal preps, late nights, and early mornings. It takes resilience, creativity, sacrifice, and a deep belief in what they’re creating. I have so much respect for women who continue showing up for both their families and their dreams at the same time.

Where can our readers learn more about you and your company?

I am on instagram @sunnysideflowerstudio and www.sunnysideurbanfarm.com