Changed Careers

No one needs to tell a modern newsroom manager how dire the newspaper situation is and how fraught the newsroom is with anxiety. After a short leave of absence to tend to an ill parent, Hopper returned to the Strib briefly as a copy editor, much lower in the pecking order, but far removed from the chore of constantly dispensing nothing but bad news to her colleagues. After only a couple of months, in June of 2007, Hopper took a buyout and took off for Europe for several months. When she returned, she decided she’d had it with publishing.

Enter her long-cultivated fascination with professional floral arranging. She took classes, got a certificate (“about as easy as doing a quarter at the U”), and went to work with Pam McCarthy–Kern in a small shop out of a house on 56th and Xerxes in south Minneapolis. They call it Fleurissima.

Hopper’s past relationships with an upscale, artistic set encouraged her belief that she could make a living off of something she thoroughly enjoys, something that poses no obvious risk of inducing psyche-snapping anxiety. “I’ve always loved roses, and I’ve done floral arrangements for friends’ weddings and parties for years,” says Hopper, swiping through photos of her work on her iPhone. “I just love the milieu. You get to work with beautiful, amazing materials, friends, and people, and girlfriends who are hyper-creative, who really appreciate what you’re doing. What’s not to like, right?”

The business is still in its fledgling days, but sounding a bit like Scarlett O’Hara, Hopper is determined. She says, with a laugh, “I tell myself, ‘Some day, by God, I will have my own store.’ ”