ROLE REVERSAL

Meet five inspiring personalities who are fearlessly pursuing their passions by opting for careers in female dominated fields.

- CHERYL LAI-LIM

Stanley Tan, 31, owner of Windflower Florist

“I think the natural image that comes to mind when people mention a florist is a sweet, dainty and elegant figure putting together a gorgeous bunch of blooms. I am definitely not that,” laughs Stanley. “Most people can’t fathom how a big, burly, ‘Shrek’-looking guy like me could be a florist.”

Stanley is the second-generation owner of Windflower Florist, which was established in 1997 by his parents. As a child, he had no interest in flowers. But though he felt bored spending his days at the store (“At one point, I even stole $50 from their cash register, only to get caught by the end of the day.”), his adolescent years within the space had a profound impact on him.

“I think it’s the fact that I observed [my parents’] work at a very young age – this rooted itself firmly in my childhood memories,” he says.

When his parents wanted to add a gifting component to the business, he told them that he would “figure out how to take the business to the next stage, while retaining flowers as the core product”. He eventually took over the reins in 2014, when he was 22 and fresh out of National Service.

Initially, Stanley did not expect to be so involved with flower production, but everything came naturally to him when he started learning the skills and techniques to arranging flowers from his parents. “Before I knew it, I had fallen in love with floristry,” he says.