Jennifer Panxhi is proof that it’s never to late to chase your dreams after she was made redundant from a banking career and although earning good money, now feels like she’s ‘won the lottery’
Jennifer Panxhi is no stranger to career reinvention. After decades in the fast-paced world of investment banking and time also at the London Stock Exchange, she found herself at a crossroads.
Made redundant just months before the pandemic, the 60-year-old’s world was turned upside down — but this twist of fate led her to discover a long-hidden passion and a change that has seen her job satisfaction bloom.
“When I was in my last job, which was for 11 years, I wanted to go up the scale to Vice President and climb that ladder,” she recalls. “But it is quite heavy to get there. You’ve got cutthroat people. To move up the rank is very, very challenging. Then, about six months before Covid, I sadly lost my job.”
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Jennifer explains that being made redundant left her feeling like the rug had been pulled from under her – and it also killed her passion for life in the investment banking sector. Subsequent jobs also didn’t seem to cut it.
Even though she was being paid “a lot of money per month,” Jennifer felt she was struggling to find happiness in her work and made the decision to walk away from the industry that she had known since her early 20s. “I said to my husband, Leo, ‘I can’t go back into this industry. I just can’t do it’,” she recalls. “He was so supportive and, ultimately, found a beautiful empty shop on Brick Lane and encouraged me to give it a go. I thought, ‘Why not?’ because you never know.” Taking the plunge into something completely new, Jennifer was ready to learn quickly how to build and sustain a business from the ground up. But then something completely unpredictable happened – the Covid-19 pandemic. With her business only just starting to form, the former business analyst was forced to find creative ways to keep her business open.
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“It was very tricky,” she says. “We put a table at the front of the door which we could serve from and we had orders coming in online. We spoke to a guy who runs the stalls on Portobello Road Market and because of social distancing we could operate a pop-up there. But there were also times we had to be shut.” While things may have looked bleak, Jennifer noticed an increased demand in plants during lockdown as the nation injected greenery into their homes and she also noticed that flowers were making perfect gifts to help brighten up people’s birthdays.
Word of mouth quickly improved her fortunes, as she recalls: “My neighbour asked one day, ‘How is work going?’ I told her how I had just started my shop and she said there was a WhatsApp group on the road. I sent through my details and then everyone started to order, which was great. People asked if the fact that we started just before lockdown had not been so great, but we prospered.” With the support of her local community, Jennifer built on her early success and now her shop is thriving and is serving the London community, and beyond, from Tuesday to Sunday. A typical day is not without hard work, however.
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“I get up at 4:30am and exercise for 45minutes, shower, get ready and then go to the Covent Garden Flower market,” she explains. “We also meet with a supplier from Holland who comes with a big truck to get flowers from him – so we don’t get our flowers from just one source. I get to the store around 9am and we set up to open at 10:30am. We get people ringing and ordering online or finding us on Brick Lane. It is busy! And then when I get home from the shop at the end of the day, I go to bed early! I catch up on my sleep.” Jennifer’s skills lie not only in arranging flowers but in tailoring each bouquet to the person receiving it. Whether it’s a vibrant birthday bouquet or a subtle, quirky arrangement, Jennifer crafts each piece with a thoughtful touch.
Looking back, Jennifer is grateful to have been made redundant and for the challenges the pandemic created which forced her to focus the services her store can supply. In addition to weddings, events, and custom bouquets, Jennifer has plans to expand her creative business to include set design. And since changing from the fast-paced, finance-driven world of banking to one focused on nature, creativity, and community, she hasn’t looked back. “If I hadn’t been made redundant, I’d probably still be in banking,” she says. “You’re earning money and it’s quite comfortable. But looking back on the journey I’ve had, I feel like I’ve won the lottery every single day.”
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