Growing with Purpose

What was the vision behind launching BB Botanics, and how does it continue the mission of The Beautiful Bunch? 

BB Botanics was created to grow the impact of our social enterprise by offering a new stream of meaningful employment for young women from refugee backgrounds. While The Beautiful Bunch has long supported these young women through floristry, we saw an opportunity to expand into plant styling and maintenance, fields that offer ongoing, reliable work and a chance to contribute meaningfully to beautiful environments. At its core, BB Botanics shares the same values as The Beautiful Bunch: creating beauty, fostering belonging, and offering pathways to long-term change.

How does BB Botanics create pathways for young women from refugee backgrounds? 

Through hands-on training and supported employment in indoor plant care, BB Botanics gives participants practical skills, structure, and confidence. Our team works with businesses across Melbourne, styling, maintaining, and enhancing green spaces while building workplace confidence and connection. These roles don’t just provide income; they offer real-world experience, responsibility, and a sense of pride. 

In what ways has working with plants and nurturing green spaces become a tool for healing and empowerment within the BB Botanics team? 

Plants offer something truly special. They require care, patience, and attention — qualities that are healing in themselves. For our team, tending to plants becomes a daily practice of connection, regulation, and growth. Some of our trainees who’ve accompanied Bea, our Head Horticulturist, have reflected on how calming it is to be out on-site and surrounded by greenery, away from the pace of the studio bench and immersed in something slower and more grounding. There’s also something incredibly empowering about walking into a space and knowing you’ve played a role in making it thrive. That quiet pride can build confidence and transform how someone sees themselves. 

How do you hope BB Botanics influences the way businesses think about inclusion, purpose-led partnerships, and the role of social enterprise? 

We hope BB Botanics demonstrates that social impact and excellence can coexist — and that by working with a values-led supplier, businesses can help create real change. We’d love to see more businesses like Marshall White embrace social procurement not just as a good deed, but as a way to create more beautiful, meaningful spaces, with purpose at the centre. 

Looking ahead, what are your hopes for the future of BB Botanics and the women it supports? 

Our dream is to grow our client base and, with it, the number of women we can support into meaningful employment. We want BB Botanics to become a recognised leader in plant care and a case study in what’s possible when social enterprise is done well. Ultimately, we want every young woman who comes through our doors to leave with a stronger sense of who she is and what she’s capable of. 

LEARN MORE https://thebeautifulbunch.com/pages/botanics