The Client Who Started It All: A 5-Year Reflection on Building Flower Buds Creative
Five years ago, I sent a DM I almost didn’t send.
At the time, I was a Senior UX Designer in a very corporate job that looked good on paper and felt completely wrong in my body.
It was early pandemic. We were all working from home. My calendar was stacked with meetings all day, and I’d work in the evenings just to actually design something… only for it to sit in approval loops for weeks. Nothing moved. Everything felt circular.
I was exhausted. And honestly, I cried a lot.
So one night, while doom scrolling, I sent a message to a content creator whose work I loved. I didn’t have Flower Buds Creative yet. I didn’t have a polished offer. I didn’t have a real plan.
She replied.
When I asked Nicole recently what made her respond to that message in the first place, she said:
“I truly don’t remember much about how we connected. I think it was one of those right place, right time moments. I just liked the way you approached me.”
That “right place, right time” message is the same day I quit my job.
Not because I had clients lined up.
Not because I felt ready.
But because one person trusted me before I fully trusted myself.
The original Dope Kitchen Brand Board
Dope Kitchen became my first real client.
Back then, I was scrappy. I worked on instinct more than strategy. I cared deeply about the work, but I was still figuring out what my process even was.
Nicole remembers it as:
“So fun and easy. I loved that Nikki had a survey to get to know me—what designs inspired me, my brand personality, all of that.”
What she experienced as ease was really me doing my best to translate someone’s personality into a brand without the frameworks I have now.
And somehow… it worked.
Her brand grew. My confidence grew. And other clients started finding me because of that first project. One of my favorite long-term clients, Fork My Life, discovered me through the work I did for Nicole.
Somewhere between that first logo file and my first workshop last year—standing in front of a room realizing how much I actually knew—Flower Buds Creative became real.
Not just freelance.
Not just a side project.
But mine.
Five years later, Nicole reached back out.
Not for a dramatic rebrand.
Not to reinvent everything.
Just to evolve.
Because she’s evolved.
The first era of Dope Kitchen, in her words, was:
“Learning to have fun with yourself—getting stoned in your kitchen, making dinner, being vulnerable and building community around being unapologetically baked.”
The new era?
“More mature, still chaotic. We’re older, we have more adult money, but we know ourselves better and we’re unapologetically living a non-traditional life that feels authentic to us.”
The update we’re working on isn’t loud. It’s subtle. A symbol shift. A new color palette. A refinement.
Which feels fitting.
Because growth doesn’t always look like burning everything down.
Sometimes it looks like honoring who you were… while making space for who you’re becoming.
Dope Kitchen’s updated brand board for 2026
Nicole recently told me she’s noticed that I’m “a lot more buttoned-up now,” approaching my work with the kind of confidence that only comes from experience.
She’s right.
I don’t design from exhaustion anymore.
I don’t build from insecurity.
And I definitely don’t cry on a regular basis.
Now I lead projects differently. I ask better questions. I help shape the direction instead of just executing it.
But I’ll never forget how this all started.
One DM.
One yes.
One client who trusted me at the beginning.
Nicole didn’t just hire me.
She unknowingly helped me start.
And five years later, we’re both still evolving—just a little softer, a little wiser, and a lot more ourselves.
Nikki Holbrook is the founder of Flower Buds Creative, where she helps established service-based business owners find clarity in their brand and website so they can stop performing and start connecting.