Carolyn Smaller, owner of Bouquets by Carolyn in the historic Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul, is proud of her flower shop these days.
“When I first started out, I was doing artificial arrangements, not fresh flowers like today,” Smaller recalled. When it opened back in 1990, Smaller’s shop was the first African American woman-owned floral business in St. Paul. Lately she’s been thinking a lot about Black women in St. Paul.
“You know what, we are disrespected in so many ways,” Smaller said. “We work so hard. We take care of our families, our neighbors, and we get pushed aside all the time.”
Smaller decided earlier this year that it was time to put local Black women center stage and give them a different type of pick-me-up bouquet. It started with a simple request. “I thought if I called up some of my friends and if they gave me a picture, I’d put them on the wall.”
What started in February of this year as a few pictures grew to 41 portraits of Black women who Smaller thought deserved a shout out. Each of the faces represents a woman who may not have broad notoriety or a large social media following but rather embodies other important characteristics. Smaller calls it her Wall of Accomplished Women.
“They’re important to me,” Smaller said. “They touched me so deeply because they’re ordinary women who grew up in St. Paul, worked, raised a family, went to church and are regular people who don’t always get respect.”
When the wall was finished Smaller hosted everyone for the unveiling. “A lot of them were so happy they cried.”
While some of the faces on Smaller’s wall are friends who have supported her, others are Black women whose accomplishments have inspired her, like Linda Finney, a trailblazing law enforcement professional and wife of former St. Paul Police Chief William "Corky" Finney. In 2004, Finny made history as the first woman and first person of color to be appointed as Superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, where she helped establish the Minnesota’s AMBER Alert program.
Nieeta Presley is also on the wall. She is a prominent community organizer, neighborhood developer, and civil rights leader currently serving as the President of the St. Paul NAACP.
Even fellow Rondo business owners are on the wall, like Ilka Bird, owner of Get Gorgeous Salon & Spa, a multicultural hair salon in the Rondo community. “These are people who come into my shop and acknowledge my shop,” Smaller explained. “I thought we needed to acknowledge each other.”
Smaller had a few parameters for the wall. She wanted it to be Black women 60 years old and older. There are a few exceptions, like Sheletta Brundidge, an Emmy Award-winning comedian, WCCO radio host, and prominent Minnesota media entrepreneur. “As I was putting my wall together, we were talking, and I told her what I was doing, and she sent me her picture right away.”
The interest has Smaller planning to expand the wall a bit, though she knows the reality is that spaces will open back up. “I wish I had started this earlier because the minute they pass and go to heaven, the picture gets taken down and goes to their family.”
Open spots will be occupied by other Black women who exemplify what Smaller considers the most important quality in this day and age. “You don’t have to be an important person; you just have to be a nice woman.”
Check out the Wall of Accomplished Women at Bouquets by Carolyn in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood at 920 Selby Ave, St Paul, MN 55104.
