Family: Husband Jesse Young, and son, 10-year-old Carter Young
Hometown: Springfield, Mo
In Town: With a master’s degree in project management and a bachelor’s in professional writing, Mandi is well suited for her position as a strategic project manager at Jack Henry & Associates in Springfield, Mo. She has worked for the company for five years and has been in her current position for the last two.
“I assist in the installation of imaging software for credit unions,” Mandi explained. “This allows credit unions and their clients to sign and store their documents digitally.”
Strategic project management is not the only job Mandi holds. She also assists her husband Jesse with their family business, Young’s Remodeling, and is the creator and designer of Weekend Renovators, a blog and digital course geared toward empowering homeowners with full-time jobs to tackle remodeling and renovation projects successfully.
In the Country: Mandi’s country job is running C-Street Flowers, a cut flower farm she operates in her half-acre backyard. With the cut flower business booming, Mandi wanted her designs to stand out. She achieved this by growing “non-traditional” plants, such as cotton and tobacco, that have not undergone much experimentation as floral devices. Other flowers she adds to her creations are zinnias, dahlias, cosmos, peonies and lilacs. Mandi’s flowers and floral arrangements have been featured in styled photo shoots that have appeared in national bridal magazines, as table décor for local farm-to-table dinners, and are sometimes combined with other farms’ flowers in bouquet subscriptions and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares. She said styled shoots are her favorite “I grow really fun, cool things for styled shoots.” she said.
Mandi grows her flowers in raised beds, and she is working to add more beds as her business grows. Her lilacs and peonies were established by the previous owner of the house, and Mandi has transplanted several into her growing area. Other infrastructure she is planning to integrating into her business is a cooler space and a more functional space for designing arrangements.
Mandi said her town and country jobs compliment each other well. Her project management skills help her to “think beyond the seed packet” to create and design products that fit in a unique niche in the Springfield area.
