Creating Scholars: Trista (Guillaume) Miller ‘03
FOR RELEASE: Thursday, January 13, 2011
It was all planned out - graduate school and then a life-long career helping people. Trista Rose (Guillaume) Miller had studied to be a psychologist for five years, but when her first counseling experience left her questioning her career choice, she had to fall back on other skills that she had developed along the way. "I was driving home (from Ball State), and I was talking to Nate," she said about her husband, Nate Miller, a 2003 HU graduate. "I told him that I don't think this is the career for me, and I thought about flowers as a random thing."
But starting a business was risky, especially for a recent college graduate. Miller, a 2002 psychology and educational ministries graduate, needed a full-time job while her business developed. Psychology was the original plan so she returned to that idea, but this time, as a social worker.
"I always liked the fact that the liberal arts education and the psychology major were kind of broad," Miller said, explaining that her classes at HU gave her options outside of the traditional psychology careers. "I felt like I was applying a lot of what I had learned (in this new setting)."
While Miller explored several career opportunities over the next two years, she kept her wedding floral business operating on the side - and it was growing. That was five years ago. Today, she owns and operates Rose's Bouquets, A Weddings-Only Florist out of her Fort Wayne home.
"A lot of brides ask me about my background," Miller said. "I tell them about my liberal arts education.
"You never really know what you're going to do (with your life)," she added.
