Arnold Business Owner Donna Flamm Thrives Despite Health Setbacks

Sometimes a career change can be a positive, life-changing experience. That's case for Donna Flamm, owner of Edible Arrangements at 840 Arnold Commons, who thoroughly enjoys her two new business pursuits that promote the positive values of health, caring and self-esteem.

A positive outlook, family support and a new career are just what the doctor ordered for Flamm.

Major career changes are seldom easy, but for Flamm, changing her type of work and her focus was imperative.

For 14 years, she was the administrator of a busy law office. Her workdays, filled with pressure and responsibility, took a major toll on her health.

After the death of her employer, the law office closed and Flamm took an executive position with a recruiting firm.

Her job, sometimes known as “headhunting,” paid well but was an extremely high-pressure job.

After two bouts with breast cancer in 2002 and 2004 that included chemotherapy, radiation therapy and a double mastectomy, Flamm knew she had to find something slower paced and more enjoyable.

“Breast cancer changed my outlook on life. I realized that some things just aren’t worth worrying about,” Flamm said. “When I considered going into business for myself, I wanted to choose something that would make people healthy and happy. Now I have two businesses, Edible Arrangements and a Mary Kay Cosmetics distributorship. Both meet that criteria,“ she said.

Flamm attributes much of her recovery and her success to her family. “I have a wonderful husband, Todd, who has helped me heal and prosper. We have four children: two in college, one at Fox High School and one at Fox Middle School. My mother works with me at Edible Arrangements,” Flamm said.

“I am always busy, but now it is at my own pace. My closest thing to a hobby is my Mary Kay business. It’s a job, but it is something that I love to do. I also enjoy scrapbooking, but I haven’t had much time to devote to it lately. Two businesses and a family, that’s all I can handle.”

“The three scariest words you will ever hear are, ‘You’ve got cancer,’” she said. “Your reply is, ‘What do I have to do now?’ From there the wheels are in motion and you just have to do what the doctors decide is best for you. You are not a hero for taking the treatments. Your family members are the heroes for seeing you through it.”

“When I made my five year, cancer-free anniversary, I got my first and only tattoo. It’s on my back, on the other side of my surgery,” Flamm said.

Flamm admits that her outlook toward many things has changed since her illness. “I just call it they way I see it and plow through. I do what needs to be done,” she said.

Flamm chose to open her Edible Arrangements in Arnold because she is a resident of the community. She chose Arnold Commons because its proximity to Dierbergs and the abundant foot traffic. Her intuition proved to be correct, the bright, attractively appointed shop and its colorful displays catch the eye of many a passer-by, accounting for a high number of walk-in customers.

Although the economy has had some effect on her business, Flamm said, “I think gift giving will always be there regardless of an economic downturn. We offer a unique type of gift. A beautiful, healthy fruit arrangement is something that a family or group enjoys together. Our sympathy business has increased a lot lately. Families appreciate receiving our arrangements and often offer them to visitors to enjoy with them.”