Business adminstration degree

GROWER OF THE YEAR PJ ELLISON-KALIL

THE best formula for success is as simple as loving your job and being passionate about what you do - at least that's the case for PJ Ellison-Kalil, our 2002 Grower of the Year and the first woman ever to receive this honor. And PJ should know because after spending 15 years away from floriculture, she realized her true calling was back at home, running Ellison's Greenhouses in Brenham, TX. In the 12 years she's been back officially in floriculture, PJ has become one of the industry's biggest consumer advocates, with a mission of helping fellow growers and retailers change the way they approach marketing quality over quantity.

By those who know her best - and even some who have only met her once - PJ has been described as passionate, unique, tenacious, focused, kind, witty, strong, generous, intelligent, genuine, and charismatic. But as passionate and forthright as PJ is, she is equally as humble. PJ attributes her own success to her faith and the support of her husband Michael Kalil (and their "eight four-legged children"). She also credits most of the operation s success to her parents, Jim and Ellen Ellison, who founded the business in 1968, and the team at Ellison's, who she calls "the best in the world."

"All the growers of the year didn't get there by themselves and the award really represents Ellison's, not so much me," PJ says. "I am blessed to have my parents, who are two leaders of the industry, available for consulting, mentoring, training, and venting. And the team has been incredibly supportive of my ignorance and all the changes that have occurred over the last 12 years."

Seeking Her Passion

PJ started her horticultural career at a young age, when her parents moved their three children to Brenham to run greenhouses in partnership with another grower. Because of complications, the deal didn't work out, so with Jim working at the Texas Department of Agriculture and Ellen a full-time school teacher, the Ellisons started their own business. Building greenhouses in the afternoons after school and on weekends, they enlisted the help of Chuck, Margie, and PJ - then in ninth, eighth, and sixth grades, respectively.

Now the owner of Ellison's town location and on the brink of purchasing the more rural production facility her parents currently own, PJ says she never imagined her career would lead her back to floriculture.

"Dad was a very strong proponent that you had to be away from the business at least five years and of course, I never dreamed that I would come back," PJ says. "That was the last thing I wanted to do."

Her adventures have taken PJ in many directions. After graduating from Texas A&M University with a degree in education, PJ found herself migrating from one field to the next, gaining substantial experiences in industries including insurance, medicine, and technology development. Her appetite for education earned PJ an MBA at the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, CA, and she also completed a small business adminstration program at Stanford University.

For five years, PJ co-owned and operated an all-woman construction management office in California. She says having been raised in an entrepreneurial family, owning a business just made sense. But she still didn't feel at home and PJ continued to seek out her calling.

Finally, returning to Brenham at Christmas time in 1989, PJ found the answer right under her nose.

"I came home and saw the poinsettias in bloom and I started crying and thought, 'Oh God, long hours and low pay - please no!' but I never regretted it," she says. "I really feel like this is where I'm supposed to be and this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I came back because it was a calling and I love it, and not because I couldn't do something somewhere else. That was really pivotal to my happiness."

Building On Tradition

Initially a small tomato producer, over the years Ellison's Greenhouses has branched out into a two-location, five-acre operation growing high quality pot crops, baskets, container gardens, and European gardens. The business is well-known both regionally and nationally for its participation in tourism activities, industry activisim, and of course, its annual well-loved and well-attended Poinsettia Celebration, which started with PJ's return in 1990.

"At the time, we had just started the tourism program and we needed an event," she recalls. " As I realized how hungry the consumer was for industry information, we went from just being a feel-good event to now a plant lovers' show. We're not trying to attract hundreds of thousands of people - we're trying to get to the plant lover and we do."

Since its first year, the Poinsettia Celebration has generated attendance of 3,500 up to an outstanding 5,500 consumers, PJ says. But no industry members came until the second year when the late industry icon she called her "birthday buddy" - because they were both born on December 14 - paid her a visit.

"The second year, Paul Ecke Jr. came and he was just absolutely floored," she says. "He'd been a friend of the family for a long time and I was honored, but I also wanted to show him that somebody was doing something he wasn't because he was always such an instigator."

Today, the celebration receives amazing coverage by all media outlets. With local television, radio, and newspapers picking it up - in addition to national trade magazines like GG and consumer magazines like Southern Living-- Ellison's will get 20 to 30 stories or clips on the celebration this year. The No. 1 rated garden talk show in Texas, "Livable Garden," also did a live broadcast from the celebration and stayed to gather clips for future programs.

Because of the celebration, Ellison's has become known as the local poinsettia experts and PJ as the "Poinsettia Queen."

"It's funny because people think we grow poinsettias 52 weeks a year - they think that's all we do," she laughs. "But that's okay - that's what we're known for so in that regard, we're developing a really good reputation and it has increased business."

The Queen Speaks

"When I came back to the business, my goal was to never have to sell product as a commodity," PJ says. "I just can't stand what our industry does to poinsettia sales. At Ellison's, we chose to have quality product and service and differentiate ourselves through our product and business ethics."

When it comes to poinsettias, PJ is a strong advocate for changing the way the plants are marketed by the industry as a whole. While she understands the need for moving volume on red commodity plants, PJ says it's her biggest pet peeve when growers don't demand fair prices for novelties and premium varieties and sizes.

"If growers aren't big enough to compete in that arena, they're going to have to grow more shapes, sizes, and varieties," she says. "Consumers never ask for lower prices - the buyers do. We have been so buyer-driven that it has dictated what we are offering to the consumer. Grow what the consumer wants and when the buyer sees they're willing to pay for it, everybody wins."

Everything's Bigger In Texas

Another of PJ's numerous passions is educating America's leaders about the role floriculture plays in the economy -- and she does this in a very effective way.

"When my folks started out in the business, the green industry in the state of Texas was No. 12 and now it's No. 2 in Texas and No. 3 in the nation and people are finally starting to realize how important it is," she says. We're a long way from total comprehension but the biggest difference is that people are finally understanding that we are farmers."

And what better way to raise awareness and get people in power thinking about the green industry than sending a couple of six-foot tall poinsettias to the White House? For the third year in a row, Ellison's made arrangements to ship its signature Texas Size poinsettia to fellow Texans President George W. and First Lady Laura Bush - only this year, two of the beauties were delivered. Poinsettia Celebration attendees signed a Texas-size card to go along with the mammoth poinsettias, extending holiday wishes to the presidential family.

If you've never seen a Texas Size poinsettia, the impact is huge - but that's the whole point.

"The response in Washington, D.C., is the same response we get here - 'I can't believe it. I just can't believe anything is this big and gorgeous and beautiful,'" PJ says. "Hopefully it gets D.C. thinking about the green industry as a huge and integral part of agriculture."

Leading For Change