My company of one, Salish Design, offers multi-medium design and consulting services in Seattle, Washington, originating in 1972 in Honolulu after I graduated from the University of Hawaii. The business was called The Decorator until 1981 when I moved to San Diego, then Systems Excellence until 2004. I initially offered interior design services in marine, corporate and residential settings and sold and leased commercial real estate.

In southern California I developed skills in organizational systems design, meeting and event planning and logistics, and project management. I studied Feng Shui. and evolved my design work to incorporate a more wholistic approach to arranging personal and work environments for peak productivity and aesthetics.

In 1994 I fulfilled a calling to return to my childhood home in the Pacific Northwest. My talent base expanded there to include basic web design and process improvement skills. I devoted a great deal of time to learning and writing about the art and culture of the Puget Sound Salish people and the history of Washington State pioneer settlers.

The Cultural Connection

Back home in the Pacific Northwest, I was able to learn about and reconnect with my 'Snohomish' heritage and the rich culture of my ancestors who were among the first people of this region. In a sacred naming ceremony in 1994, I received the name of my great-great grandmother, Yaat-So-Lietsa, and with it came a new sense of self and pride in my heritage. Receiving an ancestral name carries significant and meaningful responsibilities to preserve and protect the Puget Sound Salish culture.

Among my mentors are native and non-native artists, carvers, storytellers, elders, docents, musicians, spiritual leaders and weavers. I am a docent at the Burke Museum and enjoy making ceremonial regalia. I am a member of the Blue Heron Canoe Family. I am gradually developing a body of my own Coast Salish inspired artwork and designs which will eventually be displayed on this site. I've been writing about my journey home since 1994, its tribulations and triumphs, and how reconnecting with a culture I wasn't raised in until long after I was well immersed in the white man’s world has changed my life.

Bio

The phrase "living in two worlds" has become a familiar theme both personally and professionally. Flora demonstrates that it is possible to succeed in creative and technical, native and non-native settings. She artfully balances work in corporate, residential, home office and marine environments. Her repertoire of talent embraces and intertwines decorating, organizing, feng shui; event and meeting planning; web design, process improvement and project management.

Flora has lived for extended periods in Washington State, Southern California and Hawaii where cultural connections to the first people of each region reflect powerfully in her work and design philosophy. She is available to speak to groups about the first people of the Northwest Coast region and the many metaphors and models for sustainability that lie within their teachings.

As a graduate of the University of Hawaii and the Burklyn Business School, Flora was doing extreme makeovers long before the idea for a popular television craze was concieved. She has produced motivational trainings, educational workshops and seminars, meetings and events all over the United States, and has facilitated hundreds of individuals and companies going through rapid change. Recruited by cutting-edge leaders in transition management, Flora has facilitated group genius for over 40 Fortune 500 companies and many small business enterprises and individuals. Flora continues to improve and perfect her talents, ever inspired by these innovative methodologies, blending them with teachings of Feng Shui masters, Native American elders and artizans, and proven best practices of emerging success strategists.

Flora has studied many disciplines devoted to unleashing creativity and group genius including win/win business methodology, Deming Quality training, neuro-linguistic programming, MG Taylor creative process methodology, interior and graphic design, CAD design, Feng Shui and Northwest Coast spirituality, art, language, music and culture. She attended Long Beach City College, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Hawaii. Flora also attended Burklyn Business School. She is an accomplished custom designer of home and office organizational systems, such as kitchens, closets, offices, garages and libraries. She has developed a unique style of project management and consulting that blends a variety of artistic and organizing talents with technical, administrative and supervisory skills.

Stewardship has always occupied a considerable focus in Flora's life. As a docent at the Burke Museum, she leads tours that educate the public about the Pacific Rim cultures, especially her own Northwest Coast Puget Sound Salish people as distinguished from the northern tribes. She was a member of Seattle's Urban Rhythms Multi-Cultural Performance Chorus during its ’94-04 reign as one of the region’s most inspiring contemporary gospel choirs. Several other historic and community service groups receive the benefit of Flora's time and talent including the Old Settlers Cemetery in Lakewood, Washington; Habitat for Humanity; Plymouth Piecemakers; Ft. Nisqually; Lushootseed Research; The Snohomish Tribe of Indians; and the Washington State Chapter of the International Feng Shui Guild. Flora also enjoys dabbling in family genealogy and local pioneer history. From the STEWARDSHIP link on this site you can find out more.

Flora relaxes by spending time with her family and friends, playing pickleball, hiking and exploring the great northwest outdoors and traveling when she can. She also likes to snow shoe and cross country ski and loves being out on the water with the Blue Heron Canoe family, sailing or cruising the San Juan Islands.