Meet the Team
Heather Shouse
Founder & Creative Director
After a career in journalism, Heather returned to her childhood roots of geeking out over nature, eventually getting a Master Gardener’s certification from U of I and attending the UW Madison’s Cut Flower Growers School. She started Bottle & Branch in 2011 as the lone employee with her Dad’s old construction van, building seasonal terrariums and planting edible gardens for chefs around town before gradually expanding the business scope to include floral design, landscaping, interiorscapes and holiday décor. She’s as proud of her current crew and their Garfield Park design studio as she is of her hometown Kansas City Chiefs. When not checking in on B&B’s restaurant and hotel clients, she’s usually trying to get a shelter dog fostered, a foster dog adopted or her resident dogs to settle down during Zoom meetings.
Julie Fasano
Bookkeeper & Office Manager
This self-described ‘suburban mom’ balances keeping our motley crew in line with raising two grade schoolers while also learning all the hip text-slang needed to communicate to her eldest son away at college. IJBOL! Julie lends her experience as a client relations director and office manager to Bottle & Branch, and in turn we applaud her for keeping her fiddle leaf figs alive in her home. Julie is a fiend for fall and all it brings: cozy sweaters, colorful leaves, bonfires, Halloween, apple orchards and football. Fun fact, fraternal twins run in her family, with four sets of living twins on just her Mom’s side, which means at the holidays it’s not just the eggnog that has her seeing double. 🥁
Zachary Senn
Lead Interiorscapes Specialist
Regulars to the Lincoln Park Conservatory might recognize Zachary from his previous post leading educational and interpretative activities about plants and ecology, or if you try to imagine this guy as a baby you might recognize him from an OshKosh B'Gosh ad that plucked him for stardom after he won a local Most Beautiful Baby contest. Still pretty cute if we do say so ourselves, Zachary is a devout horticulturist who loves Begonias of all sizes and types, particularly his Begonia Ferox. When not taking care of his plants or yours, you'll find him tending to his aquariums, brewing up a batch of mead or cycling around the city digging in the crates to beef up his record collection.
Danny Arias
Landscape Technician and Installation Crew Handyman
If you've seen this Roger's Park native zooming past you, it's probably as a member of the "30 Mile Club" crew of bicycle bros, a dedicated group of cycling enthusiasts who hit the trails along Chicago's lake shore. An avid outdoorsman, Danny worked at the beloved Gethsemane Garden Center for over five years before joining our team, and his annual cycle of coming alive most when spring flowers start popping continues. When he's not planting patios or digging into his tool kit to execute interior and exterior plant installations, you'll find him with his trusty sidekick Nelly, a poodle-shih tzu mix who has him wrapped around her paw.
Amy Innis
People & Plant Person
When we think of the term ‘MacGyver-it’ we think of Amy. As our go-to gal for many things we don’t even know exist until they do, Amy epitomizes the spirit of Bottle & Branch in that she is always willing to help, always ready to tackle problems and always up for the challenge. This comes as no surprise to locals from her hometown of Evergreen Park, A.K.A Get-er-done Town. Amy hasn’t met a plant she isn’t willing to love, including dandelions (seriously!) so while her favorite specimen is the monstera, don’t be surprised if you see this self-described weirdo putting together plants that might be overlooked and making magic. Amy is also our Holiday Production Manager, and for that alone she deserves all of the gingerbread cookies.
Gwen Bell
Interiorscapes Plant Care Technician
This Wisconsin-ite came to our "city in a garden" just three years ago, but she's a decade deep in the horticulture world, having worked in retail nursery settings, exterior landscaping and interiorscapes. When she's not gunning to get Hoyas (especially pubicalyx) into our client roster rotations, she might be dutifully inspecting plant leaves for pests or carefully monitoring soil moisture. Or actually, it's probably all of the above while secretly wishing she was at home with her cats adding to her 10,000-hour log in The Sims, reading a new book or doing her grandma proud with her latest crochet project.
Sulli Bell
Interiorscapes Plant Care Technician & Floral Designer
Nope, you’re not seeing double…Sulli and Gwen share the same last name because they happen to be in-laws, a fact we didn’t realize until after both were hired independently! Sulli likewise has a green thumb (she keeps over 150 plants at home) but she has also become a key part of our floral team. When she’s not going gaga over her fave plant, the glittery Crystallinum anthurium, she might be thrifting for furniture, hiking with her chihuahua or channeling every day to feel like fall, layered up nice and cozy sipping warm apple cider while watching scary movies. Fun fact: Her architect father named her after Chicagoan Louis Sullivan, and while a part of the team responsible for the Burj Kahlifa, the world’s tallest building, he wrote her and her brother’s names at the top before finishing the project.
Daniel Trejo
Delivery Driver & Utility Player
Another fall fiend, Daniel cites the changing colors of autumn leaves as a time to reset. A southpaw and proud born-and-raised Chicagoan, he credits his family for his hard work ethic and his Mexican heritage for his love of dahlias, which “just feel personal and connected to my roots.” Daniel’s affection for flowers translates to handling them with care on each and every delivery, tricky runs through alleys and loading docks he’s done so often he could pull off with his eyes closed (promise he doesn’t).
Courtney Howell
Floral Designer
Born in Vancouver, B.C., and raised in nearby Elgin, Courtney came to
Chicago to pursue her fine arts degree and has been making pretty things ever since (from faux finishing to sand-blast etchings to retail window displays and more). At B&B she flexes her floral design skills for “weeklies” and events, and gets into nature as much as possible to kayak, hike, bike and garden. Come autumn you might find her crafting killer Halloween costumes or hitting up pumpkin patches and apple orchards chugging cider.
Sebrina Rodriguez
Interiorscapes Plant Care Technician & Landscaping Crew Member
If you run into Sebrina expertly caring for plants at hotels and restaurants around town and think you recognize her, chances are you you’re a rocker…Sebrina’s past hats include concert photographer, band tour driver and even performer, taking the stage at Riot Fest. Horticulture immersion took root about six years ago, and since then this proud South Sider has been balancing tending to plants professionally with rescuing cats and learning to juggle. (Our hope is life on the road doesn’t come calling again and she runs off with the circus.)
Susannah Donne
Contributing Florist
This Chicago native has been a florist for nearly two decades, and we are proud to say that she has been working for Bottle & Branch for the last eight years, taking time off to pursue her master’s degree in ecopsychology as well as to build ‘earth ships’ in Malawi, Africa. Since returning from these sabbaticals, Susannah has created iconic large-scale flower arrangements for Chicago’s top restaurants and hotels while also working as a nature appreciation teacher for children and as a teacher’s assistant. If you think you might recognize this self-described nature and music nerd, maybe it’s because she was recently a backup dancer in a music video filmed in Mud-town, Jamaica. If not, maybe you’ve just seen her at the flower market.
Want to work with us?
While we are not always actively hiring, we are always looking to meet passionate plant and floral superstars who might be perfect for a role either existing or yet to be created! Please drop us a line here and tell us why Bottle & Branch would be a good fit for you.