For Penny Choo, Co-Founder of BloomThis, gifting is not defined by products or transactions, but by the emotion behind the gesture. It is a way of turning intention into something tangible making it easier for people to express care in life’s most meaningful and everyday moments. When BloomThis was founded in 2015, the idea was shaped by a simple but powerful gap in the market. While floristry had long been established through Giden’s family business in Penang, the way flowers were sold had not kept pace with how people actually lived. “The vision was about removing the friction between wanting to show someone you care, and actually doing it,” Choo explains. “We wanted to make thoughtful gifting easy, reliable, and genuinely beautiful.” What began as an online flower delivery service has since evolved into a broader gifting lifestyle brand used for birthdays, anniversaries, grief, apologies, celebrations, and quiet moments of thoughtfulness. “When I look at what BloomThis represents today, it’s about the feeling you create when you send something to someone,” she says. “That emotional connection has always been at the heart of it—we’ve just found more and more ways to honour it.” Evolving from Floristry to a Gifting Brand BloomThis was never positioned as a traditional florist. From the outset, it was built around how people express emotion in a modern, digital-first world. BloomThis, Co-Founder – Penny Choo. Choo describes its evolution as a natural expansion of purpose rather than a change in direction. Customers were not simply buying flowers—they were marking moments, expressing feelings, and communicating what words sometimes could not. Today, BloomThis sits within a broader gifting lifestyle space, shaped by the belief that the value lies not only in what is sent, but in what it represents. Long-Term Vision & Regional Growth Looking ahead, Choo’s ambition extends beyond Malaysia. “For the next five to ten years, I want BloomThis to be the name people reach for across Southeast Asia when they want to express something meaningful—not just in Malaysia,” she says. With strong roots already established locally, the next phase of growth is focused on both expansion and depth—building presence in new markets while strengthening the company’s product range and infrastructure. Singapore has already been an important step in that journey, with broader regional opportunities ahead as the gifting economy across Southeast Asia continues to develop. At the same time, Choo sees technology playing a critical role in shaping the next chapter of the business. “We’ve already built proprietary AI for logistics and route optimisation,” she explains. “The next frontier is using data to help customers gift better, not just faster.” For her, innovation is meaningful only when it improves how personal and relevant the experience feels for customers. Leadership Journey Like many founders, Choo’s approach to leadership has evolved significantly since the early days of building BloomThis. In the beginning, she was deeply involved in almost every decision, driven by the realities of starting from scratch. “I thought being a leader meant having all the answers and being in the room for every decision,” she says. “But at some point you realise that your job is no longer to do the work. It’s to create the conditions for your team to do their best work.” A key shift was learning to trust people more deeply—not just delegating tasks, but allowing teams the space to operate independently. Today, she is also intentional about how she manages her time and energy, particularly in protecting her mornings for clarity and focused thinking. “Not everything that feels urgent actually is,” she says. “Learning to tell the difference has probably been the most valuable leadership skill I’ve developed.” Staying Relevant in a Competitive Market In a category built around emotion and timing, staying relevant requires consistency and attentiveness. For Choo, the starting point is always the customer. “The data tells you what happened; the customer tells you why,” she explains. While analytics help track behaviour, she believes true insight comes from listening more closely to customer feedback—understanding both why people choose BloomThis and why they do not. Consistency is equally important. “Relevance isn’t about doing something new every single week. It’s about showing up reliably, in a way that feels true to who you are.” She also emphasises the importance of curiosity—staying open to ideas from outside the industry and continuously learning from different perspectives. Advice for Women Entrepreneurs Choo is clear and direct when speaking to women building businesses. “Don’t apologise for your ambition,” she says. “Women are often socialised to soften their drive, but ambition is not a character flaw. Own it.” Her second message is about timing and readiness. “I was not ready when we started BloomThis. I figured it out alongside building it. If you wait for perfect conditions or perfect confidence, you’ll wait forever.” Finally, she highlights the importance of building a strong and intentional support system—people who challenge, support, and provide honest feedback. “The people around you shape the kind of leader you become.” Life Beyond Founder Mode Outside of work, Choo prioritises structure, grounding, and quiet. Her mornings often begin with movement—either Pilates or functional training—followed by a simple breakfast and what she describes as a calming routine that helps set the tone for the day. The rest of her day off is intentionally slow and screen-free, centred around reading, time with family, and moments of stillness. “Quiet is sacred to me,” she shares. “It’s where I come back to myself.” Building Something That Lasts For Choo, success is not measured only by expansion or commercial performance, but by trust. As BloomThis grows across Southeast Asia, her focus remains on building a brand that people rely on during meaningful moments in their lives. “If there is a legacy I want to leave behind, it is a company that people trust to show up on the important days—the birthdays, the grief, the celebrations, the quiet ‘I was thinking of you’ moments,” she says. At its core,
