MASHPEE — Hira Rafiq was at a crossroads. She was working as a pharmacy tech but didn’t go to school for it and was looking for another job. But Rafiq found it hard to switch fields on the Cape. While earning her master’s in business, she found herself in a part-time job at Verde Floral Designs in Mashpee.
She began by washing buckets but worked her way up to become the manager. The previous owner wanted to retire and offered the shop to Rafiq.
“We were really nervous,” Rafiq, 32, said when she talked about taking over the business with her family. “But I said, I gotta take this opportunity. I have nothing else I can branch off into at my age to make it work on the Cape.’ I took this opportunity and ran with it.”