A Joyful Endeavor

32-year-old Celia Strauss is using her business to “Create Joy”

Entrepreneurs come in all varieties—older, savvy men in Armani suits; earnest hopefuls with vague notions of how to make their marks; and hard-working women and men with a dream and a willingness to ignore the clock and calendar to obtain their goals.

Celia Strauss belongs in the last category. Educated in marketing and communications, Strauss is now the prime creator behind a popular Instagram account that has turned into a sought-after, high-end catering company called Create Joy, specializing in plant-based foods.

Create Joy and Tallahassee Picnic, a second event and catering business the 32-year-old recently purchased, have “taken off,” says Strauss, partially as a result of her cheerful online presence that touts the joys of juicing and eating foods that are not only good for you but also “delicious and beautiful to look at.” Catering to the Tallahasseans who crave her personally delivered Wednesday-night meals and who rely on her dramatic full-service food presentations for showers, weddings, and other major events keeps her busy, she reports.

A Perry native, Strauss attended FSU and majored in marketing. She later graduated from Flagler College with a degree in strategic communications. After school, she plunged headlong into the field doing PR, marketing, and advertising work with For The Table. She also served as the marketing manager for Hearth & Soul in Tallahassee and Austin. Then everything changed when she started posting about plant-based eating on social media.

“People loved what I was doing, and I started getting, ‘If you sell it, we’ll buy it,’ comments,” Strauss says.

Then came the invitations to cater based on the healthy cuisine she was preparing. “My first party was for six people for a wonderful local business owner, Katrice Howell, the owner of The Hub Tallahassee. After that first event, we went on to create many special events together, including an outdoor dinner party series, Evenings Under the Pergola.” 

More recently, Strauss took over Tallahassee Picnic, an event company offering “luxury picnics” complete with floral arrangements, fine linen and table settings, and either chairs or posh cushions around a gloriously designed table that invokes a balance between upscale and casual that Strauss loves both professionally and sartorially.

“I’m always aware of balance in my choices,” she says of her personal style. For example, coupling a lacey blouse with a pair of torn jeans and adding a pair of colorful, attention-getting sneakers is a favorite device. “I’ve noticed that my food presentations and event decor tend to follow that same color dynamic. I love fuchsias and pinks to excite more serene backdrops.” 

Her home, she says, contains much of the same aesthetic—“creamy colors with notes of vibrant color.”

Of course, “I’m not always wearing sneakers and ripped jeans,” she notes. “My feminine, girly side comes out when I’m catering an event.”

These events give her the chance to don her signature large-hoop earrings and various other jewelry pieces with sentimental meaning.

Though she maintains a staff, Strauss also relies on her husband, Cody. The pair met in college while working for a caterer called Sibley Richardson and, after hitting it off, decided to stay in touch. Now, all these years later, they each run their own successful businesses: Cody owns Dogwood Catering, and Strauss is busier than ever with Create Joy and Tallahassee Picnic.

“We have always helped one another pursue our food endeavors,” Strauss says.

Strauss is always in motion. Case in point: at the end of our interview, she ran off to gather ingredients for Create Joy’s weekly family-style meal delivery service. As to what’s on the menu, Strauss offered a few mouthwatering examples: chili with dairy-free sour cream and cheddar, green onions, and jalapeño corn bread; eggplant rollatini stuffed with vegan ricotta in a zesty tomato sauce; a Greek salad with homemade hummus and pita, falafel, dolmades, and rosemary-braised white peas; and a vegan chocolate trifle or grilled peaches for dessert.

Whether meal and event planning in her apron and athleisure or catering in a feminine, flowy dress, Strauss is constantly working to “Create Joy.”

For more information about Strauss’ businesses, visit @createjoytlh on Instagram and tallahasseepicnic.com.