Getting to Know Larsen Jay

by Mike Steely

In this week’s Getting to Know feature, The Knoxville Focus chatted with someone who positively impacts other people, people he may never meet, and what he does comes as a welcomed surprise and sometimes brings tears of gratitude.

Larsen Jay is a husband, father, Knox County Commissioner and founder of Random Act of Flowers. Most people don’t know that Jay also has a background in TV and movie production.

How has your position as founder and CEO of Random Acts of Flowers worked for you?

It has been thrilling, half terrifying and always exciting as we continue to help the community. My wife and I were involved in many things before this, like bringing the ice rink back downtown, starting the East Tennessee Chili Cook Off and the Daddy-Daughter Dance, restoring a historic building and serving on nonprofit boards. We started Random Acts of Flowers as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and thought we’d hand it off after it got started. It accepts no public funds, everything is donated and nothing is wasted. We exist through grants, corporate support, and private, direct fund raising.

We now have four branches around the country, 18 employees and over 2,000 volunteers and are approaching our 500,000th floral delivery. It’s going very well.