We had the good fortune of connecting with Cristina Juarez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cristina, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Before we decided to start Inecui as a business, we were already cultivating flowers and, as we started offering bouquets to our community, we noticed the enthusiasm in people to be able to take flowers of outstanding quality that were actually sustainable and good for the environment, the people and the pollinators of our region. Flowers that were not what one would normally see at the common flower shops or the market; flowers that would be fresh up to two weeks at home and that had not hard chemicals or pesticides. People love learning about new plants and flowers and about the farmers who grew them!

Having all this in mind, we decided to start Inecui with the vision of being a catalyst of a fair, sustainable, community-focused, and environmentally conscious floral movement, where we follow the cycles of the Earth and work alongside our plant relatives to live a balanced and dignified life.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
We are the one flower shop in San Diego to offer locally grown flowers that are grown using natural practices. All the flowers we have at the shop are from farms that are less than 30 miles from our location in City Heights. We are very proud to be building relationships with farmers who are growing the best flowers we have ever seen and worked with. This intentionality is very beneficial to (1) us because we know and see who grows our blooms, to (2) our clients because they take home prime bouquets of flowers, to (3) the farmers because they get fair business, and to (4) the environment because we are growing more flowers in San Diego in a natural way, creating more green spaces that attract more life. On top of all of this, we are supporting the local economy of our community which is also all around a great investment.

Our journey hasn’t been easy because there is a lot of misinformation on what it takes to grow flowers and what is a fair priced arrangement, as the imported flowers tend to be devalued and, as a domino effect, tend to devalue the perception of the how much flowers really cost. We want people to thinking about the chain of production because if they are getting a “cheap” bouquet of flowers at a market- after that market takes their profit margin, How much is the distributor getting? The packing house? The farmer? We want to uplift farmers in our community as an essential and valued member of this society and one of the ways to show that value is to engage in fair trade.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
South Bay: Tijuana River Valley Community Garden
All the ranches in the South Bay,
Friendship Park
Native West Nursery

Central SD:
Inecui Shop (of course :P)
City Farmers Nursery
Nates Garden Grill
Chicano Park
Centro Cutural de la Raza
World Beat Center
Institute of Contemporary Art SD
The Nat

North county:
Bee Worthy Farm in Encinitas
San Diego Botanical Garden
San Dieguito County Park

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give a Shoutout to our Mother Earth! This place we call home, which continues to nourish us, sustain us, and shower us with bountiful gifts season after season. A big Shoutout to all those who tend the land, starting with all the Luiseño, Kumeyaay, Cupeño, and Cahuilla people of these lands; the Indigenous People who are the teachers who show us that sustainability and land regeneration is just another way of tending to the land, something they have been doing since the beginning of our time as humans here.

Website: inecui.com

Instagram: instagram.com/inecui.flowers

Other: Sign up for our newsletter on our website

Image Credits
Diana Echeverria Adriana Sandoval Margaret Chiu

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutSocal is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.