We had the good fortune of connecting with Jesi Gutierrez & Celi Hernandez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jesi Gutierrez & Celi Hernandez, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
As queer artists we love the idea of creating our own blue print in everything that we do – there is no one path to creating when it comes to starting a business. In fact, our approach and model is not business centered, alternatively the axis upon which our lil shop revolves around is that of community. We recently were able to witness the first queer coffee convention in SF and heard a fellow queer business owner describe what we aim to do perfectly; they shared that everyday we are attempting to “expand beyond what business can be and rather focus on what community is”.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Although, we take our work and the importance of it very seriously we try to not take ourselves too seriously. The journey to where we are today has not been easy at all, we have experienced loss, endless hours of work, networking and building, lots of tears and sweat and also in this part in our journey we want to make room for celebration and straight up joy. We get so excited connecting with young people in our neighborhood who stumble upon our bookshop or as they call it the Libreria. The opportunity to talk about our favorite books and try to work with them to uncover what might be their next great read is exhilarating.

Representation as queer, brown people who have survived is so important to us and so is being examples of those same identities as thriving and joyful beings existing outside of their struggle and pain.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Grab some togo Cuatro Milpas and have a picnic at Chicano park- an opportunity to witness all the labor that went into the vast murals and understand what a beautiful privilege it is to be in a place that would not have been possible without the collaboration of a strong community of chicanx people. Then, cruise Logan ave. and enjoy the the creatives that continue the legacy of Barrio Logan through their efforts to be artistic and community centered everyday.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The space that Libélula Books & Co. is would not be possible without the collaboration and collective effort of our familias, communities and mentors. All of whom, have invested in us and believe in the true power of literacy and story sharing. We could attempt to name them all here, but the print would surly run out of ink or space or both.

Website: libelulabooksandco.com

Instagram: libelula_books_co

Facebook: libelula_books_co

Image Credits
Jesi Gutierrez