Today we’d like to introduce you to Audrey Garcia.
Audrey, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am by nature a very curious person. As a kid, I grew up in a ranch in far West Texas, and if you have never been, not a lot of excitement goes on there!
I always had aspirations of living a lot of places and have a lot of different experiences and trying out the big city life. In my 20s, I did just that. I let life flow and always allow myself to try new things! I have lived in Georgia, Mexico, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and New York and boy have I had fun trying everything from nightlife to massage therapy!! But during my stint in New York, I began to really immerse myself into something different-floral design- and it changed my life.
I started taking classes at the New York Botanical Gardens, and during this time, I really got into it, freelancing with a florist in Brooklyn. I started working with live plants after a while, making container gardens and from then, I was hooked. Working with nature ignited something in me, and my soul knew it’s purpose. I knew that my spirit was not in line with my flow in New York, so I decided the coldest winter in 100 years was my last! I booked a flight to LA, rented an apartment, signed up for classes in Landscape Architecture, and the rest is history.
Working with the Earth takes me to another place, it is my meditation, where I feel the most natural and the most beautiful. All this time I searched for fulfillment in other things and other places and through my practice, I have reconnected to my inner self and inner guide. I started Plant Ground Bloom in 2016, so we are a fairly new company, and it’s been really exciting. My mission is to bring people self-awareness through nature. It’s my passion, and I have been well received so far!
I love turning that self-proclaimed plant killer to a success story. We do everything ranging from arrangements, indoor houseplants, to outdoor landscaping and container gardens. I am looking forward to adding a few new services this year, so stay tuned!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
HA! Well, for starters, I started working a landscape business as a Latin woman in a male-dominated field out of my two-door car in a new city with no money and figuring things out along the way. I found out I was pregnant a month after launching and the postpartum was REAL up until one month ago! So…
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Plant Ground Bloom story. Tell us more about the business.
We specialize in highly curated plant designs, moss walls, dried and living arrangements, and landscape design. My style is infused from my upbringings in the West Texas Chihuahua Desert, my Mexican Heritage, and all my travels.
I’m most proud of being able to share my passion as my career, doing something that is in line with your soul’s true calling is really the key to fulfillment.
Our art pieces are whimsical, nostalgic and fun, I love bringing you back to that vacation you took somewhere. If I inspire ONE breath through observation of my art pieces and it makes my client stop and relaxes for a second, I’ve done my job.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
In 2016, I told my classmates that I was going to quit Landscape Architecture school and focus on my personal life, start a business and try to start a family. They laughed in utter disbelief that I was going to do all that when I didn’t even have a boyfriend. Nonetheless, I just freed up my time and opened myself up.
During this time, I quit my job at a design office I was unhappy at and weirdly met a guy who helped me believe in the impossible. We moved in together within months and decided to have a baby, start a business and low and behold, it ACTUALLY HAPPENED! I still laugh thinking about how in one year my entire life changed yet again, but if you know us, it just makes sense. He is wonderful and my other half.
2018 was a year of the most challenging series of events that were a perfect storm of opportunities with equally incredible timing. I personally have never felt more uncomfortable physically from the birth, fatigued as a new mom, spread thin with trying to keep up with the demand and just plain figuring each project out.
I like to think that luck, God, the Universe and the village that I have supporting me, my loving partner and my clients have all been divine blessings in my life and my business. I am a true believer that when your Spirit is in flow, the Universe divinely aligns all the stars just right.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.plantgroundbloom.com
- Phone: 310.709.8970
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/plantgroundbloom
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plantgroundbloomLA
- Other: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/high-design-gyms-around-the-world-slideshow
Image Credit:
Calidad Beer, Hana Hussein
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