I am an artist in many ways. From oil painting, to water color, to photography and print making.  I’ve worked with metal and clay, sculpting, making jewelry…being a chef and a baker.  I just HAVE to create and I love doing it. I always say I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none. My Aries Moon fuels me with fire and chaos, carrying me from one project to the next, while my Virgo sun keeps me grounded, detail-oriented, and always striving for perfection.  My current journey of growing flowers and arranging them feels so natural.  It feels like I have done this before in a past life or maybe even many times before. I feel my Mexican and Indigenous ancestors with me, especially as I string marigold blooms together.  I know this is what I’m suppose to be doing right now. I find myself craving for there to be more time in a day and more days in a week so I can work with flowers even more than I am. I dream of flowers and think of flowers. I am consumed and have so much I want to do. I am inspired by my garden and what is growing. Each arrangement becomes a meditation, a moment of deep connection with what’s in season and thriving together in nature. I love watching which blooms last, which fade first, and which transform into something new as they dry—each flower teaching me in its own way.  I’ve had many creative chapters: being a cheese chef and running a buisness, having an etsy shop and selling jewelry. Each experience has shaped me, but this journey with flowers has been my favorite yet. I’m forever grateful to AD and Jolene at Empowered Flowers for teaching me how to farm, believing in me and giving me the space to grow flowers at the farm with endless advice and help.

I love flowers, bugs, cute colorful things, my tuxedo cat, my black poodle, my partner, and my friends. In the winter when I’m not flower farming, I still farm vegetables but I have more time to do things like crocheting, baking sourdough bread and making paper mache sculptures.

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This website is inspired by a series of journals I keep, written only in red oil pencil. They’re not structured, just collections of words that resonate with me in the moment. That practice mirrors how I try to live: present, grounded in the now, rather than weighed down by what could’ve been or what might happen.

The name Flowers Now, Cry Later comes from that way of thinking, it’s inspired by the song Smile Now, Cry Later, which is well known in the Mexican community.  It’s common for that song to play on the radio every Sunday morning in my home town, El Paso, Tx. The song is often symbolized by a pair of masks, one laughing, one crying—drama and comedy. To me, it’s a reminder to embrace what’s happening right now, and deal with tomorrow when it comes. Flowers embody that spirit too—they bloom fully in the present, knowing their time is fleeting.

I grew up with oldies on Sunday mornings, elote en vaso, fresh mango, watermelon and jicama covered in lime and Lucas. Tamarindo, Horchata and limonada. Gorditas at the bazaar in September. Prickly pear, cactus fruit we call tunas. Playing in mud and racing BMX bikes. Love and big hugs from my mama. Riding bikes and working out with my dad. WWE on the television and wrestling with my siblings. Pomegranates from my grandma Pat’s house admiring her garden and drinking hot chocolate.  Mariachis at every party. Clown paintings, lottery tickets and sweet coffee with my grandpa Conrad.  Picking pecans and the smell of sweet tobacco lingering on my grandpa Neo’s blue jacket. Learning to sew, cook and craft from my grandma down the street. Eating fresh made warm tortillas with butter. I ran from El Paso to be the person I am today, but I wouldn’t be who I am if it wasn’t for that childhood. I always say I grew up in Oakland, which is true, but I was made in El Paso.

Every season brings something new, yet familiar and I’m excited to see what grows next.

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All flowers grown organically by seed.  Seeds are saved by me or bought from Wild Garden Seed, Grand Prismatic Seed, Adaptive Seeds, and Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

I do not support the T**** administration or systems that perpetuate harm. I stand against genocide, racism, xenophobia, and transphobia. I believe no human being is illegal and that borders should never define our worth. I stand for peace, justice, and freedom-for Palestine, and for all people. At the heart of it, I believe everyone deserves to live with dignity, safety, and harmony.