Cariño Botánica

Cariño Botánica didn't start as a zero-waste shop. In 2021, my sister and I set up our first booth in Downtown Pomona selling crystals, incense, and handmade jewelry — a metaphysical gift shop, more than anything else. We didn't fully know what we were doing yet, just that we wanted to build something around the things we loved with our community.

Over the next couple years, the more we learned about the environmental impact of the products we were selling, the more we wanted to change what was on the table. We pivoted into zero-waste, refill-based goods: home, beauty, and wellness essentials, most of it USDA Organic, FDA, or FSC certified where we could manage it. We were regulars at the Claremont Farmers & Artisans Market, the Downtown Pomona Farmer's Market, the Downtown Pomona Art Walk, Victoria Gardens' The Gathering Farmer's Market, and the Downtown Upland Farmer's Market, alongside an online shop.

I handled most of Cariño day to day — vendor sourcing, operations, finances, the website, events, customer service.

We closed the business in 2025. Between me starting at CMC and my sister starting her master's program around the same time, neither of us had the hours left to keep running it the way it deserved. Running it taught me that a good mission still needs a business model under it to survive.