Natasha Samtani in conversation with Ninfa Diaz | May 2020

Ninfa Diaz, Owner of Midtown Garden Center

What is your name and title?

My name is Ninfa Diaz, I am the owner of Midtown Garden Center and I'm actually the owner of soon to open MiMo Garden Center, which has been a project we've been working on for two years.

Tell us a little bit about Midtown garden center and MiMo.

My husband and I have been in the industry for over 15 years. Our main business is actually in Homestead, which is the agricultural area of South Florida.

We started our business there mainly targeting landscapers, selling everything in bulk to landscapers. We opened Midtown Garden Center as kind of a secondary hub to have easier access from when we were doing jobs farther North. When we first started it, the area was not developed yet. It was really intended to support us and also target landscapers up in the area. And then as Miami started to change, we started to change with it. We had other people managing the business for us. I took over in 2015 and just really started to revamp it as the area was changing. When we started, there were barely any buildings around us and now we're surrounded by buildings.

One of the inspirations that I had was people not having a backyard. When you grow up, you normally grow up with backyards and you go outside and you enjoy your outdoor space. But, with all the buildings popping up, I realized that people had their tiny balconies and they didn't really have that backyard feel anymore. So we just started to mold the space to not only be a garden center and provide plants for the indoor and outdoor space, but also to give people an environment where they would be able to come and enjoy the space. Our garden is laid out a little bit different than most garden centers because we try to create areas for people to come hang out - seating areas, event space. We also added the whole concept of having food trucks. We have a flower shop, so we wanted it to be like a one stop shop where people could come get their plant, eat a taco while they're out and drink a juice, pick up their flowers, but at the same time bring the laptop if they wanted to sit down and do some work. It was really with that idea of creating that environment of feeling like you're in your backyard when you come to the garden center.

That's an amazing initiative you've taken for the community. I love that so much.

It’s really grown organically as the neighborhood has grown. Over the past five years, the change has been incredible, but it's just happened as gentrification started happening and buildings started popping up. We started feeling the needs of the neighborhood and changed to provide those needs.

So as a business, you definitely took note of the changing environment around you and adapted it accordingly, which sounds like a key to success for you guys.

Absolutely.

Growing up, did you discover that you had a passion for gardening and the plant world? Was there a fascination with that or is it something that fell into your lap?

I actually grew up in Latin America. My mom is American, my dad is Colombian, and my parents were adventurers. They loved nature. So, I grew up always surrounded by nature, going up mountains, rivers, everything you can imagine. My house growing up was lush, always surrounded by plants, animals. It was coincidental that we ended up in this industry. I guess it was just natural - me having grown up around plants and around nature kind of really evolved even more there.

How is your business set apart from other garden centers?

We are all about the experience that we provide. Even the way that we set up our plants - most nurseries set up the plants in a row and display everything together. We like to create an environment where people are coming in and can grasp an idea of “okay, I could set up my plants like this in my backyard or my balcony or inside of my apartment and it would look great”. I have an all women's staff, and our one male staff member who is our driver!

It also has been coincidental that I slowly accumulated more and more women on my staff. The knowledge and the environment and the energy that we all have also transfers over to our customers. We try to give as much information as we can. We try to learn as much as we can, so that we can educate our customers. It’s all about the experience for us, for people to come in and walk away having had an amazing experience while in the garden and leaving feeling inspired by what they can create, by what they can do with their homes.

What has been the most difficult part about growing and transforming the Midtown Garden Center and developing your newer business?

I think the transformation has been mainly...not so much finding the look, because everything we've done has just grown off of our vibe and our feel. You're in the city, but it's, it's like a little Bohemian jungle basically. It's been hit or miss with what works. Also, as the areas grow we found the need to bring in more varieties of things. We went from having a smaller section of plants and having more aggregates, to increasing our plants. As the demand has grown, so has the demand for adding more things. It’s just been a trial and error basis as far as growing and bringing in things and figuring out what works and what doesn't work in the area.

You mentioned that this began as a family business, is that correct?

It is a family business. It’s my husband and I! We do have a business partner in Homestead, who is also our business partner up here. But I'm at the helm of it all and I've been running it for the past …almost five years now. So, I'm in charge.

What has that experience been like working with your husband on this?

We’ve been working together for the past 15 years. When we first got married, I quit the job that I was at to help him start our main business that we have in Homestead. We actually analyze this often - it can either make you or break you as a couple. We actually had a period of time, because we have three children, where I started the business and then after our last one was born, I took some time off.

It's impossible to work with an infant, which is what I tried to do in the beginning. I took some time off and during that time off, I actually had a lot of personal growth. I was working as an independent sales consultant for a multilevel marketing type of business and I actually had a lot of sales growth during that time. So when I decided to come back and take over the business again, I feel like all that growth that I had then really helped to create and build Midtown to what it is now.

My personal growth during that time actually helped us. At one point my husband's like, okay, now you're turning into me because you were so different at the beginning. I mean, I've always been a very driven and hardworking person, but because I had so much personal growth on my own, once we came back together - we do everything together now.

We work 24/7 together. The MiMo garden center is 100% mine on my own and he's been helping me in the construction phase of that. It’s very interesting in a relationship to find that balance of, okay, I'm in charge and you're in charge and making the teamwork happen, but we somehow make it work. We’re actually so used to working together that if we're apart for too long, we're on the phone like, “Okay, where are you, what are you doing? Let’s get back together and continue doing what we're doing together.” So it's an interesting dynamic. A lot of our friends are like, I don't know how you guys do it. We're both two very intense personalities, so it's very interesting.

It sounds like it takes mutual respect and it takes patience. It's definitely inspiring to hear a success story like that.

Were there any jobs that you had prior to running a business that helped contribute to the skill sets that you needed for running the business? It sounds like there was a direct correlation.

Yeah, I've been working since I was 15. Since I was a teenager, I always had to have my own money. I actually helped my parents out since I was a kid - helping with bills and I got married young. I've been independent since a very young age and always made my own money. The only time I took off was when I had my kids that I needed to stay home.

“I always looked for a way of making my own income because I feel like that’s very important for women. Especially for stay at home moms. It’s important that you don’t lose who you are and your independence. ”

Even while I was staying home, I always looked for a way of making my own income because I feel like that's very important for women. Especially for stay at home moms. It's important that you don't lose who you are and your independence. I'm very blessed that my husband and I are on the same wavelength about that. He's always had the same mindset reminding me that he needs me to be independent in case anything ever happens to him. You're able to continue keeping everything afloat. I've seen so many women who've gone through divorce or who’ve had different situations happen to them. It also happened to me - I got married very young to my first husband, got divorced and was left in a very rough situation where I had all the bills on my hands.

I had been a stay at home mom for a little bit and I had to jump back into the workforce and just try to puzzle everything back together. So, that kind of taught me the life lesson of not letting that happen again. I remarried. My husband and I actually met within a year of me getting divorced and we've been together…it'll be 15 years this year. We both have that very strong feeling of ‘yeah, you can be a stay at home mom and that is a full time job, but while not losing the ability of making your own money or not losing the ability of being independent.’

While I was a stay at home mom taking care of my kids, I actually was selling Mary Kay. I did that for about eight years. I earned vehicles with them. The education that I received during that time was really what molded me. When I was done with that, I was ready to step into running the family business again. I feel like that made a world of a difference for me education wise, having molded myself during that time of being able to stay home with my kids, but continuing to grow as a person and being ready when the opportunity presented itself for me to take over the business again and really step in.

“It’s all about the people too and caring on the people and loving on the people and seeing them grow within the business.”

I see it even with my employees now because I have an all women's staff. It’s funny that I'm constantly surrounding myself with women. I actually just had a meeting with my staff yesterday and I was talking to them saying, I know you guys are going to leave at some point, as much as I don't want you to, you're going to grow out of this phase in your life. My whole goal is to empower you as women, that you're able to learn something while you're with me, whatever it may be, and in this industry and in life to where once you move on, you leave feeling that you have definitely grown and learned from the time that you've been with me. I have an amazing, amazing team and we've really grown as a family and I feel like everything that I've lived through in my life and all the experiences and training that I've had have helped to carry over into the success that my business has had now. It’s all about the people too and caring on the people and loving on the people and seeing them grow within the business.

Looking at your team as something that you can actually nurture and help set out into the world as if they've taken something from this experience that they can take into the next. That's really beautiful. It’s an amazing lesson for any future or current business owners, showing that your team is actually a reflection of you as well.

Do you have any plans to expand your business further?

That is where my new project, MiMo garden center comes into play. We are on borrowed time, obviously thanks to gentrification. The land that the Midtown Garden Center is on is not ours. We don't own it. We’ve always known that at some point we're going to have to move or close down. Miami has grown so much, the area that we're in has grown so much. So, my husband and I started talking as our lease was coming up with the Midtown Garden Center to start considering back-up plans. The next up and coming area, which is the MiMo district, which stands for Miami Modern – it was an area that we had in mind for a while and we had our eye on a piece of property and it just so happened to become available two years ago and that area is a historic area, which is why it's taken us two years to get this business open. It's been a huge learning experience, but it's also been a very lengthy process.

“When I’m working together with my team and I’m seeing things that we’re accomplishing together - that makes me feel powerful. ”

Unfortunately COVID-19 kind of threw a curve ball in the whole process and we probably would have been open by now, but we're hoping to open in the next month. For now that is the only expansion.

We have dreams and goals of more. It's just the question of how far can I stretch myself and how far am I willing to stretch myself? I'm very, very involved in the business. I like to hand pick my plants as much as possible. I like to be on the floor with my customers, with my team.

Can you recall a moment when you felt powerful?

We’ve had some pretty big jobs lately that we've worked together on as a team. I think I feel empowered by my team, honestly. It isn't something where I feel personally powerful. When I’m working together with my team and I'm seeing things that we're accomplishing together - that makes me feel powerful. But more so empowered than specifically powerful. I feed off of other people's energies and that pumps me up. When I feel like other people are pumped up and are feeling powerful, I feel it too.

Describe what that feeling is like - to feel empowered.

I would have to say probably excited, happy. I truly live for seeing other people succeed. Even when I was with Mary Kay, at one point I had a team of 50 women under me. Now with my girls, I have a team of ten women that I work with and I think about how even now with my business - I've always been surrounded by women! It’s really seeing other women grow and seeing them grow in their personalities. It's exhilarating. It's like a thrill to see. I had a part in helping her become who she is and helping her grow and helping her do more for herself. It's exciting. I guess it’s a little adrenaline rush!

Ninfa Diaz, Owner of Midtown Garden Center | Miami, FL