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Speaker 1: That's Ray Escapism here on Kiss FM, Los Angeles. Good

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Speaker 1: morning Seacrest with you. Are you ready for it? I'm

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Speaker 1: a hustler, bad hometown hustler. That's a segment. So we're

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Speaker 1: gonna meet Sandra Mahia right now of the Plant Chica

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Speaker 1: The Plant Chica on Instagram at the Plant Cheek on Instagram.

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Speaker 1: She is from South Central. I'm want to bring her

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Speaker 1: in now, South Central and she transformed this is where

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Speaker 1: you have like entrepreneurial vision and courage, right, So she

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Speaker 1: transformed an auto shop and abandoned auto shop into a

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Speaker 1: plant plant for your house haven and it's now become

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Speaker 1: a neighborhood hub. Sandra, thanks for coming on, Thank you

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Speaker 1: for having me.

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Speaker 2: I feel so blessed to be here.

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Speaker 1: Well, I really personally love these stories. It motivates me,

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Speaker 1: and I want you to tell your story. So you

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Speaker 1: launched Plant Chica in twenty eighteen as a side job,

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Speaker 1: but walk me through how it started, why it started,

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Speaker 1: and how it became what it is today.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, So, the Plant Cheeka started as a side hustle.

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Speaker 2: So it started in twenty eighteen, and I used to

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Speaker 2: set up shops just kind of on random corners, sort

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Speaker 2: of like how people sell flowers or fruits, except it

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Speaker 2: was a plant table. And we just started to get

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Speaker 2: busier and busier, and we eventually put our stuff online

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Speaker 2: and we started on Etsy and then it kind of

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Speaker 2: just took off from there. So the pandemic helped a

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Speaker 2: lot because so many people who got into plants during

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Speaker 2: the pandemic, and that was in twenty twenty. I was

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Speaker 2: able to quit my job in twenty nineteen and give

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Speaker 2: the plant cheek on my all, and that's kind of

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Speaker 2: Once I did that, it was like we just started

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Speaker 2: getting busier and busier and busier. And so we were

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Speaker 2: able to open up a brick and mortar location in

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Speaker 2: my neighborhood where I grew up, which is really important

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Speaker 2: to me because we don't have green spaces in south

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Speaker 2: central La.

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Speaker 1: What a full circle moment in store for you to

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Speaker 1: open up right there where you grew up. And I find,

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Speaker 1: don't you find that when people are in your shop

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Speaker 1: or around plants, they're just better right, They're in a

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Speaker 1: better space, a better mood.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they're happy. And also, Ryan, I was going to say,

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Speaker 2: even being here with you is a full circle moment

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Speaker 2: for me, and I want to thank you for that

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Speaker 2: because I used to listen to your show on my

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Speaker 2: way to work for such a long time and to

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Speaker 2: be here talking to you about my business, it's just

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Speaker 2: such a full circle moment. I just want to say

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Speaker 2: thank you for doing that for me.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you so much. This is a it's

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Speaker 1: a great story. Uh the Plant Chica. Hey, what's what's

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Speaker 1: a good starter plant for someone? It's not responsible, So

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Speaker 1: I would.

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Speaker 2: Say like a zz plant or a snake plant because

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Speaker 2: they're gonna they're resilient, they're gonna survive no matter what.

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Speaker 2: So if you're traveling and you forget to water your plant,

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Speaker 2: it's a great plant for you. Also, I was going

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Speaker 2: to say on Earth Day, will be given away over

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Speaker 2: two thousand free plants that they are going to be

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Speaker 2: a lot of like the starter plants, which are also

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Speaker 2: air purifying plants.

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Speaker 1: So wow, that's amazing. Yeah, that's great. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So we do this like every three to four months,

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Speaker 2: we just give away over two thousand free plants to

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Speaker 2: people in our community because we believe everyone should have

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Speaker 2: access to plants, not just people that can afford them.

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Speaker 2: So that's going to be our Plant Chica Earth Day celebration.

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Speaker 1: I love it well, So check this out. Jefferson and Farmdale,

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Speaker 1: West Adams. Sandra is our hometown hustler. It is called

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Speaker 1: the Plant Chica and if you're in the area or

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Speaker 1: anywhere near, go buy and support this local business of ours.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming on. It's a pleasure

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Speaker 1: meeting you, and I'm really touched that you listened over

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Speaker 1: the years. That makes us, you know, feel so good.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, of course, thank you for having me. Have

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Speaker 2: a great day, guys, Bye bye.

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Speaker 1: People around plants are good people. If you're met a

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Speaker 1: mean person around a plant. No, no, it's like a

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Speaker 1: mean person with the dog. I don't mean many of those,

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Speaker 1: or at least they become nice when they're with their dog,

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Speaker 1: right you you plant like, I'm so happy around my trees.

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Speaker 1: Mm hmm, I'm like a different person, right Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: just want to hug them. We start to adding more

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Speaker 1: plants into our home and it's awesome. Need some help.

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Speaker 1: Sure I hear A zz plant is a good one.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Snake plants are cute too.

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Speaker 1: Coming up five hundred bucks in spring cash card money