Plants + Business

My first teacher was an olive tree. I’d spend hours playing in its branches and using its fruit to prepare Syrian style olives with my dad. Our garden in Israel, which blossomed with eight fruit trees and thirty-five different herbs, was the perfect classroom to not only cultivate my love of horticulture, but also allowed me to value fresh ingredients in my cooking. When I moved to the United States, I was forced to leave my precious plants behind. To remind me of home, I decided to embark on a new botanical endeavour: growing my own garden. Although my life was evolving, visiting and watering my plants every morning helped me feel connected to my Israeli roots.

While waiting for my plants to grow, I expanded my interests. I took up cake decorating and read the entire Heroes of Olympus series (twice), but I dedicated most of my time to developing business ideas. Like gardening, growing and creating something of my own captivated me. As my tomatoes, eggplants, and zucchinis grew, my ideas for a spa network, fading highlighter, and a crowdsourcing parking app began to sprout. Hoping to eventually transform these ideas into businesses, I wanted to learn what it takes to successfully start a company. While I watched my tomatoes grow, I noticed how crucial a firm structure was to their growth. Similarly, I discovered that a strong foundation would be necessary if I wanted my business ideas to prosper. I quickly realized that my gardens were shaping the way I approached the world.

Soon, I enrolled in a business and entrepreneurship course, where I finally created an idea that I was eager to share: Venture. Venture was a business publication for my school community that focused on analyzing leading start-up companies and their impacts on the world. Although it took a lot of time, care, and planning, watching both my plants and Venture ripen into perfection was rewarding.

Although I dove into many new interests, my love for plants always persisted. Last summer, I worked at a local flower shop, Monsoon Flowers. While I helped customers create floral arrangements, we often discussed their favorite plants. Their answers overwhelmingly consisted of roses and orchids with an occasional hydrangea. However, my favorite was a smooth green leaf: the aspidistra. Although to most people the aspidistra doesn’t stand out among the flowers, it is crucial to any arrangement because it ties it together. I thought about why I was so drawn to the aspidistra, and realized that I often seemed to notice the inconspicuous, the aspidistras of the world.

The summer before I had worked with the aspidistras of Haiti: women who were neglected and overlooked by their communities. I worked at Women of Milot Entrepreneurial Network which introduced me to many strong and motivated Haitian women who had limited work opportunities particularly because they were women. With the help of Women of Milot, these women were able to start their own knitting and crochet businesses and reverse traditional gender roles: their husbands were now relying on them for financial support. Like the aspidistra, although the women of Haiti are often disregarded, they are crucial to the growth of the Haitian economy. So, on my plane ride home from Haiti, I set out on a mission: to share the stories of these once neglected women with the rest of the world. I ran a campaign on the Women of Milot social media pages and coordinated fundraiser events in hopes of bringing attention to these inspiring women.

Plants have taught me to see the world differently, to make connections, and to pursue my interests. In the future, I hope to draw upon all the skills and values I have learned from my botanical roots and blend my love for business with my passion to empower women.