We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Flower Sanchez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Flower, thanks for joining us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

I think as an artist, we are often times misunderstood in general. It’s kind of our superpower. I sort of enjoy it. The downfall is that we live in age of social media and everyone is suddenly a critic lol. As artists we know we’ve a communal responsibility to clarify our messages if ever they should be misconstrued. But art mimics life. Perception is not linear. I mean, these are very delicate times. You have society and the artist both at a heightened scale of sensitivity these days. Most artists find this taxing as it can defeat the purpose of our work. Constantly having to water down our ideas. It takes vulnerability and patience. But for influence sake I feel they understand the responsibility that comes with the gifts. For me I just see it as an opportunity to create art on a more challenging scale. Sort of like “yeah I dare anyone to question this” lol. I have a very witty sense of humor. It reflects in everything.

An example for me, I wear a lot of different hats, from a hip-hop DJ to cinematography, writing, acting to being an executive chef and running my own restaurant all by the age of 27.. And now I’ve ventured into skincare wellness. Lol people are constantly confused. I hear things like, “wow you’re so young how do you do all of that?” Or “you should just pick one lane”. But I ignore most of it. It’s my life, my journey and I don’t wanna waste a single moment not being myself. Im thankful to have amazing parents who have always supported my talents (not financially lol) but emotional support and keeping me uplifted. Truth be told if you combine a hustler who came from nothing with multiple creative abilities that’s just what happens. I don’t think I’ll ever just do one thing lol. I get it from my dad. Jamaican people are known for creating things and selling them to make a living. Same thing with my mom and my Mexican heritage, if you’re from SoCal you see them everyday. My life is essentially a makeup of my culture just with my own swagger. I can’t help the fact that I love creating and am unlimited in what I can do. I spent a long time believing people in thinking they were right and I need to choose just one thing and I’m so glad that I never listened to any of them. Even my older brother haha. Sorry man, I won. The best thing in the world is to become successful at just being yourself. In the words of the great Master P, “ain’t no limit.” . I’m just getting started truthfully.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I come from humble beginnings. So no matter who I’m around I don’t care if it’s Jay z, Lebron, or Sam from the corner-store, I’m going to be humble and be myself and treat people with love. That is just who I am. I’m a love goddess if you will.

I want people to know my story is not one of overnight success or favoritism. But one of the choice to keep going. Time and time again. That’s where the success is, in the determination and times I wanted to give up on myself but chose to actively keep moving forward. I think it’s the biggest lesson especially if you plan on succeeding. The beauty that lies within the hardest moments.

To understand my story, you really have to understand why I operate the way I do. I’m from the hood. Lol, I think most people try not to see that. But yes, I’m from section 8, all that. I’ve been passed around from family to family from age 9 until about 15 when i got to go back to live with my mom and younger brother in the projects. We’ve since made it out but I owe all of the street knowledge I attained its flowers for sure. They molded me, they didn’t make me.

It all began at age 7, My mom signed me up to model for this agency called “wilhelmina” when I was discovered by an agent while we were attending chargers game at Qualcomm stadium. I remember I was pretending to be Spider-Man and my mom stopped and started talking to this lady who then handed her a card. I stayed with them for a while, they loved how care free and spirited I was! I loved it it felt natural and I felt seen. But we were already going homeless at this point so my mom couldn’t afford to keep me with them. Neither of us had any idea that it was in fact one of the leading modeling agencies in the country. Lol. I was just used to not having access to stuff like that so I wasn’t devastated or anything.

My parents are the coolest. They split up when I was around 3 but I still gained a lot of my creativity from them both equally. My mom and grandmother who helped raise me in my early years taught me my way around a kitchen. My dad never had TVs around. Only musical instruments, books on knowledge of self, and of course, lots of vinyl. He taught me how to garden & took me to have my first poetry book published at the age of 9, “Flowers”. My grandfather, my hero, taught me to carry myself in a way that never makes me feel inferior, no matter what room I walk into. That’s where the music and cooking really stemmed from. Everything else is me lol The first actually in my entire lineage to actually work in Hollywood & showbiz. I see why now lol it is not for the weak. I think my ancestors are proud however. My grandmother always wanted me to be an actress or model. My grandfather always saw everything in me that I never did. He always said “you’re going to be something special someday.” , he later passed before my career took off. It took a lot for me to leave my hometown and go after my dreams. I’m a really shy person at heart I hide it well.

The restaurant thing came about when I was 18. Though I’ve always had a natural talent for cooking I was determined to career in anything BUT food because my family has A lot of chefs in it as was lol I was refutable. However, I had just had a heart attack from a disorder in my major aortic valve. Around the same time my dad was down south going through an awful divorce. I hadn’t seen him since he left to create this new family, but was always a daddy’s girl as a little one so I made the choice to reconnect be it that I had a new found perspective on life after what I had just went through. After that, the rest was history. It was like us reconnecting filled a void I had felt for so long. Like I was missing the guy that always keep me creating. We had no idea we each needed each other and from then on the restaurant has been such a huge success. That stemmed from love. Such a beautiful thing. Little did we know that we would soon be some of the biggest pioneers in wellness and food in this little town that I couldn’t even get to eat an avocado the first few months we opened lol. Now they ask for too much I might have to start upcharging haha, No but seriously I love it. Making people happy I mean I’m a humanitarian. Then boom, at 20 I get pregnant and decide to come back to California where I knew the baby and I would have a safe delivery due to my heart complications it was just too big of a risk. My dad stayed and has kept the restaurant going physically while I handle day to day operations remotely. We’ve since been able to expand our nutritional knowledge and even helped over 43 customers naturally heal from COVID-19 with our new “Supa-Tea” options, began renovations and I plan on opening my next this summer 2023! Super excited about that.

I moved to Los Angeles roughly 7 years ago. I was 21 with a 4 month old baby boy moving in with my oldest brother and his family. I felt so alone there and didn’t know what I was going to do as a single mom. I was so used to being able to move about as needed but now there was a little human looking up to me so I knew I had to do something, literally anything lol. I had no friends in LA, no connections, nothing. I didn’t even know my way around or anything lol. I saw an audition to work as a DJ/videographer for this nightclub in Hollywood called Bardot or the Avalon. I went and was doing it for a while but the pay was only like $150/$200 a set or something like that so it just wasn’t logical to put all my energy into that. So I quickly sought out other work and took on jobs as an independent DJ for private events. That’s where I began networking and realizing that people were willing to pay me solely for my ideas. They had the resources and I had a vivid imagination you can’t find at a Saks 5th. Together it was perfect. Until I started to notice things I wasn’t meant to. Every artist wanted to keep me as a “secret gem” or something. I needed to monetize. But people hate when you monetize. It means you’re no longer naive and content just to be there you finally see your worth. But that’s always when I began to see the ugliness in the industry and quickly began to learn how to maneuver. I did and do still meet great people along the way who now will tell you they feel I taught them more then they taught me but I feel we are all students and teachers in life.

Soon after I moved out with my son from my brothers and began taking work as another independently contracted chef for some of LA’s biggest catering companies/restaurant groups. Literally opened doors for me. I got to cook for any and everyone in Hollywood. It was learning techniques from some the top chefs in the country. Stuff culinary school could never teach you. For example, don’t ever serve rapper “Quavo” a burger too fancy. To quote his exact words, “just plain, just meat & cheese.” Lol or how the king of pops very own mama is not opposed to me wrapping her up some peach cobbler to go( with aluminum foil!) okayyyyyy. Lol I could go on. Some of the best memories. That are all under expired NDA so seriously I have to shut up now lol.

After about a year and a half I made the decision to stop working there and attend film school. I had made connections from networking and didn’t want to look up and be in my 30s still working for them, I wanted to join them. I did that while taking on acting gigs in my spare time for extra money. I finally landed my first spot in 2017 in a film lions gate was shooting. I was tired of shuffling from universal studios for Steve Harvey to jimmy kimmel or Burbank to be on set for another show just to make ends meet and I didn’t wanna go back to serving the elite. At this point I was frustrated and felt the pressure of everyone telling me I was juggling too many things and needed. To choose.

I’ve styled, anchored, hosted, managed, owned, loved, curated, scripted, cooked, shot, directed so many things since then. I’ve literally Created. And created my life while doing it.

So, I made a choice, and everyone thought I was even dumber after that lol. I made the decision to quit and never work a 9-5 again. It was only logical to me see it as I would now have all the time needed for my creative/business/acting pursuits. And this meant I could give my son loads more attention. I don’t think I’ve ever made a better decision in my entire life. Everyone that once called me crazy for believing in myself is either out of my life now or eating their words, but at least their eating 5 star now haha. I’ve since learned how to juggle my 3 LLcs that allow me to charge for my creative ideas and time and non-profit organization that allows me to tap into my humanitarian side, all while being able to soak up precious moments with my boy. So for me choosing the creative path was the only path there ever was for me I just needed to figure out how I was going to make it work. My next project will be tackling a dating life amidst it all lol.

Now finally at 27 years old I’m actually comfortable in my own skin and and comfortable at which the rate I move and do things. I’m happy and can easily accept when life seems like it’s falling apart because it’s actually all just coming together. Believing in yourself and your creative abilities is a beautiful journey that teaches above all things, to just love yourself and trust yourself. Then others will too. My restaurant has had a successful 5 star rating for 10 consecutive years and been featured in food network and many other news articles as top vegetarian cuisines nationwide. I’ve had the amazing blessings of being able to work with and learn from people one could only dream of. I’ve had a hand in some of my friends favorite series/films and am still working on my next. Eventually a book is on the horizon. But for now I’m still growing and learning. The entire experience has taught/is teaching me so much about myself and that the power of creativity is very real. It took me from feeling I was nothing, to realizing I was always something. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for my 30’s if this was what being 20 felt like! I hope above all things I never lose my desire or passion to keep on creating.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I can name a few. I remember in my early acting days this one particular agency you had to be one of the first like 40 people or you had to keep coming back. So I asked how early people started arriving typically and decided I was going to get completely dressed in the attire and full makeup and pull up at midnight and wait. Little did I know everyone and their mother wanted the same spot so I quickly jumped out of my car with nothing and sat in the blistering cold in heels and a dress skirt from midnight until 9am but I was first in line I will tell you that! Boop lol.

A rough time more recently this year actually I was filming for a reality tv show and the night right before our last day of filming, I was a passenger in a really terrible car accident and my face got completely messed up and lip bruised. I was so upset but needed to pull myself together. I let producers know about my face but makeup luckily helped with that. I’ll never forget I didn’t want any pity and I knew how bad I looked so I was super grateful to the makeup artist, her name is Stephanie I’ll never forget her. She just cleaned me up and I looked amazing you’d never be able to tell. She didn’t make me feel embarrassed or anything I don’t even think as a makeup creative she knew the impact she left me with but it’s one of those things I’ll keep with me. She’s a gem.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me it’s simple, creating anything that helps make someone feel better whether they like the way I helped their shoot come to life or I made a meal that left everyone full on love there is truly no greater feeling. Love. That’s the truest reward for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurants/photos/best-vegan-restaurants?fbclid=PAAaZu7ZjJscG5zC3vD_GABRfhIgWgHDhtKXbiT0-47u_-zbwmAOPGsn09qL8
• Instagram: Www.Instagram.com/spottieottiedopalyscious
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chefwillthepalate

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