We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Melissa Biador. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melissa below.

Melissa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

The plant industry can be quite competitive and as a small business our goal was to create a brand that will set us apart from big box stores and other nurseries. Unlike big box stores, our retail shop is locally owned, maintained by our wonderful staff, plants are hand selected and other merchandise are from small businesses.

Our company mission is to elevate the plant buying experience, by educating our visitors and carrying healthy, well maintained plants. Most of our plants are hand selected, carefully inspected and also treated before going out to the floor. Our staff is knowledgeable and carefully maintain plants daily with the store watering, treating and manicuring schedule.

We also offer workshops, repotting services and soon will be hosting pop-up events and small celebrations.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have always been goal driven and was destined to be an entrepreneur. Before opening Gaia Plant Co., I have owned my photography business for over 10 years. During the peak of the pandemic when everything shut down, all my sessions and events had cancelled. Like many people in the photography industry, I was left with no work. Due to the time I had at home, I started building my plant collection and from there started selling plants from home.

After 8 months from selling from my home, my husband and I started looking into opening up a store in Chula Vista. The pandemic was still at its peak and we took the risk of opening up our first retail location in 2021. Plants were still difficult to obtain during this time and had a small inventory of products to fill the store. We opened opportunities for other small businesses to sell through our store and we made great connections because of this.

Opening Gaia Plant Co. with my family has been the most rewarding experience. I am proud to show my children that with hard work, determination and discipline, wonderful things can happen.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

The pandemic taught me that something positive can come out of something negative. While I had loss of income due to sessions and events cancelling, I had to pivot and think of what I can do to best support my family. Because my family is my driving force to everything I do, I couldn’t sit and NOT to anything.

Opening the business showed my children that anything is possible when you work hard and dream big. They also had the opportunity to help in the store and are very proud to share with their peers that our family owns a small business.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

We have a very small team and consider our staff as “work family”. We believe that open communication, honesty and transparency is what keeps our team happy. We have a very small staff and like it this way, as it is easier to manage as a small business.

We always recognize and reward, no matter how small it may seem. As leaders, we always want to ensure that our staff feels that they are being heard by asking for their insight, advice and recommendations. We do our best to accommodate, continue to train and educate so that they continue to be successful.

Our advice for other small business and companies is to get to know their staff in a professional and personal level. Build trust so that the employees are not afraid to speak up. As the saying goes, “take care of your employees, they’ll take care of you” rings true.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gaiaplantco.com
• Instagram: gaiaplantco
• Facebook: gaiaplantco
• Yelp: gaiaplantco