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

Hi Nancy , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

“Ni de Aqui, Ni de Alla” (Neither from here, nor there)

This small phrase is what I think of when people ask me “where are you from?” My response proudly is, Aurora, IL but then the dreaded question is asked again, “but where are you from?” This is my cue to inform them that my parents come from Jiquilpan, Michoacan, Mexico but I was born in the midwest, in the second largest city of Illinois, Aurora. The irony is that when I travel to my parent’s town in Mexico people ask me “Are you American?” which I respond to “Ni de Aqui, ni de alla.” You see I get to live two cultures, two food palettes, genres of music and movies, and so many more. This is why I chose to combine both the Ni and De together to create, Nide. The Jardin part was easy as plants are my main focus. After researching, I also found that Nide is the word for nest and I couldn’t think of anything else. This was my nest and garden created for all of those who live in diaspora and feel like they are not from here or there.

Nancy , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I get asked a lot “How did you get into plants?” and there is no clear cut answer. You see I grew up with my parents having a vegetable garden, my grandma in Mexico had lime, pomegranate, and other citrus trees. Not to mention all the tropical and cacti plants they had in their patios. My mom always had herbs for a tea or for our food which she would ask me to go and cut some if we were sick or she was making a soup. As you see, I didn’t get into plants as they were and are always around me. I choose to nurture myself through these plants just as my mom had nurtured us with her knowledge of them.

As an adult, I started to learn about self care and how important it is and how much we lack in practicing it. I started to grow my own little plants and then decided to share the joy with my local community in our Farmers Market. As my plants grew so did the idea of opening a brick and mortar grew. Our community has a large population of BIPOC and I knew that just like me they needed to learn how to practice self care but there wasn’t a space that felt inclusive. I decided that I would take on the task of creating that space.

On April 19th, 2023 Nide Jardin brick and mortar had its soft opening. We curated a space that is vibrant, spanglish, inclusive, and most importantly a space that allows you to take care of yourself with nature and culture. I want every person who walks into the store to feel that this is an oasis to nurture themselves.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

One of our values at Nide Jardin is collaboration. We currently house over 20 brands and most are local, BIPOC, or LGBTQ+ businesses. One of these is Dapper Brews, which has a self-serve nitro brew tap in our current location. This allows foot traffic for my store and a commission while giving Dapper Brews additional exposure. We are hoping to partner up with him and many other vendors to continue collaboration.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I believe that keeping true to your mission is the best strategy to growing clientele. Our clients are more informed than ever and they know when a company is not being true to themselves. We all can get caught in the day to day minutiae but knowing to stop to reassess if certain things are in accordance with our mission. Clients want and expect authenticity.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nidejardin.com
• Instagram: @nidejardinaurora
• Facebook: @nidejardinaurora
• Other: TikTok: @nidejardinaurora

Image Credits
Headshot photo credit: Alyson Keen @leaveherwild.photography