Today we’d like to introduce you to Celeste Calderon.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My story starts with my family. Both my parents came to San Diego from the Imperial Valley for better opportunity – my mom pursued the real estate industry and her dream of being financially independent, while my dad pursued the arts and spiritual growth. When I was born (1994), they owed a 3 unit building on the borderline of North Park and Normal Heights. I remember it was painted yellow, had a tiny octagon window, and a giant sun mural that my dad painted on the garage. It was such a cool spot!
My parents divorced a year later, sold the place, and started new lives. My dad went back to Imperial Valley, later moved to Mexicali and painted murals, and dove deeper into his spiritual practice. My mom met my future stepdad (who I also call my dad) and together began a property management company… Since I lived with my mom and my stepdad in San Diego, I saw them develop their business in real estate and property management and learned about the industry from them. I had a lot of memories touring residential properties they managed and owned, with them around Balboa Park and South Bay and spending my time in their offices in University Heights, National City, and Kearny Mesa. One thing I would always look forward to on the properties tours was picking up pan dulce at Panchitas in Golden Hill. While being heavily influenced by my mom and stepdad’s business, I also had a lot of influence from my dad’s artistic career and spiritual growth. My dad is one of the main reasons why I have such an appreciation for the fine arts and music. Growing up, I was always in an art class, making my own work at home, even learning how to paint from my dad. He also also taught me the foundations and principles of Buddhism and other spiritual practices and later introduced me to the vegan/plant-based lifestyle. These concepts I learned as a child have had a great impact on my young adult life and help me discover my passion and take the chance on my dreams.
As a look back, though the two families that raised me were drastically different they both taught me the importance of personal growth and success, family, and food. FOOD is so important to my family because that is a way for us to gather and bond. On top of that, both dads always had gardens in our house, and they planted a variety of edible, ornamental, and medicinal plants. The households I grew up in always had animals that were not only our pets but also our family. Having that connection to nature in the home served an important role in my life.
Fast forward to 2016, I graduated from Skidmore College (located in Saratoga Springs, NY) with a major Environmental Studies and primarily concentrating on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security. With this knowledge had this dream of implementing community garden to residents of San Diego and teaching people of where their food comes from. That dream sat dormant for 4 years. During these four years, I developed my skills in business through working with my parent’s property management company and integrating new processes, systems, properties, departments, and team members. While also working full-time with my parents, I also worked part-time with a start-up plant interior design company called Biozenic and waitressed at the Loving Hut, a vegan restaurant in North Park. Biozenic deepened my love for gardening and nature and fueled my dream to work closer with plants and integrate that into the property management.
Then comes 2020…the world drastically changed, mindsets changed, values changed, and I changed. Though the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted many lives, closed down businesses, changes the way we did business, especially in the food and housing industries. I found opportunity to adapt, grow myself, and get closer to nature. I found myself outside, exploring the many trails SD, and decided to make the transition from vegetarian to vegan. I also deepened my spiritual practice and even became a homeowner of a beautiful 4-unit building in Golden Hill. AND that’s when dormant dream began to sprout.
Owning my own multi-family building was an exciting accomplishment and opportunity to apply my property management skills, my artistic side, and my passion for agriculture and food. This 4 unit apartment community and my home, I saw as a blank canvas where I can finally have my vision become real. I started with painting the building with fun, bright, and inviting colors and adding in potted plants to make it look more inviting. Then I had to landscape the front…and boom that’s when I realized I can finally add in my community garden. The first year, I kept the garden simple, intensely gardening daily, and harvesting numerous amounts of fruit, veggies, and herbs. I had so much supply it was too much food for my residents and I to keep up with, so I would share with friend, families, and neighbors. The garden then went into another phase end of 2021, a phase to be more sustainable and self-sufficient. With the help of San Diego Edible Gardens, they helped me revamped the garden with drip irrigation, raised planter boxes, and fruit trees.
As 2022 rolls around, the garden is being revamped, and I’m also working on other property improvements…I’m thinking what’s next…I’m ready to build my own company, my own brand, and start having this dream blossom. That’s when I set my mind to start building Home Sweet San Diego. I love the housing/property management industry, I love San Diego, I love plant-based living, I love gardening and teaching people the benefits of plants, and Home Sweet San Diego is a product of these things I care about.
Home Sweet San Diego is in a developmental phase, or as I would like to say in its marketing and research phase. To put it in a nutshell HSSD is a boutique apartment community company promoting urban gardening and plant-based living while loving San Diego. In 2023 and the years to come, I’m looking forward to seeing my boutique apartment community portfolio grow, implementing more edible gardens, and making a positive impact in the city that raised me. Home Sweet San Diego is blossoming, and I can’t wait to see it be a fruitful tree.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Some challenges I’m currently facing:
-Inflation and the housing market. Prices and the cost of living have gone. up for everyone. For my vision to grow, I need my boutique apartment portfolio to grow. With property values, interests rates are a lot higher than the previous years, it makes the process to find the right residential property slower. I don’t want to be making a decision too quickly in this period of inflation that will create a financial burden long term.
-Changing laws for housing providers. The major changes I know have good intentions but it does affect small, up-and-coming housing providers. It will be a little more difficult for the new generation to succeed in providing quality rental housing when laws lean more to one side than finding harmony between both sides of the property management industry
-Veganism and the plant-based community are still the minority. Our community has grown its presence tremendously over the past 30 years, and it is amazing to see all the vegan restaurants, businesses, events, and alternatives in the grocery stores. There are still misunderstandings and I believe some fears about veganism; however, in a nutshell, we are group of people who have chosen to not only change our eating habits but also our lifestyle for all beings. Our key reason for choosing the vegan lifestyle is compassion, and that’s why we chose to eat and use products that do not exploit animals.
Luckily, these obstacles do not stop me from pursuing my vision. These challenges are necessary for HomeSweet San Diego’s growth and my personal growth as well, and I’m excited to take them on!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Home Sweet San Diego is a boutique apartment community company promoting urban gardening and plant-based living while loving and experiencing San Diego.
Currently, own and manage a 4-unit apartment complex in Golden Hill. It has two community gardens. Then I’m actively promoting the vegan lifestyle with educational content and also posting vegan events, businesses, and restaurants on Instagram. I also post about San Diego history, I believe it’s important to know the history of your city and why it is the way it is in our present day.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: homesweetsd
