As a child, Mili Cordero used to help plant flowers in her mother and grandmother's garden in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

"I can remember jasmines. I can remember gardenias, and I remember certain kinds of roses. They have different fragrances. That was what I was having around my house," she said. "The colors are what get my attention but the fragrance, I get into that also."

Since then, she's always kept flowers a part of her life. And in 2019, Miriam "Mili" Cordero started Mili's Flower Truck in Memphis, selling custom bouquets as a way to honor her childhood dream of owning a flower shop.

Cordero moved to the United States in 1999 in search of a stronger support system for her young son. She began working in custodial and child care roles before working in retail for 15 years. In the meantime, she was a floral hobbyist, arranging flowers for friends and family events.

When Cordero started the flower truck, she sold personalized bouquets at events like Trolley Night and Latin Fest.

"It's something I love to do. I love the colors, texture, progress and anything about flowers," she said. "They became my whole attention: to learn more, to know more about it, and I keep learning. So that has my whole interest."

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While some of the flowers she sells are native to different parts of the world — like tulips ranunculus from Europe and roses from Ecuador — she tries to find local sources of those flowers instead. "I use flowers that came from all around the world, but super local is very important for me because I am asking for the same thing. I'm asking for support for my local business instead of going to a big supermarket and getting flowers."

The growing pains of entrepreneurship came aplenty for Cordero when she was budding in the business, but what kept her motivated was seeing her customers get the same sense of joy she had when picking flowers from her family's garden back home.

"What kept me doing that is seeing the response of the people, their faces when they're building their bouquet," Cordero said.

As the truck grew more popular, Memphis weather hampered the open coach display of her converted Volkswagen bus.

"That is where we started: with a flower truck running around Memphis," she said. "The weather is unpredictable. It's windy, too hot, too cold. We decided last year to start looking for a space... so we tried in Crosstown [Concourse] thinking it would be a dream to be there."

Her dream came true, and now Crosstown Concourse has been home to Mili's Flowers and Gifts for six months. "We're happy to be there. We are happy to be part of the family of Crosstown."

Mili's Flowers and Gifts is a flower shop as much as it is a signal of Cordero's Mexican heritage. Patrons can build their own bouquets as well as shop for artesanias Mexicanas — Mexican handicrafts —like milagros, metal crosses, hand-spun traditional shirts and other accessories that showcase Latinx and immigrant pride.

"My culture is really important for me. Half of my store is flowers and the other half is me as Mexican," Cordero said. "... I can really show a how proud I am to be a Mexican and to be a Latina," she said.

'I got your back'

Her husband of six years, Carlos Villalpando spent a year converting one of the couple's four Volkswagen trucks and buses into Cordero's "flower power" dream.

The project was a fun and natural collaboration between the two — Villalpando, owner of 360 Wheel Repair, is a car guy. After owning and operating a wheel repair business for more than a decade, he's been helping Mili, a new entrepreneur, scale her business.

The pair are proud of the blooming businesses they're building.

"Chasing the American dream, as immigrants coming from another country to move here, to learn the language, to learn the system because it's a lot you know, we're not used to all of this other stuff," he said. "I support her, but I'm here more than anything to cheer her on."

He said he's excited at the steady growth her business has seen since it started a few years ago. This year, Cordero has already fulfilled her preorders for marigolds, fluffy gold flowers used during Dia de los Muertos to lead souls from their burial places to their families' homes.

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Originally from Mexico City, Villalpando comes from a family of entrepreneurs. His grandfather was the owner of a brick factory in the city, and when he was young, he started helping out with his family’s small business bread store that later grew into a bread factory.

Villalpando migrated to the U.S. when he was 16, and settled in Memphis when he was 25. Here, he worked different jobs "until wheels found me." He worked as a tire technician for the company, serving clients from a single stall, and within eight years leveled up to manage and eventually buy the business and neighboring building.

"I then knew that the next step was to open my own store," he said. Other than wheel repair, Villalpando has expanded the business to making cosmetic repairs, selling wheels and tires wholesale and installing them.

"I never dreamed at this size of operation. But now that it's altogether, I'll hire more people," he said. " ... Now we got 13 employees and we probably want to hire a few more. It is getting there."

Despite the challenges they face as individual business owners, the two make sure to support each other through the highs and lows.

"Some times are easier than others, and being entrepreneurs as a couple... it's not that easy because it's a lot," Villalpando said. "I mean, being a business owner, it's not just for everybody, you gotta have what it takes."

Astrid Kayembe covers South Memphis, Whitehaven and Westwood. She can be reached at astrid.kayembe@commercialappeal.com, (901) 304-7929 or on Twitter @astridkayembe_.

Mili's Flowers and Gifts

Where: 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 125, Memphis

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday

Instagram: @milisflowersandgifts

360 Wheel Repair

Where: 3565 Emerald St., Memphis

Hours: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday

Online: www.360wheelrepairmemphis.com

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Latinx-owned businesses: How Memphis couple built businesses together