Nayelli Valdemar was trying to balance life and work as a young mother when deciding last year to take a bold step in setting herself up as a 25-year-old entrepreneur.

At the time Valdemar was a retail manager in the floral department of an H-E-B store in Mission. Moving up in the large supermarket chain was a possibility, especially at her young age and the company’s track record of developing leaders, but she had bigger priorities. The primary one – by far – was her young son and the amount of time she was spending away from him at work and commuting the round trip daily from Mercedes-to-Mission.

“I needed to be a more present figure in my son’s life,’’ Valdemar said. “I’ve always had aspirations, (to be an entrepreneur), but more than anything I needed to spend more time with my son. That was the main motivation.’’

And so it was that Valdemar last September opened her Funky Flower Shop on north Vermont Avenue, just a minute or two from Expressway 83. It was important to the young entrepreneur to base the business in her hometown in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley.

“It was too good to be true to find this location,’’ Valdemar said. “It’s a strategic move to be here and being able to easily go anywhere in the RGV.’’

Gearing Up

It’s late January and Valdemar is gearing up for one of the two biggest seasons for florists.

February 14^th and Valentine’s Day will be here before she knows it. For now, Valdemar is “ a one-man shop,’’ as she puts it, making all of the floral arrangements and centerpieces while greeting customers for pickups when she’s not making free deliveries for customers living in the La Feria-to-Weslaco stretch of the Mid-Valley. Leading up to Valentine’s, she plans to work 6 a.m.-to-midnight, making time to take her son to school, and then having him by her side later in the day as she creates her floral arrangements.

“Even when I’m working, I can have him here with me,’’ Valdemar said.

It’s all part of what she calls “building something for yourself and not someone else.’’

The South Texas ISD Science Academy graduate speaks of how attending that school was “a great awakening,’’ challenging her to think and study and define her interests.

“I found out I was good at math, but I didn’t find a passion for it,’’ Valdemar said.

Setting A Path

She found her interests to be in art and photography.

Valdemar attended UTRGV and studied fine arts and graphic design. Those skills came into play when she started working at H-E-B, first at the company’s store in Port Isabel and then in Mission. It was at the latter store where she got the retail manager designation in overseeing the floral department. The job would give her a solid grounding on the various aspects of the business from working with customers, meeting their needs, and tracking inventory and making timely orders.

“Before I could start my own business,’’ Valdemar said, “I needed to determine what I’m very proficient at and be in a business I know inside out.’’

Reaching that level of proficiency when combined with the need for improved work/life balance led to her opening Funky Flower Shop in Mercedes last September. From there, it’s building her brand and making connections with customers via social media where her TikTok platform has 70,000-plus followers. Valdemar points to a Nebraska follower whose parents are Winter Texans and contacting Funky Flower to do a floral arrangement for her mother residing in the Valley.

“Social media is a very important tool to use in business today,’’ said Valdemar, who spends about an hour a day online, talking to her customers and building awareness about her small business.

And she’s proud and happy to be doing it all from Mercedes, where she lives and work.

“I was never going to go anywhere else,’’ Valdemar said. “I really like Mercedes. There’s so much potential here.’’

• Ric Cavazos