Damarys Mora Crawford shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Damarys Mora , it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
Working with plants completely absorbs me. I can spend hours planting, repotting, or planning an interiorscape project without realizing time has passed. For me, it’s not just work, it’s grounding and my passion. It’s the reason I left corporate America. When I’m designing a green space or talking to a customer about plant care, it’s like I reconnect with why I started all this in the first place. It reminds me that beauty, growth, and resilience can all exist in the same space.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Damarys Crawford, the founder of Plant the Jungle, a boutique plant brand rooted in rare plant curation, biophilic design, and interiorscaping. My path here wasn’t linear. I began in the corporate world, working with global brands in beauty and fashion, and later joined one of the largest ornamental houseplant growers in the world, shifting from consumer packaged goods to live goods. I traveled extensively, absorbed countless perspectives, and learned how powerful branding can be, but something was missing.
I wasn’t motivated by title or money anymore. I was craving purpose. Burned out and disconnected from myself, I decided to follow my intuition and return to my roots, quite literally. I started an online plant shop and built a greenhouse with a partner, channeling all of my skills into something living, intentional, and regenerative.
When we last connected, I only had an online plant shop, today, our retail location sits inside Capsule on the Miami River at the River Landing Shops and Residences, and we’ve grown beyond retail into interiorscaping for both residential and commercial spaces. At the core of everything we do is a belief that plants are more than decor, they’re a way to reconnect with nature, with ourselves, and with each other. Through every installation, propagation, or conversation, we’re not just selling plants, we’re cultivating moments of beauty, healing, and connection.
We believe plants can transform spaces and people, and as we grow, we’re committed to giving back, especially to underserved communities that don’t always have access to green spaces. We love our retail location becuase it’s an evolving space and community. For us, this isn’t just a business, it’s a movement rooted in care.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
One of my earliest memories of feeling powerful was the day I graduated college. My mother was a teacher and also a college graduate, but I was the first in my family to graduate in the United States. As an immigrant, that moment carried deep emotional weight. It wasn’t just about the degree, it was about reclaiming something after loss.
We came to this country with nothing but the clothes on our backs. My father always told me, “Education is something no one can ever take from you.” That stayed with me. In a world where so much can be lost or taken, knowledge became my anchor and my power. Even now, as conversations shift around the value of higher education, I still see that degree as a symbol of resilience and possibility for marginalized communities.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me how to slow down and listen to my inner voice, something success rarely gives you time to do. When you’re chasing accolades or building a career based on external validation, it’s easy to ignore your deeper needs. But in moments of loss, burnout, or failure, you’re forced to confront who you really are without the titles, money, or recognition.
I’ve experienced financial loss, grief, betrayal, and burnout and yet, those moments revealed the depth of my resilience and realigned me with my values. I learned how to be resourceful, how to ask for help, and how to trust myself even when everything felt uncertain.
Success never asked me to dig that deep. Suffering did. And ironically, it’s what made my work more meaningful. I don’t just grow plants, I’ve grown through them.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
A cultural value I protect at all costs is being rooted in both resilience and community. As a Latina, I was raised in a culture where family isn’t just blood, it’s anyone who shows up for you, anyone you break bread with, anyone you care for. That value is infused into everything I do.
My business isn’t transactional. It’s personal. My customers have my cell phone, it’s on my website, on my Instagram, on my business cards. Whether you’ve bought from me or not, if you’re struggling with a plant and I can help, I will. That spirit of generosity, of wanting others to thrive, is something I inherited from my culture and I see it as a responsibility to protect it in a world that too often prioritizes profit over people.
At the same time, I carry the kind of resilience that’s quietly passed down through generations of immigrant families who’ve had to rebuild from scratch. We know how to grow things sometimes from nothing. And that’s what I’m doing here: cultivating beauty, healing, and connection through something as simple and profound as plants.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
I already have. Most of the time, you don’t get applause for doing the hard work of building something from scratch when you run a small business, especially as a woman, a mother, and a Latina entrepreneur.
But my best isn’t for show. It’s for the people who trust me with their spaces, their stories, and their plants. It’s for the little girl I was who dreamed big, and the daughter I’m raising to believe she can too.
Praise is nice, but purpose is better. And I’ll keep giving my best whether anyone notices or not.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.plantthejungle.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plantthejungle/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damarysmoracrawford/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kH1LRij3BU
