How Amor Collective uplifts Phoenix entrepreneurs ‘through the eyes of a Latina’

PHOENIX – The line was out the door with customers waiting to get a peek at Amor Collective’s season five during its grand opening last month in downtown Phoenix. 

From handmade jewelry inspired by Chicana culture and mole-flavored artisan bread to Pothos, Monsteras, ZZ plants and more little green gems to stock your home with, the shop located off North Central Avenue and Portland Street offers a glimpse into the diversity of Latinx entrepreneurship in the Valley.

For the people behind these products, the storefront offers more than a place to make a sale.

Founder Stephanie Vasquez said Amor Collective is a program within the nonprofit Empowering Latina Leaders in Arizona, or ELLA. Amor was created as a space to help Latina-owned businesses grow beyond pop-up markets and online storefronts while also providing them with mentorship, community, networking opportunities and business resources.

The effort began with a women’s market called Mujeres Mercado in 2016. As Vasquez watched vendors repeatedly load their businesses in and out of cars — and lose months of outdoor market opportunities during Arizona summers — she began thinking about how to help entrepreneurs transition from pop-ups to retail with less risk.

“Taking that step from pop-up to storefront — I mean, it’s a huge risk,” Vasquez said. “Failure rates are really high, so how could I mitigate the risk [and] give these businesses opportunities, resources and the support they need to succeed? And I opened up Amor Collective to do just that.”

For Jazmine Garcia, owner of Only Jazmine Cosmetics, joining the collective opened doors she struggled to find on her own.

Garcia started her cosmetics company four years ago after noticing a lack of Mexican cultural representation in the beauty industry. The self-funded business combines her interest in makeup with products inspired by her culture, from concha-inspired eyeshadow palettes to serape cosmetic bags.

She works a full-time job to fund the company, all while raising her daughter as a single mother. 

“I like to say that I share this business with my daughter,” Garcia said. “Showing her… [that] she could build a business… do anything she wants to do, basically without a man. That’s my goal.”

Garcia joined Amor Collective’s season four after hearing about it from a family friend and returned again for season five.

She said the program has connected her with other small-business owners while giving her access to resources ranging from financial education to social media guidance and professional photography opportunities. Amor’s monthly meetings have included guest speakers and workshops, including partnerships with U.S. Bank.

The visibility has also produced opportunities outside the store. Garcia said a representative from the Valley Suns basketball team discovered her business through Amor Collective and later invited her and several other businesses to sell products courtside during a Hispanic Heritage event.

“Having the space means a lot to me,” Garcia said. “It means community growth, opportunities and being able to network.”

Similarly, Alexa Rodriguez, owner of Tucson-based Adela Artisan, saw Amor Collective as a way to expand into Phoenix while staying connected to her business's cultural roots.

Rodriguez started the company in 2019 and named it after her grandmother. She sells clothing, accessories and other products handmade by artisans across Mexico, which she said has helped her reconnect with her culture after leaving Mexico at 16.

“It was a little hard to find places in Phoenix that I could feel like my business fit in,” Rodriguez said. “We do need to find a crowd that is going to value it and … identify it as part of the culture and I do feel that people there have been responding to it how I wanted.”

She said her experience as a participant in this season began well before the doors opened.

Participating businesses attended meetings, prepared merchandise and labels, engaged in a media day and worked together on their displays before opening. Rodriguez said the requirements prompted her to revisit parts of her seven-year-old business that had fallen behind, including updating labels and completing inventory.

“Having this commitment has helped me refresh all my duties as a business owner,” she said.

Rodriguez’s education in business management and prior job as a business coach helped her grow her company and she views Amor Collective as a hands-on extension of that.

“It’s like being part of a business coaching cohort,” she said. “Like being part of a class.”

Hundreds of businesses applied for season five, Vasquez said. Once selected, businesses spend a full year in the storefront, giving them a chance to track sales, expenses and customer demand while testing what running a retail business entails.

If entrepreneurs eventually decide to open a storefront, Vasquez said, “they’ve had the true experience” of running one.

The cultural focus is also central to Amor’s mission. Vasquez said her work grew from concern about economic disparities in entrepreneurship.

“I see the world through the eyes of a Latina and I understand the struggle firsthand,” she said.

Rodriguez said she watched some artisans stop producing traditional work as mass-produced goods compete for demand. Her products come from artisans in several Mexican states and some of the families she works with have practiced their crafts for generations. 

“I do think that them bringing traditional techniques with modern designs is a way of conserving those arts,” she said.

Amor is now in its second year in downtown Phoenix and its fourth year as a program, Vasquez said, having previously occupied a space in Park West in Peoria. Its newest location next to Fair Trade Cafe, which Vasquez also owns, brings additional foot traffic to the businesses inside the collective.

She said downtown Phoenix is particularly suited for the “innovative idea,” adding that “there’s nothing else in Arizona like” the kind of retail incubator space that Amor offers.

The program expects to begin promoting season six applications in late March. Those interested should already have a product and an online presence.

Vasquez said she ultimately hopes the program's impact extends beyond individual businesses.

“My ultimate goal for the business owners is that this experience changes the trajectory of their families, their livelihoods,” she said. “And for the community, I hope that it exemplifies what happens when we come together with a shared mission.”

Jamie Montoya is a Phoenix-based journalist and writer covering community, culture and accountability. She earned a master’s degree in investigative journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and has a background in investigative reporting and private investigation. Her work focuses on the people, communities and systems shaping Arizona.