20220612-CAPITALSTYLEMAGAZINE-T-0 - Flipbook - Page 16
HIGHLIGHT
BY MICHA GREEN Capital Style
Carlos Melendez, 20, left, and Rodrigo “Rigo” Jimenez, 21, right, opened The Delicious Monstera, their small shop in Annapolis specializing in
house plants, in April. PHOTOS BY AMY DAVIS
Green thumb
From a plant obsession to a growing business for two Annapolis friends
Picture two best friends who live together, have
the same hobby, can practically finish each other’s
sentences, and are adventurous — that’s Rodrigo
Jimenez, 21, and Carlos Melendez, 20, co-founders of
The Delicious Monstera, a little Annapolis plant shop
that grew from a hobby to a moneymaking venture.
The best friends turned a pre-pandemic obsession
into a business that officially opened its doors on
March 22.
Melendez and Jimenez, who met as seniors at
Annapolis High School in 2019, began their obsession
with plants after becoming roommates.
“Our whole apartment was full of plants. We were
just getting all these plants,” said Jimenez. “It became
a hobby because we weren’t working either,” he added,
explaining they dreaded working for other people and
always wanted to be entrepreneurs.
The two didn’t immediately have a green thumb.
16 | SUMMER 2022 | capitalstylemag.com
Jimenez mists a Monstera plant, also known as the Swiss cheese plant. The
name of their West Street store comes from the Monstera deliciosa.