Inspiring Conversations with Lulu Tineo of Yolia Botánica

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lulu Tineo.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Wow! This made me reflect and go back in time. I hope you’re ready for a very long story haha! I think to better understand my journey, we have to go back to 2018, when I think the major events happened that propelled me to be here today. I was extremely depressed, I had been suffering from postpartum depression since the birth of my son in 2016, but I wasn’t fully aware of my situation due to lack of medical access. That year was really hard for me, I had suffered a mental breakdown and had become suicidal that summer. It was really difficult to exist. I had also been battling an immigration process for 5 years and I was at a point in my legalization where I had very little to no hope. I was born and raised in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico, we moved to the USA in 2003 and I had been “undocumented” for almost 16 years. Getting my legalization was extremely important and in many ways vital to my survival. But I received a rejection letter stating that I was denied and it absolutely crushed me. I was tired of living in fear and living in the shadows. I spent months angry and upset that I wasn’t approved for something I felt I truly earned and deserved. This was when I realized I had defined my worth by a piece of paper, I let a social security card measure how much I was worth to myself and I understood then, that I would always be worthless so long as I kept giving myself value by the things that the system wasn’t giving me.

I had always been a creative person, and on October 1, 2018, I said I would start my own business one way or another, and prove to myself I was worthy and could contribute to my community. I struggled a lot with self-victimization and self-limiting behavior. I was the queen of self-sabotage. Even when everyone else could see “wonderful potential” in me, all I could see was what I was lacking. I had been working at the Gem Show for a few years and had met some cool people from around the world, I quickly became amazed at the world of gems and minerals and began learning how to incorporate crystals into my life with the belief in energy. I have also always loved plants, and it felt so natural to express my creativity by making herbal bundles and tying crystals to them. I had taken a herbalism class with a local shop called The Ninth House and the plant Creosote was brought up, I had never heard it being called by that name before so it was new to me at that time but I quickly realized they were talking about the plant I knew as Hediondilla that I had grown up with and grew to love more and more as I deepened my research on it here in the states. I fell in love with creosote in a new way that helped me see how important ancestral and indigenous knowledge is, if I hadn’t been taught by my aunts and grandparents about it I would’ve never known.

And so I began using creosote to make herbal wands with different herbs that could target different energetic needs.

Along this journey, I became aware of an issue regarding a plant we know as White Sage, and the behavior of our collective really bothered me. White sage is known for its energetic cleansing uses, and it has gained so much popularity that it has become depleted in many areas of its native growing region.

Indigenous tribes in Northern Baja California & Southern California (Tongva & Chumash) are pleading we stop using this plant, and I set out on a journey to find new alternatives we could use that we could connect with so we could let this plant heal. I now have 5 different alternatives that I hand wrap with accents of different aromatic flowers, including lavender which comes from our local Oracle farm. Earlier in 2022 I took a DNA test and found out I am nearly 40% indigenous, and this confirmed what I had been feeling all my life, I had always felt the need to make a difference and always wondered how upon finding myself through my roots I found my calling and it’s what I’m working very hard to achieve. I want to help my community heal in its entirety, mind body, and soul, I don’t want to replace anything, I want to be an addition. I want to help connect people, who like me, felt without an identity or without roots. It weighs heavy on my mind how many people have lost their sense of self and are carrying the guilt of losing their culture. I want to bridge that and also educate people on safe and respectful ways to participate in different cultures. I am so honored that my community seeks me and wants to hear more from me. I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me, I’ve come so far! I never thought I’d be here today, it’s truly amazing to see my progress.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
No way!!!! I have to make a list because it’s truly difficult to express.

Summer of 2018 I was suicidal and had a mental breakdown
Fall of 2018 I was rejected for my immigration process
Spring of 2019 we lost a baby we very much loved and planned
Fall of 2020 my husband was in a motorcycle accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury after I had just had an emergency c-section with our rainbow baby.

It has not been a pretty road, not for me or my family. My mental health was a big issue and I never prioritized it until I had nothing else to lose. It’s so important to encourage our family members who are struggling, support is so crucial to someone battling mental health issues, please don’t give up on your loved ones. My miscarriage left me scarred by our medical system when everyone rejected me and wouldn’t help me after I lost my baby. My husband’s accident almost broke me, emotionally and spiritually I was spent. I had to keep myself together as he battled severe trauma that lasted over a year. It was very heartbreaking to see how my family was suffering as a whole. It’s amazing to see us now, we overcame and are doing great!

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I make spiritual tools for modern witches of all levels! It’s an apothecary with Mexican roots. We are energetic bodies, and sometimes it needs to be cleared or revitalized! My specialty is making “limpias” or cleansings, specifically for heavy and negative energies. I take pride in my heritage and I love to reflect it in what I create.

One of my favorite things to make is my creosote bath salt, and Tlaloc limpia mist, which I’ve been told by many is the smell of desert rain. I want readers to know that life is a staircase, we have many steps to climb and sometimes we’ll lose footing and go down a bit, but as long as we hold on and keep the will to fight we will continue moving up! When anyone supports me and my business they support a person who has lost the will to fight many times but never gave up, I provide for my family with my business and currently have 3 part-time employees. Yay!

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Playing with bugs in my Abuelita’s yard, making mud pies, and running down the streets during the rain!

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.yoliabotanica.com
• Instagram: @Yoliabotanica

Image Credits
Andrea Cristina Photography