Opinion: Our picnics mirror the way Mexican families always make guests feel at home

Ortega is a civil engineer by day, and chingona by night. She lives in southeastern San Diego.

I have always loved planning and setting up events for my close friends and family. It is something that has always brought me happiness. That’s because I believe that acts of service are a great way to show people you care for how much you love them. I also just love getting together with friends and family and making events memorable.

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When I met my now-best friend, Andrea Lopez-Villafaña, during our second year of college at San Diego State University, I found someone who shared that same sentiment. We instantly clicked. We shared a similar passion and interest for hosting events. She loved planning birthday parties for her roommates and hosting theme-inspired events. And let me tell you, she was creative and good with “do it yourself” projects — even on a college budget. I loved helping her, and over the years, we talked about opening up an event planning business, even if it was just on the side. It was always just talk. We didn’t know if time would allow for our passions after we graduated, nor did we know where our careers would take us.

I was born and raised in southeastern San Diego. Family has always been important to me. So I’ve always known that this city is a place I would never leave. It’s my home. And because of my Mexican heritage, I was not ready to leave the nest anytime soon. After college, I got a full-time job as a field engineer for a local civil general contractor. My hours were long and hard. Being a Latina in a male-dominated world, it was difficult, but I knew I had to be tough to make a name for myself and voice a different point of view. As for my chica Andrea, she stayed in town working as a journalist, and is now a managing editor for a nonprofit news organization.

We were killing it in our field of work, but we still talked about starting a side gig. We wanted to let our creative party planning passion out.

When the pandemic hit, the world seemed to be put on pause, but not our worlds. Things still had to get built, and news still had to get written. It felt like we were busier than ever. Unlike many people, we were lucky enough to have stable jobs, but with the cost of living in San Diego, we often found ourselves worrying about making rent or about our ability to one day help provide for our families.

At that same time, we noticed small picnic businesses were blowing up in the area. Because people couldn’t gather indoors, some opted for outdoor events.

They were all beautiful setups with similar themes — often referred to as “boho.” Think whimsical, crocheted and white fluffy pillows.

We started talking again about our event planning business idea. Given that an event planning business would likely take up more time than a picnic gig, we decided to ditch that idea and go with picnics.

Since most of the picnic business had similar themes and setups, we wanted to do something different and close to our hearts. Andrea and I are both Mexican, and we love our heritage. We are proud of being Mexican. We knew early on that we wanted to offer themes and decorations that paid homage to the love of our beautiful Mexico. We wanted our decorations to honor the vibrant colors of many Mexican cities, pueblos and work by artisans — the ranch life of Mexico’s countryside. We wanted our picnics to reflect the loving culture of our people. We wanted the picnics to mirror the way Mexican families always make guests feel at home.

But, most importantly, we wanted to bring our heritage to life in a country that’s a melting pot of different cultures and ways of life.

That’s how Las Chicas Picnics was born. The business is a reflection of ourselves — even the name. Andrea and I have always called each other chica. Instead of “Hey, girl,” it would be “Hey, chica! Como estas?! Let’s hang out!”

So we thought it would be a good name, because our motto is we are going to be your chicas, ready to host your next picnic.

This side gig wasn’t entirely motivated by the need to make extra cash, but rather to follow a passion and create a space that feels inviting for other chicas who want to have a fun picnic with friends but don’t see themselves reflected in what’s available.

It hasn’t been easy, though. We don’t have family members to model after, so as we try to find time to schedule Instagram posts, buy materials and more, we’ve leaned on each other, our significant others and family. We hope this is something people connect with, as much as we have, and hopefully it will take off and perhaps become bigger. But for now, in true chingona fashion, we build and write during the week, and host picnics on the weekends.