Jennifer Hinostroza started working toward a horticulture career while she was a student at Cal Poly Pomona. She accidentally stumbled across this career path while taking a Horticulture Science class just for fun, and she loved it so much that she changed her major almost immediately. Her areas of emphasis were nursery management and horticulture therapy. She also became very involved in student organizations at Cal Poly, joining the horticulture club and volunteering her time at student events such as landscape shows, competitions, and fund raisers. She competed in three national collegiate horticulture competitions, where she placed first and third as an individual in various plant identification and basic horticultural knowledge competitions. 
 
Jennifer worked in the Retail Nursery industry for several years while she was going to school. She also worked in several different horticulture therapy programs. As part of the completion of her B.S. degree, she took an internship at the Disneyland Resort in the Horticulture Department, eventually working full time for the Resort. During her seven year tenure there, she had the opportunity to gain experience in many different positions, such as landscape maintenance, nursery operations, tree assessment and inventory, interior landscaping, purchasing, management, training and safety, documentation, and the creation of a landscape manual for the resort. She also became a Certified Arborist. 
 
In 2006, she began her current teaching career at Mt. SAC as a Professor of Horticulture.  Jennifer continues to be involved in professional organizations and student events to provide Mt. SAC students with some of the opportunities she had as a student.

In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys spending time with her husband and daughters, reading, watching movies, camping, and traveling.