What you’ll hear in this episode

• A woman on a mission
• Growing a socially conscious business
• Receiving prompts from the universe

There is nothing more powerful than a woman on a mission. Jessica Honegger, founder and CEO of Noonday Collection, author of Imperfect Courage, and mother of three, embodies that saying perfectly. Honegger had no plans of starting Noonday but felt as if her life had been leading her there all along. The entrepreneurial spirit and a love for helping others had always been with her, so she and her husband decided to use their time to create more opportunities for vulnerable people. This led them to the expensive process of international adoption, but when the real estate market collapsed in 2008 they had to find a way to pay the adoption fees associated with bringing their son Jack home.

On a previous trip to Africa, Honegger was introduced to local artisans needing access to a market place. A friend had suggested that she be the person to create the marketplace for them, and though she was hesitant, she realized it would allow her to both do good in the world and raise funds to bring Jack home. Still having doubts, Honegger hosted women in her home to sell the products, which paid off as the women wanted to use their purchasing power for good while supporting Honegger and the adoption.

Despite the success, Honegger experienced hurdles along the way just like all founders do, but from that first Tupperware-esque party grew Noonday Collection. What Noonday is, is a socially conscious fashion brand that partners with artisans in some of the world’s most vulnerable places to help support and build their communities. It also empowers women to become storytellers and social entrepreneurs by giving them the ability to become Ambassadors and sell Noonday Collection through their own Ambassador Business.

Noonday is one of the fastest-growing businesses in the United States and was put on Ink’s Fastest Growing Company in the Nation list. There was a point when growth stalled, and Honegger began doubting herself and the business, but pushed through and persevered for the sake of all those the company was supporting. She wanted to “commit to them not just for when things were looking good… but for the long haul.”

Something Honegger mentioned in her book and discussed on the podcast was the “sisterhood effect.” The sisterhood effect is all about collaboration and asking for help, which is what Honegger stated was moving herself and Noonday forward. To hear more about the amazing work done by Jessica Honegger and the Noonday team, tune in to the third installment of View from Venus. If you enjoyed this podcast all about female entrepreneurs and founders please share the episode with friends and family.

View from Venus is a founding_media podcast created in collaboration with foundingAUSTIN.

Host: Deborah Hamilton-Lynne

Guest: Jessica Honegger

Find Jessica Honegger on Instagram and Twitter

 

Transcript:

this is a founding media podcast if this podcast episode is brought to you by our friends at diverse legal they were helpful as we started founding media and the podcast network with a focus on utilizing technology to better deliver IP and business law services to founders startups and emerging growth companies diverse legal has been changing the way law is practiced since two thousand four diverse legals latest offering traversed GEC provides a monthly fixed fee fractional general counsel offering to companies learn more by visiting traverse legal dot com

welcome to view from Venus podcast I’m your host ever Hamilton Lin Jessica Honaker is the founder and CEO of the socially conscious fashion collection noonday collection she is also the author of imperfect courage she’s helped many women put their fears on the sideline and move forward to live courageously I’ll let her tell you more here’s my conversation with Jessica Honaker

time they were able to live and you are listening to view from Venus which is a podcast about female founders and I’m so happy to have my friend just got hunger with mewe have known each other for a long time and she is great for this podcast because she’s all about empowering women welcome thank you somewhere especially here she is the founder of the noonday collection and has a new book out in perfect courage so we’re gonna talk about that today yes so let’s start with your entrepreneurial journey which briefly you’ve always had that in your blood I have a father and you started at a very young age to an entrepreneurial side I said my parents tell me that I used to go pick flowers from his neighbor’s house and then come home Tyler Bonin and then go sell them back to my neighbor sal I’ve always been kind of selling things to people and starting things

how funny and so when you when you started name die kind of as I would call it serendipity really it was a movie you know but it was something that you felt like you’d been leading to all your life looking back looking back you know I makes a lot more sense in retrospect as anything you met your husband dodoing was about hunger J. for the hungry redevelopment work yeah so you’re always done things with the mission and of course noonday is to not only help the artisans but also to help the women that work for you as ambassadors that’s right hand as far as a circle when with your travels for your purpose driven travels you met a couple in you gonna get on gab that introduce you to your first artisan Jack only a little bit about kind of how the whole thing transpired and he was also related to the adoption of your son Jack

yes his journeyto streaming you just really nailed a lot of the details and you can get a little confusing so yeah my husband and I met while we were working overseas for an organization called food for the hungry and we were doing development work I was actually teaching and a very rural area and Guatemala ash and while there we really our eyes were so open to what could be sustainable solutions to poverty and what we noticed is that the people that we saw really emerge from poverty where there was natural sort of an entrepreneurial spirit does that work and what a good observation that’s so true yeah so it wasn’t just the woman he was weaving her own traditional top called the repeal that she was also needing to sell in the market place or if they were just growing enough corn for their family but they had built a silo to store and sell during a hard season and we came back from that time we we got married we ended up going into real estate I am doing a whole bunch of random things but always in our heart without me and he wanted to use our lives to create opportunity for more vulnerable people and that is what leads to adoption we had two biological children and decided to adopt to bring our third child and her family and I think a lot of that came from not only the fact that I had been pound child that I had at home that will send you running to adoption but also this idea that you know are happy we have room enough in our house for a child that doesn’t have a family and said that let us on this adoption journey which we’ve landed on international adoption and we decided to adopt through a long amazing circumstance M. at road farmer wind as where we ended up adopting friend international adoption is very expensive and we were wild halfway through our Dodge journey we had started the paperwork we already knew that there is this little guy for us waiting for us in Rwanda ash when the real estate market crashed and that my husband I thought we had a nice little mistake that we were using in order to pay for all of this paperwork and all of all of these things and sadly that unless it was at pains groceries so we knew we needed to do something in order to get our son Jack Conley and I had met some friends as you mentioned on it trip previously Africa human connected me with some artists sense and they suggest car we’ve got these days very talented couple all the needed that is access to market place why don’t you sell their goods and create you know a market place for them and I I kind of rolled my eyes I was gonna say you were a little bit uncertain I was saying this when he was in the market I just thought I’m doing a lot right now nap time but I can’t warm my plate and I kind of just shrugged them off a little bit and then fast forward and courage cornered me and suddenly I am recalling the conversation and I’m thinking well I can’t sell these things in order to and raise money to bring Jack house so I called them and they actually said yes to the staff is still available I dusted off an invited a bunch of women into my house and even though I was completely afraid I was going to happen and then I was completely insecure about what they were going to think about me when they did because it I was looking looking pretty desperate woman came and they showed up and they wanted to use their purchasing power for good they wanted to connect with Johnny and Daniel they also wanted to help bring it and Jack come into our family and so I really credit one manis the reason why I need to exist to this day because one mentioned that for me that night there is a necklace that sold out that everybody wanted and women settle all of my other than my hand can you do this again and that’s really how the whole journey began as because the woman decided you know what my presence matters my purchasing power matters on the shot for Jessica and now eight years later it’s all you Daniel now employed one hundred full time artist sends three hundred contract when

you say them really you didn’t know it at the time I about desperate right I mean I was in my own desperate financial place they were you know actually in a mass obviously more desperate place they didn’t have a home and they were able to even put meals on the table and I think we saved each other you know and in so many ways it’s because of them that I have a son Jack who is amazing and has completed our family and you know it in yes because of our market place they’ve been able to rise out of poverty so it really has been holding hands together

and it was organic but it was not without its hurdles island in the book where you talk about cloning your grandmother’s jewelry yes that has done that to I didn’t pull that I actually sold itso talking about wiser the hurdles that she faced but you know that nine hundred dollars yeah noonday going you know that you did how did you believe in noonday enough to do that you knowI was a woman on a mission and I think that when you find that thing that you care about more than anything else you begin to care about your cares you begin to Stewart those things that you care about and for me it really was born out of this and we have a sign in into whatwhat is a long queue for children anything everything right we do whatever it takes in order to care for our kids and even though we had met this little guyactually knew him or even seen a photo of him and he was he was pregnant I was pregnant away right so I was going to do whatever it took so that was definitely the indigent original additional drive them along the way Charlie and Daniel they start hiring people because they don’t need it anymore than their their hands therefore hands they need to hire more people and so then suddenly they’re telling me we just we just might describe Kenya he’s been homeless is a lively group and more finance and he’s got a real town we just hired him well then suddenly the Kenya’s future is now linked to mine and so I think when you begin to lean your success with other people’s the stakes get higher and it’s not easy to quit on right yeah yeah you don’t you don’t quit on other people and I think that is really what has enabled me to this day to continue to drive for grass to to drive past all of the challenges that come from you know it starting a company is one thing in some ways I’m a starter our computers are starters were not often finishers so for me the challenge has been to stick with this and you know to take the long view and to really understand that and there are so many more people in the world that we want to create opportunity for their so many women here in America we have around two thousand passengers now but why cannot the tent house you know why not this it creates an income opportunity for women while it connects them to that care and that purpose and there’s you know I think there’s a million people in Austin so why would we not you know really once you dominate the market place in in this area

we’ll talk to me a little bit about your gross because you’re one of the fastest growing companies in the United States have gotten he won lots of awards and I’m so proud of you yeah because you’ve really grown even since we first talked well yeah we have we have grown a lot and in fact you know I look back we we got so much press the year that that you and I know that and that is the year that we made and the Kinks forty fifth fastest growing company in the nation we did go through a time where our growth has stalled a little bit and we were actually still growling back because we have not predicted well how much we would grow we got ourselves into an inventory behind and then our cash was tied up in inventory which is a huge no no for businesses that’s that’s the number one thing that puts businesses under its act Cass problems so thankfully at that point were stable enough is a business to get a line of credit from a bank and we begin to use that line of credit to pre order products from artisan partners because we don’t just want to stop ordering even that we clearly didn’t need any I think at one point I could close and near kinds of our necklaces and that was a real pivotal point for me like I I said learning how to stick with it because during that time I thought okay was this just like a one hit wonder for a few years and you know that’s when I I realize you know what now we have linked arms with people and you know that the stresses that my friends and artisan partners get through these vulnerable communities really you know pales in comparison to some of the stress as we go through here and so I wanted to match their tenacity I wanted to match their perseverance andI wanted to commit to them not just for when things were looking good at maintaining magazine but you know for the long haul andyeah now we have around sixty employees and probably what I’m most proud of right now is you know I am proud of many things but our new day team is in such a great spot we have such strong executive team and directors in place and you know at one point we’re just kind of as a giant growing and need bad building the plane while it’s flying and I think we’ve been able to kind of stop and and really be intentional about how you grow and make sure that our foundation is in place because we really want to kind of take that growth again and we actually are we had our biggest month ever as investors joining and recently a couple months ago

yeah that’s great well that’s one thing that has come into play so one thing that makes you different yes you have now solidified your idea of the ambassador program and how it works and how it works for women so talk to me a little bit about why you chose to go that route first of all and how it how it works as far as empowering women and you connect your ambassadors with your arms again I think is so so important excel power they have a personal connection to the product they surely DO hand we live with and firm passengers that are top sellers and our top leaders in our organization and they actually get to be rewarded with the opportunity to travel to UgandaEcuador Guatemala ash for Haiti and we actually go and we have a great time and they get to meet these people that are their partners really in their business and said that is one of our big gas Spanish you know we are a storytelling brands and our products tell a story and you know our products have soul and when you put on a pair of earrings or whatever necklaces I I truly believe that you feel connected to the hands behind this he says and it’s really hard to be a storytelling brand sitting on a shelf in the store and so we really empower women to be the storytellers behind the brand to be the advocates I think I would be making fun of the trunk shots especially for someone like you did you are stories howbegan and okay so yeah it is and it really is fine and I think you know there are so many direct sales businesses and I mean it’s been around since I think it was probably at first but we really are the first and the leader in being a storytelling brand in the direct cell space we are the largest in the fair trade space for the largest accessories brand in the world and I’m in the fashion space we really are one of the pioneers it’s saying let’s peel back a little bit and look at he’s making our products

so you talk about in your book you talk about tropes from the universe and I have a feeling it was a prompt from the universe that led you to write the books such tell me why the props from the universe was that when you write the book so I appreciate that you would think that I do consider myself a spiritual person I honestly and the book I wish I could tell you I had this like burning fire in my soul I’ve always wanted to just write and relieve you know let the story outI really approached a little bit worse for Mr teaching perspective I think there’s something very important about a book books have changed my life I went there several years feeling very alone in my entrepreneurial journey especially as a working mom and she was people like Sheryl Sandberg and Bernie brown and Tina fey he really walked with me three of those years andwhen I stood back and thought about how much books and then text me I thought you know there’s got to be someone who could be helping you sharing this story and from a brand perspective I mean right now our books and cosco’s all over Austin and and I say our books because I actually need a owns the book it’s actually completely on my name tag and it really is like a brand and it should have been my Angelo has as close as as I come as one I stand is ten thousand and I I might be the name on the cover but it’s really the thousands of women who’ve been a part of this story the man my business partner and he really just brought this whole story to life I just feel like I’m the steward of stories and this book was justat really an instrument for me to get to share my story and the stories of our ambassadors artists and and and the home office team and so it was a with a lot of trepidation that I wrote it because it really wasn’t just it wasn’t just about me it really was and group effort and I’m really representing a brand and it’s been awesome for the brands you know people discovered the day now through the book

well not just that I think besides the story I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit I should hold the sun you friend thank you little places where all right absolutely right last name looks like a spider and so that’s the only story I think it’s very inspiring and I yeah anyone who thinks they might want to be an entrepreneur because you give you give advice but you goadvice in a way that they could apply it to a different office absolutely absolutely this I did not want this book to be a like new day sales piece and you know and it’s not it’s not I’m very I’m very proud about that and yeah I really share a lot of vulnerable stories vulnerability and empathy are some of the key and themes and the box and I talk a lot about what does it look like to go together on how we as women it needs you and really embrace each other’s success to her success doesn’t take away from our success in fact when we go together we actually just elevate the dignity and worth of women around the world and so you’re right thank you for thank you for calling all it definitely is a book that I am proud of and I poured my heart and soul into it absolutely

so we’re gonna have a Rorschach test okay I’m gonna read you some quotes on some little pieces of the book and then whatever you think you tell me here are your first reaction K. one of the things that I loved issue say take a risk act boldly on behalf of something that you prize gap and that was when you were talking about stepping up in front of the judge that’s right when you are dropping your son that’s right which I have photographic evidence that I had to confront a judge that was over seven feet tall in remarks to and that that carries a woman as a woman yeah that was that took some boldness rhyming for perfection don’t do it yeah you know I ironically I never identified as a perfectionist I thought perfectionist really clean homes and were really skinny and cooked all organic meals and all of these things but what I realized is I I think so much of what might have kept me from growing new day maybe even starting at one point is this idea that one had to project one hundred percent success before I would actually lean in and that’s that’s perfection is take thinking and I think that’s often when I see paralyzes woman is this idea that we think we have to be one hundred percent adequate one hundred percent resource to one hundred percentwhatever it might be the right degree or whatever before we can actually move and so really this masters is that is that story going scared that you know you can be afraid you could be full of self doubt and you can go anyway so we tried to run next week which we both are fans of Renee Brownlee both garam wellso you said vulnerability has magic and the magic is in the power sharing your story yes I think that one of the bravest things we can do and my story is all about and perfect courage and and sometimes one of the greatest things we can do is just to stop and feel our feelings and be brave enough to say them out loud and I think when we can say them out loud and truly an authentic way not armoring up night adding R. and little you know details that are trying to fake it till you make it and then we can do that with someone else it’s a soft place to land and were received with empathy then I believe that’s really where homeless can begin to happen Finn healing because a lot of the stories that we talk about especially with some of the people that you’ve worked with in Africarequire great courage I think Norberg was set as Niasse told you a story that he never told anyone else about his entire family being killed in Rwanda and I did and he was there when that happened he was actually hiding in a tree and he hurt his entire family and get killed god during the genocide and yeah he’s a dear friend and I am I carried his story was so muchtenderness and you know his wife told me years later after he began to share and learn ability and finally open hat and his wife’s I just I had to come here because Norbert has changed she’s a different person since he began to share his story and that’s what I thought wow there is this is evidence that when we show up and we share and we have a soft place to land that we can’t begin to integrate and become whole and healed people and

so I think some of the things that this is not it’s just not in the book but you know I’ve talked about this before and I saw it when I went it kind of gave me chills when I went through the warehouse and so picked up the different gas scarves and pieces of jewelry those women tell their stories through their jury first and every other products first and then I think I recall trusting and vulnerable enough to be able to tell you what the real story is I like that you know and I do think there’s something about and physicality like even I went spinning this morning and I’ve been on the road and I have the regular price or size and I cried at the end of which is supercommented my spin class and and I think it’s because I think that there’s something about like we hold our emotions and our body and so when we’re able to kind of move in and do these things and sometimes that brings out those emotions I love that he made that connection because you know a lot of times when I visit our artisans and they’re sitting there just making and they’re talking and it’s just like small communities of healing in places where women have gone through incredible ice and persevered in order to get to where they are and

I love I love the things that they come up with and that leads to one of the things you talk about in the book is the sisterhood effect yeah and building on collaboration expected it takes it does take a village of the nobody can do this on their own yes it’s century when I think often times and we have a hard time asking for help and that we have a hard time putting our I was out there were so afraid of rejection I think we’re still stuck at the sixth grade lunch table in our heads a little bit and yeah I am I find that you just you can’t be vulnerable so if you you know are inspired by this idea of liability which obviously I think Bernie brown has me that a very popular I. DS the very nature of liability is that involves other people it involves leaning and it involves ending I mean what you perceive to be a witness says in order to justlet your story be now and let that be received and soI just think that you know and there’s this African proverb and I don’t know why it didn’t make it into the book but it says if you want to go fast go alone and if you want to go far go together and we really are about going far and that might mean that listing has we grow fast and sometimes we grow slow but we’re doing it together and you know we want to go far in creating opportunity for women and for these people that are living at the looking these around the world and that means taking the long view it means for me as sort of a starter take the bull by the horns entrepreneur it’s mean what does it mean for me to now grow leadership blanks and really lead this company into the future

well in speaking of the future one of the things you talk about is change the world by widening your circle of acceptance and compassion developing new world view and you can make a difference yeah I think that you know it’s it’s it’s interesting you right we drive around neighborhoods and you usually see the same political sign every single yard and you usually go to the grocery store it’s true in this election I understand I know I I understand absolutelybut I think the issue is be a silent ourself and we don’t often have conversations with people that differ from eyes that look differently from us that built differently from as the lead differently from us and you know I think that’s where we start inflating our lives we we live lives of boredom and spiritual death and so widening our circle of compassion really means proximity yourself to people that that are different than you and M. engaging in those conversations engaging this relationship and I think that’s what really can be developed as empty vessels and you know we’re such a proponent of life be vulnerable on your story but it’s like people don’t have a soft place to land and only where they have soft instantly and it’s as we become more empathetic people only become more empathetic by widening our circles of compassion

that’s why I love to you know Kristin okay should remember her last name that did the turquoise table yeah yeah she she and I have very similar at feelings around right she’s great and I love that I think that’s a really good thing okay last question we have not discussed this is is the place that your faith plays in this and I love this quote in fact I wrote it down and I put a lot of that I I don’t do calligraphy but I do have better handwriting sometimes so the place guy because she was too that is true is the place I’m gonna say this again because it’s got it’s too good not to say it right the place god calls you to is the place when you’re deep gladness and the world’s hunger meets yes I think that you know those things that make our hearts tender patter and you know as little kids are her would tear pattern get excited we we just can’t do that then as adults we become paralyzed by perfectionism or by being too concerned about the outcome and you know I believe we’re all called to build a flourishing world be all can do something now I hate it that someone to compare their stories to mine likeI have to go start and you know social fashion brand in order to change the world now no I think that the world make it a change when you just engage with at the checkout line with your the person who’s checking you out at target you know and really begin to just stop and see people and really see life from their perspective andI think that you’ve been giving guests in order to help create opportunity for other people

well it was funny yesterday we were told that that community first of first community I remember thevillage for the homeless yesterday and John Paul was talking about talking to a woman and she was a homeless children homeless previously she was a been there for two years and she said you know you give so much because he was there to make another million six donation and she saidI don’t really have anything to give it he said you’re wrong he said you gave me something important today and she said what status of when I walked up you smiled after I realized that there was so sweet you know sells it so try something they can we all have something again and I think often times when we focus on what we don’t havewe focus on what other people have we actually missed what we have and we have so much each one of us no one is excuse that we’ve each been given so much we need to spend the night and ice I say this we’ve been created in the image of our creator and that god and we have something to bring to bear on on this earth one of the Q. five has inspired you to keep going with this as well you know not only just started but to keep going I think because I know it hasn’t all been Wally pops and rose has a knife thank you so much I have three all right and I’m so proud of you thank you keep going thank you I well I well with each year in the I’m

thank you Jessica for sharing your story with us if you enjoy listening to Jessica you can hear more from her on her podcast going scared we’ll put a link to her podcast in the show notes the view from Venus team includes me ever Hamilton land producer Mariah Gosset an audio engineer Jack Wallace thank you everyone it found the media for your support view from Venus is available at iTunes Spotify stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts thanks for listening