Meet Jessica Niello- White | Founder of honeyhoney.co
We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessica Niello- White and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Jessica, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
Yes, I found this message in a fortune cookie years ago:
‘Act as if it were Impossible to fail.’
At the time, this fortune was dazzling. What would I do if I knew I would succeed? It reads like a sort of spell; it makes me feel brave and imaginative. It’s dizzying, the possibilities of what I would do if it was impossible to fail!
Now looking back through the lens of someone who has experienced failure, even with this charmed piece of paper around, I feel bittersweet about it. Really it’s so typical of the universe, understanding and living with a seeming duality. There are two different ideas here that are at odds with each other, because to me at this moment, it’s still true. And it also isn’t.
When I first read this encouraging fortune I understood it as: be brave in what you attempt because you will succeed.
But now, after time has passed, I read this fortune like this: you may fail again and again, and yes, it hurts. But don’t give up. You still have to be brave. Don’t give up on your dreams, believe in them. Do your best, and at the very least you’ll always have that. This rings true for me now, after experiencing failure: I cherish that at the very least I did my best, took risks and was brave in following my dreams.
Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My business, Honeyhoney.co, has been going on three years now. It’s an online shop and has been like a second child to me, giving it lots of care and attention as it slowly grows and changes. There have been successes like a mention in the New York Times wirecutter magazine, which is a longtime dream of mine come true.
https://www.nytimes.com/
But I knew I needed more. Over the past six months or so, I’ve been shifting to creative workshops and downsizing to a smaller online shop with more unique pieces and more art. This feels like a return to myself, since I’m a painter, teacher and lover of antiques and flea markets. I love hunting for a treasure and learning it’s story. This move reflects who I am in a whole new way.
When I first started the biz, I had imagined an online shop that sold beautiful products with a journal that talked about the history and stories behind these products. After a year, I realized it wasn’t enough; curating wholesale products didn’t feed my soul and I knew things had to change.
It may be that what I’m most excited about is acknowledging failure and then having the ability to change. Failure was a really scary word for me, and for so long I avoided it at all costs, even the cost of my wellbeing and happiness.
Actually, let me reframe this: with my business I was brave, worked hard, and it didn’t work. (like I said, I wasn’t fulfilled by the work; it felt like a grind, and ultimately, it wasn’t financially sustainable.) After a long low and some soul searching, I feel a spark of hope and creativity again. This time around I’m reflecting on the lessons I’ve learned and feel ready to build on. One lesson is to be unafraid of expressing myself, because the audience I want to connect with feels similarly. They want the real stuff.
For example, I wrote this short creative piece a couple weeks ago about being a mother and an artist that felt so freeing. here’s the link: https://www.fivethings.net/
This piece opened me up to new possibilities about what I want to write and even what I allow myself to write about and explore publicly. For example, I felt for a long time that the word “mother” was kind of off limits, and now I’m pretty shameless about it. After all, I am a mother! And an artist and a business owner and a complex, creative human.
That’s why the workshops resonate with me: they’re all about expression and connecting. I’ve been collaborating with other artists and teachers like Rachel Corry and Kate Sweeney, a writer and musician. We recorded a podcast to dive into the creative process and being a mother, and it was incredibly empowering for both of us. And really fun!
Here’s the interview:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/
The future feels full of possibilities for connection and creativity through the container of the business, Honey Honey. My near future goals are creating more art, more writing and a radio interview on NPR. I’d love to have more opportunities to talk about the things we cover on this podcast: cultivating a creative practice, making art and being true to ourselves.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This last weekend we drove out to the De Young Museum in San Francisco to see the Kehinde Wiley show, the artist who painted Obama’s portrait. The paintings and sculptures were incredibly dramatic, larger than life, and so luminous. It felt like this body of work is changing history, or even attempting to rewrite history.
The rest of the day revolved around the show: we went on the Ferris wheel right outside the Deyoung museum and then drove over to Palm City wines for sandwiches. My dream day in the city would probably be in the outer sunset of San Francisco and look like this:
I’d start with a snowy plover at Andytown coffee (my favorite coffee drink of all time, read more here)
https://thebolditalic.com/the-
then a walk on ocean beach, pop into General Store to look at beautiful clothes and housewares, Day Moon bakery for a snack, then this painting show at the De Young. It’s all surprisingly close and in a part of San Francisco that’s full of trees and beaches, it feels sort of wild and verdant and full of little gems to discover.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I couldn’t have built my business without the support of my family and my husband, Sam White. He is just as much of a creative dreamer as I am and we support each other in our wild endeavors, come what may.
Website: https://honeyhoney.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honeyhoney_co_/
Image Credits
Most photos taken by myself except the image of me teaching in a blue apron, this was taken by Clara Rice.
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