In this episode, I talk with socially-minded small business entrepreneur Jessica Brand. We talk about what types of philanthropic values she incorporates into her businesses. And, what she feels the world needs more of. Hint: Love…”brotherly love”. Tune in to hear her advice on creating a socially-conscious small business, which she has done over a handful of times!

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Guest Info

Jessica Brand is a multi-passionate entrepreneur who’s run her own graphic and web design business for 15 years, launched a natural skincare company in 2020, started a cookbook club, and has hosted hundreds of community events bringing people together around good food and unique experiences. Her passion is to bring people together and to bring more beauty into the world.

Show Notes

Visit her business websites: A CookBook Club and Tasteful Skin. Follow Jessica on Instagram and Tasteful Skin on: Instagram and Facebook.

Learn more about the Rosetto Effect.

Here is the story of the 90 year old woman who wrote a letter to a stranger.

Her parting advice for listeners is:

• Analysis paralysis is a real thing. Overthinking can prevent you from taking action. Jump in blind, get started as soon as possible, and learn as you go. Action creates movement and momentum. Harness that energy early on and learn as you go.
  
• Barter whenever you can. If your budget is tight, look for ways to exchange goods or services with others. Just be sure to clearly communicate when you wish to stop bartering.
  
• Stop comparing your journey or your results to someone else’s. The quote, “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.” couldn’t be more true.  Put the blinders on focus on what you’re creating. Consider turning off notifications and temporarily taking social media off your phone. 
  
• Hold a vision of where you want to go and what you want your business to look (and feel) like, but release any expectations for how you’re going to get there.
  
• Find your peeps. Not everyone’s brains are wired to understand the mind of an entrepreneur (and that’s ok). Don’t waste your energy trying to commiserate with friends and family that don’t quite get what you’re doing and why. Look for fellow entrepreneurs to connect with and make time to get together and share your thoughts, fears, successes, and dreams. You only need a handful of like-minded souls to support and motivate you.

Transcript

JK: Welcome to the You Are a Philanthropist podcast. This is episode three, and today we’re talking with multiple passionate entrepreneur, Jessica Brand. Jessica is a owner of a graphic and web design business of 15 years. In 2020, she launched a skin care line, and she started a cookbook club and has hosted hundreds of community events, bringing people around good food and unique experiences. Her passion is to bring people together and bring more beauty in the world. Jessica, thank you for joining us today.

JB: Hi, Jen. Thank you for having me. I’m happy to be here.

JK: So I want to talk a little bit about why you’re here because you are a businesswoman. And often when we think of philanthropists, we don’t think of the people who start companies that have a social mission or ethical, sustainable and really bring in more to our world than just profits. So, Jessica, we’re here to talk about your businesses. You have more than one, and I’m very excited to talk with you about your socially-minded businesses. Let’s get started and talk about your companies and why you started to be an entrepreneur.

JB: Well, I think I think the fact remains that once– I feel like once you have that entrepreneurship type of mindset or personality, you’re always going to be an entrepreneur. I think it’s something that we’re probably born with, I feel like. I mean, because I feel like– I mean, I remember being in fourth grade, designing bookmarks and selling them for 25 cents to my classmates. I made $8 in one week. But it’s just that ability to be able to create something with your own two hands, with your own vision, and to create an exchange, create a transaction with other people. I mean, that’s essentially what it boils down to. So I love the idea of creating a service. My graphic design business is a service-based industry. And being a visually artistic person, I also like to create tangible products as well. So I can get off the computer a little bit and create beautiful functional things to sell as well. I mean, gosh, I don’t know if that answers your question.

JK: It does because I started entrepreneurship, and it’s not an easy task. And I do give some of my profits to nonprofit charities. And I want to particularly talk about your skin care line because I use your skin care, and it’s gorgeous. And when I noticed the ingredients, I was very impressed by the high quality ingredients you were using, as well as the materials you were using to package your skincare. Can you talk about why you made those choices?

JB: Absolutely. So we call them– they’re essentially balms. We have balms and also natural sanitizers as well because there’s a need for that, non-toxic solution for protecting and cleaning ourselves. The focus the birth, the beginning of the Tasteful Skin is what it’s called, focus on balms. Because when I started that book club you mentioned about five years ago, what I was doing was I was creating, bringing dishes, and silverware, and glassware to all of my events to help minimize the build- up of trash because there can be a lot of waste after events, potluck events, and so forth; napkins, plates and plastic and so forth. So I made it– from day one, I knew I wanted to bring in actual reusable dishware. So anyway, long story short, I had to wash all of that after all of my events every month. And so my hands needed extra-loving support and lotions were not cutting it, so I researched more body butters, and salves, and ointments, and I just kept having issues with whether it’s too greasy, too smelly, or the chemicals in the ingredients. So I did a little digging around and figured that I could make my own blend. And that’s how it started. Five years ago, I created a balm for my– I kept it in my kitchen and just used it by the sink, and created it as Christmas presents for people as well because it was a little– I put them in little glass jars, and would give them out with a little bow on top just to kind of spread some nourishment their way, and it became so popular. People were coming back for more and wanted more of this magical ointment. And so that was the beginning. The seeds are planted during that time. And just to get that positive feedback was very affirming as well. So I had never had any intention of turning it into a business venture at all, but that’s how it started.

And then it was a matter of finding the ingredients that were good for the skin because essentially your skin absorbs so many ingredients and it’s exposed to so much. So it’s kind of like food for your skin in a way. So when you’re putting the balms on, there’s the grapeseed oil, which is very highly absorbent. We source our oil from Spain because it’s made as a byproduct from the winemaking industry. So there’s no waste of water or extra farmland to create crops to create this oil. It’s literally a byproduct from another industry. So it’s resourceful, it’s sustainable, it’s eco-happy. And grapeseed oil is just literally, it’s magical for your skin because it absorbs faster than other oils as well, and it’s neutral, and it’s a good carrier oil for all of the other ingredients. And so the coconut oil as well and a little bit of beeswax, which creates that natural preservative, but also that protection as well. And there’s some rich minerals in there and vitamins in there as well for your skin. So it’s all nature. I’m just in awe of the healing power of plants, honestly, and I’ve become very humbled by that. So fast forward to 2020 when we’re home and we have a lot of extra free time. My sister-in-law reached out to me and said, “Hey, let’s do something. Let’s create a business.” And so at first, we dabbled with the idea of traveling culinary retreats, and then COVID hit, and here we are. We had to go to plan B, and we started with Tasteful Skin and brought that to life, and created a whole family of balms for different ailments and different remedies. And they all have different types of essential oils for different purposes as well. So that’s Tasteful Skin in a nutshell.

JK: That’s great. Yeah. And so basically, your friends begged you to start selling it it sounds like because it was so great. And I love it myself. Even my kids love it.

JB: That makes me so happy.

JK: Yes. Now, let’s talk a little bit about your cookbook clubs, because I don’t know much about that, and you mentioned that you’re really excited about the healing power of natural elements. So tell us about how food is important to you as well as community events.

JB: Gosh, yeah. Food, it’s like a bridge for us as a species, as a society. Food brings us together. It’s something that we can convey love and receive love whether it’s someone’s making you some fresh bread and they bring it over to your house and surprise you. Or it’s a way of honoring a tradition, a family tradition. When you get recipes inherited from your great grandmother, that kind of legacy gets carried through and food is the vehicle for that. And obviously, it’s certainly our medicine for our body and nourishing and healthy for our body. But I really appreciate the esoteric value of food and what else it does for us as a community and how it can bring us together for sure. And so I love the fact that the dinner table can have a space, have a seat for everybody. There’s enough room. There’s plenty of room for everyone to have a seat at the table. And we treat each other with dignity and respect. And we look at each other in the eye and we break bread and we exchange food, stories, and laughter, tears. All of that gets shared all around the dinner table. And so it was not– when I first started the cookbook club, it was purely just a social thing. “Oh, this will be kind of fun. I want to meet some local foodies and people that like to cook.” And then it just escalated and grew. I mean, in 5 years I have over 1,600 members in the group. And so that tells me people are hungry for connection. They’re hungry for socialization to get out of the house, to have something to look forward to on their social calendar, that anticipation of something coming up and preparing for it.

Because everyone goes out, they pick the recipe from the cookbook and then they go out and get the ingredients and try to source locally if they can. And then they take the time and energy to put together a beautiful dish and present it as well. That’s part of what makes it so special is they have to stand up and present themselves and present their dish. And for just a few moments, they have everyone’s attention and they feel seen. They feel heard. They feel like they belong. And that’s what opened my eyes to the magic of a cookbook club. And it kind of became my new religion. [inaudible] I don’t know how to explain it. It’s just it has that healing aspect to it. And when you go into an event and you’re feeding your body, you’re feeding your heart, I always say, “Come with an empty stomach and you leave with a full heart,” because you’re nourishing your whole self when you’re at my events and you leave happier. You leave with a higher vibration. You leave with a higher frequency, and that goes home to your family, to your loved ones, to your coworkers. And so that ricochet, that ripple effect of that positive, joyful experience carries forth. And I love how that can be something. The world needs more of that. And I want to help people start their own cookbook clubs when the time is right, when it’s safe, when people feel ready to share food again, it will happen. I know it. It will happen. We’ll get to that time. It’ll be here soon. Sooner than later, I hope. So that was my– I don’t know how to explain it. I didn’t create it, It happened organically. Things like this, you can’t force it. You just become a student of life. Right? And you learn through these experiences and so again, I have to say that I’m humbled again by The Cookbook Club experience and how it changed my life personally.

JK: That is amazing. I love that you thought about food as a relationship. Something that I really find fun about philanthropy is that feel-good feeling that comes back to you. I like to say it boomerangs back. And I think your explanation of why you created The Cookbook Club shows that you do feel good about sharing and connecting. Like you said, the community table, you share stories and you share laughter. And those are all parts of joy that we want more in our world of.

The one aspect that I forgot to mention that also blew me away is the fact that everyone, no matter who you are, where you come from, all walks of life come to my events, right? And it’s not always the same person. Right? So there’s that element of diversity that happens and we get to celebrate what we have in common, which is obviously the love for food and sharing food and recipes. But what happens too then is when you can divert the focus away from what’s different about us and focus on what we have in common, we share in common, all of a sudden those guards, your emotional guard gets put down and you start to build a rapport and create a connection with someone who’s very, very different than you. And they no longer feel like they’re a threat. You’re no longer threatened by their differences and you don’t feel as fearful or suspicious. All of that gets eradicated and The Cookbook Club creates that platform, if you will, of connection with diverse people from all different age groups as well. We have members that are in their early 20s, in their late 80s. They come and they all– oh, my gosh. To witness it is beyond amazing, honestly, just to see the energy exchanging and the hugs. Again, this is all pre- pandemic. So I haven’t had an event in over a year and it’s kind of breaking my heart a little bit. But we’ve done some virtual events, but it’s not the same as in-person. But anyway, I ended up creating a website called acookbookclub.com to help people prepare and plan for a future cookbook club someday.

JK: That’s terrific. And with seven billion people in the world, there’s a lot of diversity in the world. And I think that we get put each other in camps and these ideas in our minds about who people are like and if we might like them and stuff. And so for you to explain that gathering around the dinner table and telling stories and laughing really removes that barrier is a beautiful image of what our world needs more of.

JB: Absolutely, I mean, isolation is an epidemic, loneliness. I mean, this is, again, before the shutdown, right? People were dying of loneliness. I mean, I even pulled up a letter. I don’t know if you ever saw that. It went kind of viral for a hot minute, but it was a letter that this 90-year-old woman who lives by herself, she wrote a letter to her neighbor and the neighbor posted this online. But the letter reads, “Mrs. Questionmark,” she didn’t even know her neighbor’s name. Okay. That’s the first problem. “Would you consider becoming my friend? I’m 90 years old live alone, and all my friends have passed away. I am so lonesome and scared. Please, I pray for someone. And that I meant, I busted out in tears when I first saw that, because that’s every– it’s all over. It’s a epidemic. It’s worse than the pandemic, right? Loneliness is definitely something that is happening all over the world. And so something as simple as A Cookbook Club is a beautiful, beautiful remedy.

JK: I’m just imagining that neighbor coming to her house with a loaf of banana bread or cookies, or something like that.

JB: Yeah. I mean, you think about it. We’re called to love thy neighbor, right? What does that look like? What does that actually look like, to love your neighbor? Like, “Oh, I send you my thoughts and prayers.” Okay, nice. But what are your actions? How are you demonstrating that love? And so what you just said is a perfect example. I mean, last night we had a neighbor who had gas problems with their furnace, and she was forced to turn it off. And then we’re in the middle of January on a cold winter night. She’s by herself. Her husband’s traveling. And so what does my husband do? He goes down to the basement, finds the space heater, brings it over to her. And then the next morning, he texts. He sends her texts and checks in with her and says, “Hey, how’s it going? How are you holding up?” That’s neighborly love. It’s simple. It’s the everyday minutia that holds so much power in our well-being, in our emotional, mental and physical well-being. So neighborly love, I think that’s something I wish people would certainly explore that. I don’t know [inaudible].

JK: You know what? It’s interesting, Jessica, because I have talked a lot about, on my blog and on my podcast guest appearance with Jay Foss, about the word philanthropy. And it literally means lover of mankind. But the root word, the Greek word philia means brotherly love. And so philanthropy is about loving your brothers and, like you said, loving your neighbors. And it’s a love our society doesn’t talk about very much. Our society loves to focus on eros love, which is romantic love. And for me, eros love can be very fleeting. And I really see philia love as something that you can share with everybody. You can share it with your neighbors, your friends, your family, strangers you can share it in the grocery store. And so that is why I want to redefine philanthropy and talk about how it’s not just for millionaires and billionaires, it’s for everyday people. And you and me are everyday people.

JB: Oh, yeah. Yes. We put our pants on one leg at a time. We have student loans. We have all that good stuff.

JK: Yeah. It’s interesting because people assume that because I have a podcast – or they may assume this because I have a podcast and you have a business – that we’re above average. And I know we don’t see ourselves that way, just kind of people who are putting what’s in their hearts out into the world. And so I’m really glad you’re here today so we can talk about more of your philanthropy. And I want to talk more about starting a business, because you’ve done multiple. I’ve only got one.

JB: I’m a queen as starting businesses, I’ll tell you that.

JK: You really are. And to have that energy to be able to do that, knowing that literally 90% of small businesses fail within a year or two. What keeps you motivated to be an entrepreneur, and what keeps you motivated to have that social aspect of your entrepreneurship?

JB: Well, I feel like the whole solo-preneurship ship has sailed. And this is something that I’ve been really reflecting on because I’ve been working for myself for over 15 years, and I know what it’s like to be stuck in your house for days on end. And you can’t remember the last time you showered because you’re just working, working, working nonstop. I mean, holidays don’t even matter because you’re on the clock. When I quit my last job– when I went to my employer and quit, I thought, “Okay. Yeah. I’m free. I have no more bosses. I have no one to report to.” But then when you have 50 clients, you have 50 bosses. And that was a very sobering reality for me. But anyway. I digress. So for me, there’s this organic connection that you create with your client– whether it’s with your clients but, also, fellow brotherly entrepreneurs, if you want to tie it into the [flay?] of love. But there’s kindred spirits in the entrepreneurship world. So when you start to open up and share and collaborate and create opportunities together, it changes the ball game. It no longer becomes you versus me. It’s more about, “What can we share together? How can we share our platforms? How can we share our audiences? What win-win scenarios can we create together?” And so that is where I’ve seen the world of entrepreneurship shift. Whether it’s virtually or locally in the community, more and more entrepreneurs are starting to get off of their little islands or get out of their little silos and reach out and extend that arm of creativity and generosity to other people.

So it’s not as competitive. There’s less of that egoic mindset, right? And so I’ve always been very happy for other graphic designers. I’ve never been jealous because there’s such a great need for design and branding support. So I know I can’t do it all, so why would I make someone else feel bad or make myself feel bad by comparing myself to another designer? Let’s play together. Let’s build something together. It’s more fun too. It’s more fun when you do it together, honestly. And so entrepreneurship does not equal solopreneurship, okay? Let’s just stake that claim in the ground, okay? But when it comes to starting businesses from scratch, I put some thought into this before our call today, and I, honestly, think, the cook and baker that I am, I’m going to use the analogy of baking a cake, okay? Because when you get a cake from someone and it’s been store-bought, premade, Costco, whatever you call it– I mean, Costco cakes are, actually, really good, by the way. But for the sake of the analogy here, it’s a nice gesture, but it doesn’t have the same depth of love and tenderness that a homemade cake can bring to somebody to give. And so when you’re at home, and just like starting a business, you work with the ingredients. You pull together your resources and you just get your hands messy. You get your hands wet, and you really are engaging with the process of preparing that cake. Preparing that business. You’re in the nitty-gritty. You’re wearing all the hats. Everything. Accounting. Marketing. Social media marketing. Customer or service, all of it, product development, an entrepreneur, sorry, is in the thick of it. You’re in all of– what do you call it? You’re in the eye of the storm, right? But with baking a cake, though, it’s more satisfying. When you kind of surrender to the process of actually following the recipe and putting the ingredients together and seeing them work their chemistry and coalesce in the alchemy of all of that coming together over time because there is an element of patience as well when you’re baking a cake. You have to wait. You can’t eat it right away, right? And so you have to let it sit and have patience and let it bake for 40, 45 minutes, or whatever it might be, at 350. So same thing with the business, right? Time’s an element to that. And you have to understand that and respect it in a way and honor it because you can’t control it. Just like with the decorating of the cake, you’re taking your time and energy to embellish it and beautify it and just make it an expression of your creativity and your love. But the best part of the baking of the cake experience, or the building a business from scratch, is to share it with other people. And then it is that exchange, that give and take, your putting your cake out there for others to see and share and have a slice of and to feel your love and to feel your energy come through that cake, it is such a beautiful way of living and working and shaping your career to have that perspective of that, outwardly perspective, in your career.

And so that’s my analogy. Let’s see. I’m trying to think if there’s anything else I forgot here. Oh, and it’s messy. Your kitchen is going to be a mess, okay? Just so you know, there is nothing sexy, there is nothing perfect about building a business. It’s messy. And it’s fricking fun at times, most of the time, right? But that’s what you signed up for. So be prepared. And then as you get older, someday you might teach someone else how to make a cake. Full circle, right? Bring your wisdom, and share it with others. So that’s my starting a business from scratch recipe.

JK: That’s so cool. I love that you used food as an analogy. I will say, the putting the icing on the cake, I actually wouldn’t be very good at that. I think you have way more experience in that than me.

JB: No, it’s more rustic. Come on, it’s rustic. I’ve got to reframe it. But there’s also another thing too with entrepreneurs. I don’t know about you, but one of the biggest blessings/curses is being overwhelmed with multiple ideas. You just want to try everything. You want to try– you have an idea for this. And you want to try that. So okay, I’ve been wrestling with this problem because it’s been haunting me for a long time. I mean, I have a little– I have a notebook, literally, this little notebook of ideas I’ve been writing down for – I don’t know – eight years, ideas. So there’s just the one camp that says, okay, you have to focus on one thing at a time. In order to accomplish anything, you have to do one thing at a time. But then there’s the other camp that’s like, we’re a diverse people. We’re multifaceted people. And so we get to glean inspiration from other activities and diversify our schedules. And there’s no monotony kind of thing. So there’s pros and cons with either way. So here’s what’s going to happen is, basically, if you want to start more than one business at a time, just be prepared. It’s going to take longer, okay? It’s going to take more time. You can divide up your week Monday here, Wednesday here, Saturday here. [inaudible] focusing on different businesses or different projects, you can manage your time. It’s not impossible. It’s also kind of exciting because every day is different, but it will take longer to see growth and see the fruition. But if you have that flexibility, and you have that time to do that, then great; good for you; do it; eat your cake; enjoy your cake. Or if you are in a rush, and you want to get something, get results faster, then yes, you have to focus on one idea, one project, 100% of your focus, and you’re going to see a really, really different results faster as well. So I’m not here to tell you what to do. I’m just saying just be prepared to make weight– when you weigh your decision, here’s what you’re going to get. That’s what I learned [laughter] in 15 years.

JK: This podcast is about empowering people to be philanthropists. That’s why I titled the company You Are A Philanthropist, and I think you have a lot of ideas, and you jump into them. And I want our listeners to jump into their ideas. For me, I started a blog five years ago when I decided, “Oh, no. I’m a philanthropist, not just people who have millions.” I give my time with my non-profit career, which is our most invaluable resource. And slowly, over time, my business became from a blog to selling merchandise and consulting services. And now I have a podcast. And so I think when you discussed entrepreneurship, including patience, which is another one of those virtues, it’s so true because I was very patient with my idea that had started five years ago. And over time, it does reveal to you the focus and the goal and the slow steps. As entrepreneurs, we have dreams, and I’m curious what your dreams are for either of the companies you have right now, or if you’re willing to share a problem you see in the world that you want to help solve.

JB: Yeah, I do have some thoughts about that. I also do have– I did write down some tips and advice for those that want to jump in to their dreams. As well we can save that for later. We can put a pin in that. But I do want to go back [inaudible] circle back to all of these different ventures that I’ve pursued over the years and to highlight the element of philanthropy that happens or has happened because of those of that works. So, for example, the cookbook club. Every January we have a soup swap. Everyone brings containers of soup, we exchange it [inaudible] brings an extra container for me to bring to the local homeless shelter. So it’s because of that cookbook club, I’ve been able to kind of rally the troops in a way and create gestures of generosity collectively as a group to our community or to our local community because that will tie into my vision for the world as well. And also, too, at Tasteful Skin, we are donating a percentage of our profits to local beekeepers and the Beekeeping Federation because, quite frankly, if we don’t have bees pollinating in the world, we’re not going to food, a lot of food’s going to go away, including coffee, so [laughter] that’s another thing. So anyway, so I love the fact that you’re– today, I think there’s more and more businesses that are becoming socially conscious and has that element of social responsibility and generosity as well, so that I’m starting to see more and more companies do that, which is amazing. But my vision for the world– holy cow. Like I said before, fear, fear and ego is toxic. So a world where that is gone and love prevails, right? Love for yourself. Love for each other, the animals, the planet just that element of openness and expansiveness of of life.

Right? And reverence for that as well. And I just again, I still love that element of diversity and culture and having that rich buffet of traditions throughout the world and different nations and different ways of celebrating different holidays, different recipes, different traditions, different ways of dancing, who knows what music, all of the arts. I mean, it just it adds such color to the life. I mean, I’ve said this before. If we all thought and believe the same thing, life would be so vanilla and so boring, like, really. So we all drove the same car and things like it just would feel so blah. But anyway, so I love that idea of preserving that in that part of our world life existence. We’re turning our focus to our local community, okay?

JB: A lot of people are looking to external leaders. And I don’t want to get too political, but people are looking for others in the leadership position to solve their problems or to present all the solutions that’s going to make everything better. And I want to my vision for the world, for people to remember the power they have individually, but also collectively in their local community. Right? And so to look out for each other in that capacity and look out for your local businesses and nurturing each other in that way. I mean, my my favorite story I ever read– you have to google this, okay? All your listeners, it’s called the the Roseto, the Roseto Effect. It was a small town in Pennsylvania back in 1960s, and it was an Italian American community in the Pennsylvania town. The men worked all these jobs that involved chemicals and mining and so forth, and they all smoked and drank their wine and ate salami and high cholesterol cheese. And they lived to 100 years old. How is that possible?

JK: That’s amazing.

JB: And so all these scientists flocked to their town, they kind of try to dissect and disseminate. How are they living so long? What is it they’re doing? How many miles are they walking per day? How many steps? What are they eating? Nothing. No, they figured it out. It was literally the fact that they were a small, tight knit community. When there was a funeral, they grieved together. When there was a wedding, they celebrated together. They literally nourished each other as a neighbor, as families. There were multiple generations in a household. And so if someone needed bread or flour or butter. It was there. There was no feeling of scarcity. And there was that feeling of camaraderie. And we’re in this together. And there was less, less fear, less competitiveness and ego. No one was flaunting their money there was no keeping up with the Joneses. It’s a beautiful, beautiful story, and sadly, as the neighbor, the house is starting to get in their yards and fences and spreading out into suburbia. The heart attacks started coming in and the stress and it kind of disappeared. [laughter] So I want to hold on to the Roseto effect in my vision. Because there’s a Huffington Post article and it says, “No one was alone in Roseto.” Again, loneliness is an epidemic, and we’re confronted with it every day, so look it up and learn from that story.

JK: Wow, Jessica, you just expanded my ideas on philanthropy and how fear and ego get in the way of love. And as you explained, how loneliness is something we all have to combat is the loneliness that we have and the loneliness that our neighbors have. And I love that you’ve created community through your cookbook club. I love that you’ve given back to your communities and encourage other people to give back to their communities. And I love that you have sustainable resources that you’ve used because you show that you love our planet, too.

JB: Definitely.

JK: So I want to thank you so much for being on this podcast and sharing with us what you’ve done. And I can’t wait to hear more about what you do. And I want our listeners to support you. So will you please share your website so people can buy your products and support a socially conscious business?

JB: Well, thank you for sharing your platform with me. And speaking of sharing, by the way, this time, this last hour that we’ve had together, I don’t call it spending time. It’s called sharing time. That was one of the things I learned when I lived in Italy. They don’t consider it a transaction. It’s more of an exchange. So together, we shared this time. So thank you for sharing your time with me. And so, again, like I said, the Cookbook Club website, it’s called acookbookclub.com. It’s rich, rich, rich with information and inspiration on how to start your own Cookbook Club. So if you’re still kind of in shut down mode or isolation mode, socially safe mode, we’ll call it, start planning, start doing your research. Take the time to design your ideal Cookbook Club situation and research potential venues in the area and find some Cookbook Club cookbooks that you want to play with and use this time to start preparing.

JK: Just try recipes, right?

JB: Yeah. Oh, my gosh, definitely get in the kitchen for sure. And then also too, when you make a batch of muffins, take some over to your neighbors. Right? As we like to say in our neighborly love conversation. But the other website is tastefulskin.com is our natural skincare for balms and sanitizers. And we’re working on healing bath salts as well right now. So lots of good stuff coming.

JK: Awesome. I’d like some cleansers too.

JB: ‘m working on an oil cleanser with Witch Hazel. Yes. How did you know? Get out of my brain. [laughter] Oh, my gosh, I love it. I so enjoyed our time together. And thanks for letting me get on my soapbox for a hot minute.

JK: Thank you so much Jessica for being here and continue to do good in the world. And I hope our listeners have felt empowered today to start something, to dream bigger, and to do something today.

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