Ep.30 - Birthing Business: Leadership & Letting Go | Christy Goldsby — This week’s guest is another long-time friend and business founder, Christy Goldsby. Candice & Christy were in a marketing group together back in 2013 when Christy first launched Honey Mama's to-die-for, artisan-made truffle bars. Since then, the Honey Mama's brand has become a staple at health food stores all across the country. Christy shares how close friendship and a shared desire for better health inspired her to develop this genius superfood sweet treat, and how it all started with a monthly booth at the local farmer’s market. Ten years later, she leads 67 employees and the company has taken on a life of its own. She shares what it's like to found - and lead - a self-inspired business that has become a source of expression and livelihood for so many others. Candice talks about why sovereignty is so critical when it comes to inspiring a creative work environment, and together they hash out how authenticity inspires personal agency. Christy shares how her meditation practice is making her a better leader and that learning how to let-go has become a daily practice. Together they explore conscious entrepreneurship and how a more ‘feminine’ (aka holistic & integrative) approach to business has the ability to up-level innovation and usher in new social paradigms.

Christy Goldsby is the founder of Honey Mama’s, makers of the one-of-a-kind refrigerated cocoa truffle bars changing the status quo for indulgence. A lifelong believer in food as a source of physical and mental wellbeing, Christy founded Honey Mama’s in 2013 as a mission-driven company dedicated to sharing delicious and nourishing treats that also inspire wellbeing and vitality. From her early beginnings at the Portland Farmers Market, Christy has grown Honey Mama’s to a beloved, category-defying line of bars available at more than 3,000 retail locations nationwide and online at www.honeymamas.com.

Ep.30 - Birthing Business: Leadership & Letting Go


Candice Schutter: 0:08
Hello, and thanks for joining me for another episode of The Deeper Pulse. I'm Candice Schutter. In today's episode, I reunite with another old friend. This time to discuss what it's like to birth and lead a heart-centered business. So let's get to it. Christy Goldsby is a long-time friend. She and I met in the early two thousands when for a brief period of time, we worked for the same company. We both left the organization to start businesses of our own, and she and I reunited in 2013, when we shared space in a woman led business development group. At the time I was coaching and teaching online courses, and Christy was just launching a product that nearly 10 years later can be found in more than 3000 retail locations nationwide. What's it like to start off with a simple vision of selling an edible superfood treat at the local farmer's market to now being in regular negotiation with companies like Whole Foods and Target? Turns out it's a transformative and at times dizzying ride. It's a journey of showing up and of letting go. Christy describes the journey that Honey Mama's has taken, from then to now. Sharing how friendship and collaborative healing is what led to the conception of a nutrient rich sweet treat that has made people all over the country rethink the idea of a healthy indulgence. I loved having this conversation because Christy and I have so much fun together. She's courageous and expressive, and effervescent in her approach to life. This dialogue got me excited about a new paradigm of fem-spired leadership, where sovereignty feeds collaboration, where consideration of physical and emotional wellness is built in, and interdependence is celebrated. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Christy Goldsby: 2:14
Hello?

Candice Schutter: 2:15
Hello.

Christy Goldsby: 2:17
I've been looking forward to this chat to talk about the deeper pulse, because it's my favorite place.

Candice Schutter: 2:26
Yay. I'm so excited. Well, that's exactly why I thought of you when I was planning the lineup for this first season of guests. I selfishly wanted an excuse to connect with you. So there's that, dangling the bait of, Hey, I have a podcast you want to come and talk with me on it? And then when we had our conversation to lead into this, I just really understood why intuitively I was drawn to speak to you. Cause it's just, it feels like timing wise, too. It's right on time for both of us to have this conversation.

Christy Goldsby: 3:01
Yeah. I actually just listened to a really nice interview this morning on my walk with Mary Oliver, from Krista Tippett, On Being, and in it Mary Oliver, I mean, she just talking about her life and her poetry and I was like, oh, this is, this is a really nice thing to be listening to as I go into my chat with Candice. And I've really enjoyed thinking about our conversation that we had and that whole kind of authenticity to self and soul centered existence, no matter what you're doing, you know? It's really what keeps coming up for me. It's where I'm at in my life right now. Because It's a constant weaving in and out of like our creative connectivity to ourselves, I feel like, and I just was really liking that part of our conversation around like how we stay connected to that and navigate through that honestly, and the messiness and the clarity that kind of comes through that.

Candice Schutter: 3:57
Yeah. One of the things that we have in common is really this passion for self-expression and creativity

Christy Goldsby: 4:06
Yes.

Candice Schutter: 4:06
as it is being born in the moment. Like we spoke about that aliveness in the moment and being responsive to that. And I think what can be tricky about that, which if you don't mind, I'd love to take a detour into your journey with Honey Mama's a little bit, because I think it presences this conundrum that we can have when our creativity and our inspiration, and we're following it, we're feeding it, and we're nourishing it. And it births something that then has a life of its own. And so, yes. So how do we strike that balance, where we're continuing to respond with, with what's alive and organic and authentic to us in the moment, and also nourish this living, breathing entity that is, has its own volition in a way. I mean, it might sound a little weird around a business, but anyone who's run a business, especially one that's been successful like yours has, knows that it is very much like that. It is like an entity of its own that you need to be responsive to and that you are a steward for. And also, where's Christy in that?

Christy Goldsby: 5:09
Yeah.

Candice Schutter: 5:10
So, if you're open to sharing your story, you can start anywhere you want. As one of my favorite writers Liz Gilbert likes to say, start in the middle and go both ways. I love that. Isn't that great? She's a gifted storyteller, so I take her advice very seriously. But yeah, in terms of that journey, it doesn't have to be linear. In fact, it'll be more honest if it's not. Like, tell us about how Honey Mama's came into being and where it's at now, and what's alive for you as a result of all that.

Christy Goldsby: 5:42
Yeah. So I love telling this story because it's like, actually, when I started Honey Mama's I said, it's never going to be precious enough to be like a child because I didn't want to feel so emotionally connected to it. Because I'd had a bakery and I knew that connection that happens when you actually really pour your heart and soul into something like that. And when it there's challenges that come up, it's can be very painful. But Honey Mama's is totally my baby, you know, and I have two daughters that are my first children.

Candice Schutter: 6:09
I was going to say good luck with that.

Christy Goldsby: 6:11
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so it's really fun to talk about it. Cause it is like, it's like birthing, you know, a thing. And as you're saying, like it comes into the world and having this connection to like, when you said the other day, that thing about expression, how you were talking to Kim and she was like, well, the one thing that I really, that keeps being very obvious in you're writing and stuff is this expression. And I just thought, oh my gosh, that is so present for me. I so related to that because it is, it's like a drive to create. And when I started Honey Mama's, I was having this drive to express, a drive to create, bring something to life in the world that would both give me a sense of purpose and meaning, but also would circulate something, a connectedness to the world that felt meaningful to me. And it happened to come through, I think, a language that I was just really attuned to. I grew up with a family who was very much into cooking and a mom who was a really great cook and baker and you know, kind of family gatherings were just such a normal and wonderful part of my childhood and, and kind of my growing up with my family. And so, you know, I had a bakery with my mom and my sister and my husband for a while in the early two thousands. And, we did that for several years, and then I stepped away because it was very challenging to work together as a family. And I wanted to salvage those relationships. But when I did that, for me, it was like being part of a process and completely immersed in something and then getting interrupted in something that actually felt really important and had quite a bit of momentum happening. And that expression and that aliveness and that connectivity to something meaningful was really happening with that. And, coupled with the challenges that came about from the family issues that we were having was kind of a complicated time for me. And so, I really was struggling with my own identity and kind of my own fracturing. I think growing up, really differentiating from my family for the first time. You know, I was in my mid thirties, I had two really young girls. They were like five and eight or six and nine around that time. And so when I left several years later, I just felt like, whew, you know, the wind was kind of taken out of me. And what to do now? And I had done a cleanse with a really, really dear friend of mine at the time. So this is about 2009, 2010, and she had an auto-immune disease and was having a really hard time getting any advice from doctors around how to help herself. There was no medications that they could prescribe to help her. And she was like losing the ability to use the muscles in her face and her body, and it was really scary for her. And so she was told she had myasthenia gravis, which is this really debilitating, muscular, degenerative disease. And her Tai-Chi teacher said, I did a cleanse when I was very ill, a long time ago and it cured me. It helped me heal and he recommended this thing called the body ecology diet. It was a gut health focused cleanse essentially. And neither one of us had ever heard of anything like that before, and she said she was going to try it. So I did it with her, just as a support. And when we did the cleanse she was having all these realizations about her health, ended up finding out that she was a celiac and allergic to gluten, and that was at the root of all of her issues, honestly. But I, at the same time, I felt better than I had felt both emotionally, mentally, physically for years. I was very clear thinking. I felt really really grounded. I had been having a lot of anxiety and depression during that phase of leaving the family business and just dealing with kind of the trauma of that. And, um, it just gave me like, a ground, it gave me like a sense of wellbeing that I was kind of blown away that the changing your diet could kind of offer as a tool and a resource. And so, I kind of had this huge light bulb that happened just watching her go through this recovery process and the profound really impact that it had on her physically, where she actually felt like so grateful because she felt so helpless I think at that point, wasn't sure how to cure herself. And so watching that, and then also my own self of being like, wow, wellness and health was kind of profound. And so I thought, oh my goodness, how could I potentially, you know, take this beauty that's here in this recognizing that our gut health is actually really, really impactful for our overall health. And then combine it with my love and passion for kind of what I knew so well and where I'd come from, which was food. And wellness and movement, you know, that's where we know each other is through that world. And, um, to me, I think I'm a super kinesthetic person and I really experience the world through touch and movement and doing, like being a part of something. And that's part of my expressiveness. And so, it was really natural for me to go from this experience, you know, with my friend, Jen, doing the cleanse and kind of like shifting my diet and being really turned on to that and being like immediately like, oh, great. Here is like this amazing platform I'm about to dive into and I'm going to create some sort of food from this thing. That to me as this great vehicle to get back into another form of expression, which is connecting to the world in this meaningful way, and I was really excited about it. And so, I was just immediately like started playing around with ideas and was going to do cultured vegetable company, which is what the body ecology diet is really rooted in, cultured vegetables. So it's just like, you know, probiotics essentially through kind of sauerkraut, alive food. And, I kept running into all sorts of problems with that business concept, was just having problems with licensing. And my back kept going out when I was kind of trying to do it. And it was just really stinky. My daughters were like, mom, what is this stuff you've got the fridge, every time we open the fridge, it's like stinks so bad. And I just, it really was funny. Cause I thought, oh, that's something to pay attention to actually. You know, that might not be the easiest thing to sell.

Candice Schutter: 12:52
It's true, yeah. Absolutely.

Christy Goldsby: 12:55
But it really influenced my thinking. And plus I just was having a lot of challenges, so I kind of stepped back and you know, I wanted something so simple I could like literally stand on on the corner of my neighborhood and just start like hocking, like I did not want to complicate a business. I wanted to do something real, real simple that I could just really kind of control in this way. That would give me a sense of independence and livelihood, you know, I had two girls at the time and I wanted to take care of them and really mentor independence and independent thinking and independent being as a mother, um, felt really, really important to me. I really wanted that sense of simplicity and I knew enough from having the bakery that I knew I could start somewhere and potentially start working with maybe grocery stores to sell it to them or do the farmer's market. Like we we'd done that at the bakery as well. And so, I was like doing vegetable pies and in the body ecology diet it was all about like unrefined oils, sprouted nuts and seeds. It's all ease of digestion. So it was like foods that were like very easy for our bodies to digest. And, you know, so fast forward about a year or almost two, probably. And our friend, Erika Ruber, and I were doing a cleanse together, another cleanse, but this one was like hilarious because it was really just like, we were eating whole foods for like 10 days and kind of just simplifying, and kind of just giving our body a break from eating, kind of like whatever, the other more processed stuff that we might eat. And, during the cleanse, we would be texting each other and saying things like, you know, can we... is popcorn on the cleanse? Is like popcorn on the cleanse because that sounds really good right now. And, um, it was just hilarious.

Candice Schutter: 14:44
Help me reason this out. I need to eat popcorn.

Christy Goldsby: 14:47
Like, that's a whole topic on it's own, like comradery between friends is so good. Um, and so we were doing that cleanse and it was like towards the end of the 10 days, and she said, oh my gosh like, I literally have the most amazing little recipe that my naturopath had given me when I was breastfeeding, and I felt like I couldn't get enough protein. And she said, I'm going to make it for us. I'm going to drop it off to your house tomorrow. And she's like, it's a treat that's like not a cheat on our cleanse and it's going to be amazing. And we were both just, I was so excited about it, and I get up the next day. I walk out to my front door and there's this adorable little tray of these, I call them bird suet cause they looked like kind of like bird suet, so it was like super coconut oil laden, like nourishing little treats in this cute little platter that she made and, and I bring them in the house. And she's like, so be sure to like, you know, when you grab them just know they need to be stored in the fridge cause they melt. And I was like, okay, great. Totally understood the whole coconut oil thing at that point. Cause I'd done the body ecology diet and ate it all the time. And I ate it, I put it in my mouth and it was like a huge light bulb went off because I thought, oh my God, like, this is actually. This is actually the exact kind of thing that I want to try to create a product out of because it was nourishing. It was incredibly satisfying. It was like coconut oil. I think it was like almond butter, cocoa nibs, flax seeds, honey, salt, you know, really simple but pure and really protein focused. And I kind of was freaking out and I called her and I was just like, this is amazing. Like, I just, I love it so much. And I was like, this is, you just have completely like blown my mind. And we were both so excited about it. And the recipe that she gave me at the bottom of the page, there was another recipe for it was a little bit more like a brownie thing. And it was another raw food thing. So I was like, well, this looks amazing. And so I made that too. And brought it to her dance class. Then it was like a few days later and shared it with everybody, all the ladies that had come in to dance. And we were all freaking out. Like when I took a bite of it, I was freaking out. Cause I, I was like, this is exactly what that protein bar was that she had given me, but it wasn't as like protein focused. It had cocoa powder in it, so it was not as melty. And it was more like the food that we used to make at the bakery. It was like a brownie essentially. And so I kinda took that recipe and tweaked it and it literally is, you know, after playing around with, with it and kind of making it my own, I learned from that recipe of really these like kind of paleo raw food recipes that were circulating at that time, you know, bliss balls and the like paleo fudge and that stuff, a lot of stuff is made with maple syrup. But I just used, you know, sprouted almonds and unrefined coconut oil and cocoa powder and Himalayan pink salt. And I put all that together and I just felt like I died and went to heaven. And I just, I kind of like immediately saw the packaging. It was a pretty cool ah-hah moment. Like it was, it was kind of everything. So in a nutshell and meandering all over the place, that really is kind of the belly button of how, of how Honey Mama's came to be. It was like,

Candice Schutter: 18:18
I love it.

Christy Goldsby: 18:19
That's that experience. And I just, I honestly just love that it was through this culmination of doing these cleanses with two really dear friends and being kind of guided by my process at the moment of what I was going through in my life of kind of dealing with, kind of fracturing family stuff, and also kind of coming into my own in many ways. And, and then also really leaning into the love and the tenderness of the friendships that were around me and in this healing way. And healing was what was the thread with all of it, you know. And with Jen that quality of healing really was like pretty serious. And then with Erika, it was more levity and really just playfulness, which is like how I seem to interact with Erika, ya know, all the time.

Candice Schutter: 19:07
Erika, Erika is ripe for that. If you scroll back, there's a couple episodes with her and her energy is just infectious and, and so beautiful. And, and there's that healing levity, which I think really speaks to what you created as a product, that marriage between the healing and the levity is it's like, for those of you who haven't had Honey Mama's, oh my God. Like I remember, I got it at New Season's grocer or something before I knew that it was yours and it blew my mind. I was like, what is this? It's so delicious. And I was reading the ingredients and it was just blowing my mind because it was this incredible, pleasurable, healthy treat like nothing I had experienced before. And in the years that followed, there were a lot of people who started doing a similar kind of thing. And there actually ended up being a section at that very same store where there were other things, but at the time, Honey Mama's was it. And I didn't know that it was your product, cause we hadn't communicated for a few years. I don't remember how the timing worked actually, because we were in a business group together. I must have been after the fact that you were still creating it out of your kitchen with like your daughters helping you and all of that. And I learned that it was yours, but it was just, it is such an amazing thing. And just to speak to the levity and the healing piece for a second. And then I want, I want you to continue sharing your story. I have this group of friends, through movement we found each other and we were in a performance group together for two or three years. And we have been ever since then, there's five of us, we've had like a woman's circle. We've been tight and close for 15 years. So the movement brought us together and it was just about so much more than that. And when I think of Honey Mama's, I think of these annual retreats that we've done over the years. So we would gather, and I think it just happened accidentally the first time. Because this group of women is like super health conscious, like there's naturopaths in the group and physical therapists and just very conscious about their health and their bodies and what they put in it. And I, I want to say the first year it happened, everyone just kind of went to the refrigerator and like three of us brought Honey Mama's. So we laid them all out.

Christy Goldsby: 21:28
Oh, I love that. That is so beautiful.

Candice Schutter: 21:31
And the thing about it, that's so beautiful and part of what makes it a healthy treat is that the smallest amount goes such a long way. It's not the kind of thing that I open. And I, me being somebody who for years had a whole crazy sugar addiction. If I open something like I was bingeing it most of the time, especially if there was something going on, like that was like my medicine. But I didn't have that same impulse with this, so we would lay them all out and we would each have like a little tiny square of each flavor and just let it melt in our mouth. And it was the sensual experience while we were sharing about our lives. And it really lent to the experience of that sisterhood and connection that we have in a really meaningful way. And it might to, some people sound like it's it's... how is that? But there's something about food that's made with consciousness, we eat it in a different way. I mean, there's a reason why we, you know, the 99 cent bag of chips, we just gorge ourself on it. We don't think about it. We check out like, it's like that, that energetic, you know, it's, it was created with a different energy in mind, a different purpose and it can be enjoyed in that same way. And so I just wanted to share that with you, because it was so cool that I found your treat without knowing it was yours and then circled back to, oh my gosh, this is Christ y. And so I want to say, I've felt connected to you over all these years through this product. And we have some in our fridge right now.

Christy Goldsby: 22:56
Oh, I love that.

Candice Schutter: 22:59
So picking back up on the story, you mentioned Kim, Kim Dawson. Who's actually going to be a guest on the podcast shortly. You'll all get to meet her. And we were in kind of a business planning group with her. I think you were talking about maybe at that point, moving from your kitchen in your house to like a commercial kitchen. Like, that was kind of where things were at. So tell us what happened because where you are now is like,

Christy Goldsby: 23:21
10 years later. Yeah.

Candice Schutter: 23:23
Yeah. 10 years later. So different.

Christy Goldsby: 23:25
So I just want to say too. Okay, so, Kim Dawson is another person who was super influential in Honey Mama's like, it's so fun that we know the same people. And she actually, and I think this is just another beautiful thread before we go into the rest of how Honey Mama's has happened. But like I was working with her during that time with that business group. And she helped me come up with the name, Honey Mama's. I was going to call my company Nectar Foods, which actually it is still called Nectar Foods, Inc, is the parent company. And she was like, you know, Christy, you are such a fun person and you have all this life that you give. And like, maybe think a little bit about a name that feels really expressive of that thing. And it, it's just really fun to think back on those days, because you just really reminded me of that. And I just found this whole sheet that had my original packaging on it and Nectar Foods was the name and like the influence of again, that connectivity with friendship and then that lovely levity and, creativity that that resides there. It's just a pretty awesome. And it's just fun to tell the story and realize that as we're talking like those aspects of creating and the thread of that meaningfulness and really kind of tracing it back. It's great. So anyway, Honey Mama's was kind of a, an ode to my family. And I have a lot of family in the south and spent quite a bit of time in Oklahoma. And there's so much tongue in cheek ways that people interact in Oklahoma and other parts of the south where, you know, my great grandma's name was Big Mama. She was like five foot one and you know, 90 pounds. But, I just like grew up with this quality of friendly and familial, not taking yourself too seriously and really just enjoying the people around you in the moment. And that, Honey Mama's really kind of comes from that as well. I think really comes from a place of like deep sweetness and tenderness and joy. So I applied to the Portland farmer's market when I was first making the bars. My husband's a designer and he helped me create the packaging. And so we kind of threw it together, some mock-ups dropped them off to the Portland farmer's market and got in there. And I thought that was really at that time, like enough, like that was very exciting to be able to even potentially get in. So when I found out I got in, I was thrilled and I really took it as a yes from the universe that, that was on the right path, doing the right thing. I started March that was 2013 and met Whole Foods buyer and New Seasons buyer and a couple of independent, like co-ops. Just was able to kind of give people samples and they, all of them were immediately, like, we cannot wait to kind of get this on our shelves. They were excited by it because it was different, I think. And delicious. And yeah, and I think I didn't even ever really think about the fact that it was in the fridge being a detractor, because I felt like that, that, that space actually, like you were saying, there was like perfect bars, like a protein bar and they were in there and I actually really, really liked that product a lot. And then there was a couple of other things in the fridge and I was like, this is kind of a cool space. And I like the idea that it would provoke people to ask why is it in the fridge? And that becomes this natural way of understanding what's in it, which is really that coconut oil and the honey. You know, we don't use fillers or emulsifiers. So it needs to be in their fridge. It is, it's a whole food that's really nourishing and not full of anything else, except for those whole foods that are nutrient rich. And so I just loved it and like it so filled me up to be able to have people respond in a positive way, both at the farmer's market and then also the buyers that I started talking to and I was like, okay, this is not just me being excited about something. Like there is relevance to what's here. And the space itself, you know, in the fridge has continued to fill out. It's continued to be a space that people are really drawn to. And I certainly felt that when I was thinking about the company and once I had made that product and realized it was in the fridge and I felt like there's nothing out here that tastes incredibly delicious, like something that your grandma would make for you. Artisan made food that is on the grocery store shelves that, that does have that sense of love in it. That does have that. I felt like that there was a mindset that was really going to be receptive to that at the time. And I just really felt that on a deeply intuitive level. So I kind of just kept believing in that. And I did, I moved into a little, a woman had a Florio bakery. It was like, so I rented like five hours a week out of her kitchen when she was closed and just would go in and make the bars. And that, at that time in 2013, that first year, I think I had 16 or 17 grocery stores that I started selling to including Whole Foods and New Seasons and you know, those independents. And then, I spent a couple years working in that kitchen. And then I did a little round of investment with some close friends that were kind of from that investment world, cause I knew nothing about that, but I wanted to build out my own space, my own manufacturing space, and I knew I could do it simply. So I was able to put together a model that was like a five-year plan and really it was intentionally to grow the company regionally. And again, like going back to this kinesthetic thing, I wanted to be able to feel and connect with the people and the places with which we were going to be selling the product. And so that was how I created the plan was like, let's try to sell this product in the natural food grocery stores across the west coast all the way to Colorado. And so, 10 years later, it really is still kind of what we're doing, honestly. Like it is still that, you know, that conversation is happening on much bigger levels with bigger store chains, but it's the same conversation. I got to say, as the founder of the company and kind of the creator, a lot of it is about bringing on and working with great people who can help me continue to realize that dream. And that's where things really start shifting, I think as far as like, it's different to, you know, birth your baby and to have your baby. And then once the baby grows up, you know, you gotta send it to school. And then, you know, the business aspect of that is like, who are the people who are going to allow this thing to really actually thrive and gain the life that it deserves to live. And that's always kind of how I've always looked at Honey Mama's so.

Candice Schutter: 30:07
So suddenly there's all these added influences and the responsibility to the mission becomes larger than you and your individual vision, because there's all these other voices and creative inputs coming in, right? Other people's expression. It's a vehicle for not just your expression anymore, but for other people to express theirself. And I think you said you have 70 employees, is that right?

Christy Goldsby: 30:31
Just under, I think it's like 67.

Candice Schutter: 30:34
Yeah. So it's a whole other animal now. Clearly your role has changed over those years and you described your role as a founder is different than it was before. And your job in terms of doing what you can to support the ecosystem that you want to create, like the culture you want to create and also stay on mission integrity. And I kind of want to take a turn here, cause I'm curious, based on our conversation before, how's that working for you, Christy, the individual, the parts of you that are not the founder of Honey Mama's, that's only part of your expression, right? This beautiful masterpiece that you've created, that you need to sustain with your energy. And then there's all these other tasks that come into play, which you can hire people and delegate many of those tasks. And yet you're still the funnel which many of the decisions run through. But your role has changed. And your relationship to your baby has changed just like when a child leaves the home. Suddenly the mom's like, what is my identity? Right? Like who am I? Now that my child is out walking in the world and engaging with other people and other influences. And also, based on what you and I have talked about, that part of you that wants to continually be expressing and creating. And there's certain avenues you can take through the company. And what about everything else? And so long-winded way of asking, what's that like now? How has that transition been and where are you now and how are your desires evolving?

Christy Goldsby: 32:12
It's such a great question. I gotta say, the journey has been such a teacher because at every stage of development, it requires very different things and, you know, sort of the first four or five years of growing the business, it was, you know, a lotta hats. And so hiring people who really enjoyed the mentorship. I love working with people. And then I think what I learned really quickly with Honey Mama's is that I wanted this experience for others coming in, absolutely holding the space for them as a human being to take up space within that experience as well, and not be overly controlling, I suppose about, um, I don't know, there is a culture of the company and values and pillars that I always have lived by, but I think what those are is like really celebrating people as human beings. And so I think that that's kind of one of the reasons that we've had a lot of retention with our employees all along is that there is a sense, I think, quality of number one, allowing people to show up as their best selves, but also, not allowing myself to get too overly, burning myself out really early on, I guess, is a good way to put that, so that I could just keep it in check as to like, this is a business, but I also need to be around for a long, long time. So how do I pace myself? And, and how do I continue to let this feel like a life-giving experience? And, in any business, five years in, it is such a hustle. It is so much hard work. It doesn't matter what you're doing. There's always this balance between, you know, overworking or having so much of your identity and your energy wrapped up in this thing. And certainly when you're trying to create a business, you kind of are in survival mode a lot because you're just building, building, building, and it requires constant attention and the right kind of attention and planning and creating structure that is going to be lasting and impactful and smart. You cannot just be reacting. You really are having to be responding. And again, I feel like this applies to not just entrepreneurship, but just as like, what life for yourself are you creating and bringing that kind of attention and awareness to it. Because the business has, at every turn, been a teacher for me to show me how to ask for help when I need it. When that forever wasn't my tendency. I really like to do everything by myself, you know, you can't do that when you're, when you have to rely on other people. And also having the boundaries with them where, um, I'm in charge and, you know. Being, I'm the third child of four. And I definitely am very comfortable being that third child mode. I have a sister who's 15 months older than me. And then my brother, Jay was six years older than me. And so there was this quality of being like, I have this vision of myself being like the little kid with like the raincoat running behind my other siblings kind of being like, Hey guys, I'm catching up. And I recognized in myself, I was really bringing that to the business and where I was bumping into myself and kind of like, oh, I really need to be in charge here in a way that I'm creating good space and boundaries for the employees of the company. So, you know, that was a really important lesson. And I got to say, Candice, like the growing of this business, I think truly, truly is... somebody just asked, one of my employees just asked me two days ago, how are you doing? And how are you doing, you know, 10 years into your company? We just had this like huge all company lunch. He just started the company a year ago, so he's like running our Target account. Like we're talking to Target the grocery store Target and he's like, how is this for you? Cause I've kind of thinking at some point I might want to start my own business. And I said, man, buckle, you're flipping seatbelt because as long as you're ready to bump into all your edges, you know, in a pretty big way, I would definitely say, go for it and, and just know what you're kind of getting into in that way, because it's not for the faint of heart. It's really just tested me to the point of like, you either have to grow or fail. And that, I mean, personally. You know, personally like develop and become a better leader and let it be kind of messy. I think I'm trying to really answer that question of like, how have I done it and also kind of stayed true to myself and let the business grow. And it's kind of so much about getting out of my own way. And I know that's kind of cliche, but I think what I mean when I say that is, I don't, I actually have a really, it's really easy for me to see where there's areas where I'm really not good at something and kind of bringing somebody in to do that thing. Like managing people in the kitchen. Like I only could do that for a certain period of time. I was really not great at it after a while and recognized, okay, who can we bring in who actually really is good about, you know, knowing how to manage 20 people, um, it's not me. And I'm not going to do my business's service by doing that when I'm doing all this other stuff. That part is not as hard for me. I think where the challenges is, and certainly the last few years, you know, of the business is, I have worked my way out of running any one thing in the business. And now I'm the chairman of the board and the founder of the company. And my role is really, you know, and has been for the last few years, really, really around navigating the strategy of the company, holding the space for, and really kind of partnering with the person who I brought on, gosh, I think he's starting his fourth year now as CEO of the company. You know, I took that hat off really intentionally in wanting to just get back to a sense of creativity, and aliveness because I was burning out and I was shutting down in a way where I was like, I am getting in my own way and the way of the company. I do not want to do that. And so how can I be the most supportive to the health of this thing and bringing that position on really intentionally with somebody who was a great compliment to kind of what my personality brings to the company, felt so important. And that was not an easy decision in many ways, just because there's a lot of unknowns there, but it also was very easy decision because I recognize the power and the strength that was going to be there. And actually that partnership and having that partnership, you know, that wasn't with one of my family members back from our days in the bakery where the challenges really came up and really recognizing, oh, I get to go through this experience again, of having a business partner and let that actually be very healing and let that process to work with the right person in that position be incredibly, um, a nice way of revisiting something and growing from it and really healing.

Candice Schutter: 39:30
Right. Well, it's interesting as I'm hearing you say the phrase, get out of your own way and tying it to the deeper pulse in this conversation around staying connected to that aliveness. I don't want to speak for you, but I'd say for me, getting out of the way sometimes is about letting go of the identity that the aliveness from before helped me to cultivate.

Christy Goldsby: 39:56
yes.

Candice Schutter: 39:57
I don't even want to make it so simplistic as to say, like, you know, overriding the ego. I think we need our ego and our personality to engage with the world and to create things actually, interestingly enough. However, it's like this constant evolution and like we create, we express. And then for me, as I talked about in a couple episodes ago with Kelly Williams, I get to this plateau in that creation, like the creation has had its way with me. And it's, it's like the next thing is on the horizon. But in order to get to the next thing I have to, there's a freefall, there's a leap. You know, I have this growth spiral visual that describes this, but there's this, this letting go and this death that has to happen in order for that next expression to come, in order for me to follow the aliveness. It's like, I always get the image of being in a river and clinging to a rock. And the rock is that thing that I made or that identity that I've cultivated. I am a 'this' now. And then the river starts picking up

Christy Goldsby: 41:03
Yeah.

Candice Schutter: 41:03
And it's beating the shit out of me and I have to let go of that identity. I have to let go and let the river take me, let the creativity, the aliveness take me. And it's tricky you know. It's like, it is about getting out of our own way by understanding that we are not the thing that we cling to. We become different than that and we're ready to move and be carried.

Christy Goldsby: 41:24
Yeah.

Candice Schutter: 41:25
And I just really appreciate, having worked for organizations where the leadership had a really hard time letting go of that control and those identities to the detriment of the staff and to the business itself. I'm always looking for inspiration from people like you, who are like, yeah, it's hard. It's really hard to let go and look what can happen when you do let go. And I just want to celebrate that you have had the courage to do that because I think it takes so much courage to find our value in this intrinsic way and not tether it to that which we create, which then can keep us stuck in perhaps an identity that isn't allowing us to create the next thing or evolve to the next place. Or maybe we don't want to create anything anymore in a tangible sense that the world's going to consume or, or that is quote, unquote productive. We just want to go be with that essence in our own way, like it takes so much courage to let go and to take that freefall, that will then lift us to the next height. And I just want to celebrate that you have done that and that you are doing that and why I think it's so exciting and timely that we're having this conversation is that it's creating room for something. So talk to me about that. I really want there to be plenty of space here for you aside from the role that you play in this beautiful creation that you have, because there's so much of you and you're a creative, expressive woman, and what else is alive for you? It's just so nice to hear you say all that stuff. It's really is, I was just getting full body chills as you were talking because it is, it is not easy to let go. But it also is incredibly beautiful when you do. And it's also really important to, I think, be aware of the process with that, because there's so much grief I think that kinda can go along with all these phases. The death, when you said that, that part about the death and the river, like everything you just said is giving me chills again, as I'm saying it out loud, like it is such a visceral process to move through your own growth stages. And I think in having a business for me has been one way, I think that's what I'm saying. It's like the teacher and the mirror, you know, in the like witnessing. Cause I feel like a lot of times I am witnessing this experience that I'm going through and kind of like trying to be in that place of pause a lot and look at what is happening because when I start feeling real, real constricted and like real stuck or like there's walls around me and I can't quite figure out what is going on. Like if I'm in a mode of just doing a lot of things all the time that are so uncomfortable for me, or, you know, don't come naturally to me, I absolutely have started leaning into the practice of meditation these last couple of years as a tool. What I recognize is that I was having this feeling of pushing everything away from me that I, didn't know how to manage or that I felt pressed by or stuck by, in a lot of what that was, was like, I have created this business that has grown so far beyond, you know, like early on of what I was really wanting to do. It is like, okay, well, you've done this thing and you're in this thing. And this thing is very real and it's evolving and changing all the time.

Christy Goldsby: 
It's just so nice to hear you say all that stuff. It's really is, I was just getting full body chills as you were talking because it is, it is not easy to let go. But it also is incredibly beautiful when you do. And it's also really important to, I think, be aware of the process with that, because there's so much grief I think that kinda can go along with all these phases. The death, when you said that, that part about the death and the river, like everything you just said is giving me chills again, as I'm saying it out loud, like it is such a visceral process to move through your own growth stages. And I think in having a business for me has been one way, I think that's what I'm saying. It's like the teacher and the mirror, you know, in the like witnessing. Cause I feel like a lot of times I am witnessing this experience that I'm going through and kind of like trying to be in that place of pause a lot and look at what is happening because when I start feeling real, real constricted and like real stuck or like there's walls around me and I can't quite figure out what is going on. Like if I'm in a mode of just doing a lot of things all the time that are so uncomfortable for me, or, you know, don't come naturally to me, I absolutely have started leaning into the practice of meditation these last couple of years as a tool. What I recognize is that I was having this feeling of pushing everything away from me that I, didn't know how to manage or that I felt pressed by or stuck by, in a lot of what that was, was like, I have created this business that has grown so far beyond, you know, like early on of what I was really wanting to do. It is like, okay, well, you've done this thing and you're in this thing. And this thing is very real and it's evolving and changing all the time.

Candice Schutter:
It's its own river.

Christy Goldsby: 45:02
It's its own river. And so yeah, like you got a you know, sink or swim. And it is like bringing on the right partners to do the right things and all that stuff that allows you then to have that bandwidth and the breathing space and another level of being able to receive, is how I experienced a lot of that, because I've recognized that for me was a huge growth thing of like, okay, receiving. Allowing other people to let it feel like a support, trusting the process and not just being like, no, if I'm not doing everything, like it literally is going to feel like I don't want to put the baby down, you know. Like, and allowing those other people, it has been such a great process for me because I love teaching my nervous system to trust and to learn these new pathways. Trust is at the core of that, you know, trusting and experiencing the world from a place of receiving an knowing that what you're doing is actually being held. You don't have to hold it all up yourself, which I think that I just really, really used to feel like that. And yes, absolutely, it impacts every single person in that company because when I'm showing up in a way where I'm going to try to control everything or everyone around me, everybody is going to be suffering and, and even, you know, you're talking about the energy of the food, like you experienced with your friends on your retreat. And like, I do think the consciousness of creating something and putting it out there, that's powerful. That's some powerful stuff right there. Like putting energy into things, it's very unseen. And then you translate that to a business environment, you know, and even if I'm not in the office every day, but the energy that I am giving into the company consciously is tense and stressed and not trusting or, you know, whatever those things can be, that is going to be felt, you know? So for me, the ability to let go, it has been such a process and so not easy. But about two years ago, I started, I've always dipped in and out of meditation and, you know, we've done movement together. I always like tap in to myself through movement, but consciously starting to practice meditation. I did a six week workshop last summer actually with Tara Brach and it really helped me. It was a game changer for me to learn that process of coming back to the breath, being really present and then allowing, having room for all the things and not needing to push anything away. Creating space for everything to literally be. It was such a different way of thinking. I didn't realize how I was doing that. Like if something wasn't working, I was unconsciously really like would push things away and the allowing for just helped me feel so much more connected to, I think being able to respond to things rather than react to things and that a sense of pause and trust. That tool and that resource of meditation for me, has allowed me to weather the many changes that are always kind of occurring and stop pushing things out and really recognizing it's just an allowing of things to be as they are. And then just slowing down enough to kind of, get out of white knuckling mindset. And with Honey Mama's, you know, as much as like all the different phases and all the years of the company, 10 years in right now, in the position that I'm in. Like Jared, who's my business partner and CEO of the company and has been for a few years. I'm really backing off from as much interaction. He's just really like in that mode of, of really, really has a great momentum with managing the operations of the company. And so, I'm sure he probably felt like that really early on, but I realized last year that I was like, oh, okay. I actually probably need to just step back just a little bit more. Let the guy have some breathing room.

Candice Schutter: 49:00
Well, it's interesting hearing you describe all of that. What really was rising up for me was something that we talked about a little bit in our first call before this. So in the very first series of the podcast, I did the seven keys of courageous self-expression and the very last one was agency. And you were using the word agency quite a bit when we were speaking. And one of the things we stumbled upon in our conversation was the desire to be, and the challenge of being a paradigm shifter in terms of how business operates and how it's done. And especially in this capitalist culture that we live in. And the sort of the status quo is a little bit, um, I don't even want to use the word masculine, I have a hard time with those labels anymore, masculine and feminine, but in a way it's like the patriarchy let's use that. The patriarchal way of doing business where the hierarchy functions in such a way that it is somewhat about micromanaging and it is somewhat about reactivity. I think when some people who maybe don't practice meditation regularly, and haven't had that embodied experience that you're trying to articulate, that's impossible to articulate where you're saying there's this spaciousness and I don't feel the need to resist so much, that it can seem like what is being said is, oh, I can become so passive and everything's just happening. And, I feel like it's not a spaciousness that creates the ability to be passive. It's the spaciousness that creates the ability to be responsive. We like to get really binary in our thinking as humans, like, oh, doing or being, and it's like, yes, both. It's about being able to do while having a sense of spaciousness of being, which means that we are responding and not reacting per our identities to what's happening in our company. Like, I'm the boss, I'm going to put my foot down here. And it's such an old school way of responding to things, but it's like wired in us. It's all we've ever seen. And so what is this new way of interacting with the world where there's room for everyone's expression. There is still a hierarchy, but it's only relied on in terms of creating containers and making sure that the energy is moving functionally. It's not about somebody being above anyone else. It's about roles that we play and the sense of agency that comes from. This sort of feminine, if you will, expression of agency. And how it's very different. It looks, and it feels really different than what we've come to know. And it is very responsive, both to the external, but internally, even more so. The values live inside of us, and we're responding to those values in real time. And the values live inside of the people we're responding to and they express those values a little different than we do. Are we still connected in value? Like getting more complex in our approach, even the most mundane interaction, like what's really going on here? And you can't ask the question what's really going on here if you don't have spaciousness. I mean, I can't I should say. Like if I'm a live wire and I haven't done what I need to do to create that spaciousness, I'm not constructive in my approach. I'm very old school militant in my approach. Like most of us can be, cause it's what we know. It's what we've been conditioned to be. And yet, what else could we be? What other reality could we create? What other vision could we express together in collaboration? And I love that your business came out of these collaborative relationships with women specifically and then you being able to sustain that in the ecosystem of your business. And most importantly, though, I think this is the thing we miss is like, if I'm not walking that talk then it has an impact on everything. I have to get into that personal integrity and self care becomes a way of caring for the world around us and everything that we're impacting.

Christy Goldsby: 52:51
Yeah. Your, So, God I don't even know how to respond to this because I just feel like what you just said was so I've just wanted to be like, okay, and that's a wrap. Because you just kind of nailed honestly like where the company is. So where Honey Mama's is now and where I am interacting with it is like, so five years ago, I brought on the first man into kind of a leadership position. He's the CFO of the company, financial person. I knew I really needed somebody who was going to helped me manage my fi like that's primary. And he was just like, part-time couple of days a week, just barely cause he had his own like other kind of business thing going on. And he was really just kind of like, I'll help you probably for a couple of months and then I'll get bored and you'll have gotten what you needed out of me. And, you know, here he is five years later. And at the time that I met Ed, he, one of the nicest human beings I've ever met in my life. Um, but you know, he was also really traditional and to kind of his way of being in the world. You know, mid fifties, white male, and in like all the best ways, but like, I guess my point is that he would say to me, like the first year he was with a company, we would always have gatherings. We'd go out and have a drink or whatever, you know, on Fridays as the whole company and whatever it was so small at that time. He was always like, I don't really do like personal things mixed with business, because at some point, what if you have to fire somebody or, you know, he's like, I just feel like I have this really strong boundary with that. And he never would hug. And now he is like the first one to line up for the hug. He's like, Mr. does everything like with the group. It is the sweetest transformation that I've seen ed go through. It's been a really beautiful, I guess like embodiment of what that kind of feminine energy and that archetype can bring to the table and it's not passive at all. It's, as a matter of fact, it is incredibly empowering and I think it is like mirroring to other people, this is how I am in my power. I am standing in my power. I am strong enough to let you be in your power as well. And with that, we really can create incredible things. And that is where the river gets nice and you know, like that is the current is we're all going down in the same inner tubes, we're next to each other and we're in a flow. And I think that that is such a great way to celebrate that spaciousness that I was talking about where it's me just being able to be present and comfortable enough and not resisting and afraid. And tensing around things so that there can be growth to happen. And that growth is critical. It's a business and I'm very dedicated to it, and then there's a lot of other people lives that are affected by all the decisions that are made. And so, that responsibility, I feel on a daily basis and I really am mindful about how can I show up in a way that can be the most supportive of that. And it's not always great. I can tell you that much, you know, it's lots of challenges, but it is what it is. The challenge and the learning that goes on that is just part of being alive. But the thing for me with Honey Mama's is that I pretty much have a no asshole policy. You know, like there is not going to be anybody in the company that's going to stir around toxic energy or ego and has to have an agenda and is taking up a bunch of space that way. That's just like, Nope, that's, there's no room for that. And so what it creates is that spaciousness, I think for people who can be aligned with that, like, allowing things to have the highest potential for success or highest potential for whatever it is, whoever it is to live itself out in a way that's most beneficial for the company, but also like, a place of connectivity with themselves and able to bring that to what they're doing. And, having a manufacturing plant, we have 35 people in that department who come to work every day. I think two-thirds of those people have been with us for over two years. And, that alone, it feels like a feat, you know. And it's about the woman who we brought in to run that. She's like Glenda the good witch. She just has this impeccability with her ability to garner respect from the entire team fully in her own power and kind of just a no bullshit person, but so empowers other people to do a
good job and to kind of experience their work life as something that's life-giving and not, you know, robotic or whatever.

Candice Schutter: 57:22
I love the emphasis on what I would describe as sovereignty. And it makes me think of Ed's question like, okay, if I have these personal relationships with these people, what if somebody needs to be fired? Well, if you're creating an environment that's feeding a sense of sovereignty, that it's not a bunch of drones in service to one person's sovereign mission that it's each person has their own specific skills, their own specific desires, and they're empowered in a certain role. And they're going to express that role in a unique way. And you're really creating room for that. Then you look at the integrity of the company, the whole company and how it functions, and maybe that person's sovereign expression fits and maybe it's not quite fitting. And if that's not a foreign concept, maybe you're not using that language, of course, but like, if there's an embodiment of those values, of those aspects of expression, then it's not about you're victimizing a person by shifting their role or changing it. And you can have really candid conversations with people about, you know, maybe changing their performance standards or perhaps going somewhere else. And in some ways I think if we're looking at it from a fem-centric point of view, it makes it easier to let someone go. It might not be easy in terms of the heart, but that's good, too. It should be kind of a heart-wrenching thing to take a job away from someone. And so that's, to me a sign of something healthy within the company, as long as there's a sense of sovereignty and it's not this sort of toxic enmeshed family dynamic, which I know I've been in that before as well. It's tricky stuff. I'm not trying to make it sound simplistic, but I think if you are, as you say, nourishing that then people will stay with you for years at a time. And they will take direction from a leader who might be really direct, but they know has their best interest in mind. And that they have a sense of self separate from this role that they're playing. And again, all that to say, to bring it back to you, if you, as the leader of the company, aren't holding yourself as sovereign and valuing your values inside and outside of the company that shit's just going to trickle down through the leadership. And so it's like so important. No pressure, yeah.. So just I'll just leave you with that. Yeah. But even like, owning like conversations like this. Owning, Hey, I've lost touch with that. And my intention is to bring it back or whatever.

Christy Goldsby: 59:54
Yeah.

Candice Schutter: 59:55
It's like we have to divorce these standards we have in terms of how we think about things. Of like that there's this high performance standard, this mark that we need to meet. And it's like, no, it's this organic, expressive, alive thing. And if we're transparent in ways that are appropriate with parts of that, then everyone that we're leading and everyone around us feels like they have permission to express their full humanity and, you know, feel that pressure and fail and then line up to it and rock it and like the whole dance.

Christy Goldsby: 1:00:24
Well, and in a, in a business setting. I think it's a really nice platform as a teacher for me personally, because I did grow up in a family that was a big family. There was tons of co-dependent, you know, family stuff with my family forever. And so business has been a really nice platform. Again, I think it's welcoming in the right people who bring this aligned, level of respect for the sense of agency, sovereignty, and also self-expression with people and this like beautiful little balance, this dance that can happen between those things. And, professional environments are really great way, for me, it's been a really nice teacher because it's allowed me to outgrow, over the years, like my habits where I do get codependent or where I do bring things that I don't, it's like, oh, okay. That really, really doesn't work. And yes, that was painful to learn that at the time or whatever. I feel just incredibly grateful that I did learn it. And I think I realized like now 10 years in that, that's probably one of the things I was doing by wanting to create a business was like to have a canvas to feel out all these edges of the landscape of who I am as a person and kind of like create a sandbox for myself where I could create kind of something that was coming from me, but also like, okay, yes, this is like my thing that I created, and then it's grown so big that I'm just a, I'm a player in the sandbox. Like I built the sandbox, but I'm in it with all these other people now who are very much, a really big part of that experience. And the teacher for me does often come back to agency and sovereignty. Where is my agency within this to show up as what I both feel authentic with, but also like feels supportive of who the company is. And sometimes those don't, sometimes they really do collide in a way that takes some learning. I'm kind of in a little phase right now where I'm going to try to figure it out. But it doesn't, you know, I wouldn't do anything differently, not one single, not one single thing. It's been a real interesting process. And, yes, it's very personal for me, but I was listening to this interview with Lenny Kravitz once. And he said, you write a song for you, and then once you put it out there, everyone owns it. It's theirs. You know, it's everybody, it's their song. And, and I think about that, like it's, I really wanted to create this thing that circulated love and beauty and connectivity with people and to recognize they did have agency in their lives to use tools like food to actually make changes in your life that you really need to make. And that can often come from places you're not expecting. Like I had suffered from anxiety and depression. I still suffer from anxiety and depression off and on, depending on what's happening in my life. And what I'm putting in my body is this tool that I have accessible at any moment. I believe, that that is a really impactful tool that I can use to ground and to come back to myself and to like choose to take care. And that feels like incredible agency, you know, to be able to do that. And that's what I wanted to put out there with Honey Mama's, that's what it's doing in my mind. So I really try to stay connected to that and we bring that internally in the company through practicing our values and just celebrating kind of the culture of the company. And then we do that externally through now, like the marketing department and our brand, and kind of what we're, how we're showing up in social media and all these different ways.

Candice Schutter: 1:04:07
Well, it's beautiful, what you've created. And you know, I did research on agency for my graduate degree and in many ways it all comes down to choice. And when you offer a new choice, another choice, a choice that both provides pleasure and that healthy sense of nourishment, you've succeeded in that. In giving people an, an opportunity for that agency. So I celebrate that and you, and just want to ask you one last question. What's next for you?

Christy Goldsby: 1:04:38
Gosh. Uh, you know, I don't know yet, honestly. What's happening right now for me is that I am at a point with the company where my role is, I'm not in every single day of the business. So I'm down in the office a couple of days a week. And then besides that, what's on the horizons and what's kind of really bubbling up for me is reconnecting with my personal creative energy. I just bought myself the camera that I set out to buy when I started the company, you know, 10 years ago. And so I bought my camera and I'm kind of playing around with actually learning how to use it. And there's that. And I think just learning how to retrain myself, not to feel guilty that I'm not spending every waking moment working on Honey Mama's and trusting that I need to not be. But really allowing that, that space to just take a little bit of time to kind of just get back to the parts of myself that are like the kid in me, and kind of just being myself and in the sandbox alone. So I'm doing, I'm kind of wanting to develop, I think that a little bit more right now. The next couple of years are going to be really interesting. I think that's why I will wanting to like, balance out like my work life with some more personal creative endeavors, because I think that that's, that's been lacking for quite a while. So, um, that's kind of where I'm at.

Candice Schutter: 1:06:03
Yeah. Well I'm cheering you on in all of that, for sure. I just know how critical it is on that soul level. That you give yourself the permission to really go there and make things that aren't even necessarily making money, right? Talk about turning the paradigm on its head. Like, oh, we can do that? So I'm just excited to see what you create next.

Christy Goldsby: 1:06:28
Yeah. Thanks, Candice.

Candice Schutter: 1:06:31
Yeah. I love you. I'm so inspired by you. In awe of you and the grace with which you've navigated all of this. I can see why this small vision out of a tiny little kitchen has grown into so much. And for all the listeners out there, it's so powerful to hear these kinds of stories, because when you go to the supermarket and you see Honey Mama's, and if you have a natural food store in your area, you're probably going to see it. You'll know like the, the value and the love that was poured into all of it. And there's like how many flavors now?

Christy Goldsby: 1:07:05
13.

Candice Schutter: 1:07:07
Wow. Yeah. And they're all amazing. I haven't had all of them, actually. I need to go try some of the new ones. There's just so much to choose from now. Talk about agency in terms of what kind of Honey Mama's do I want today? I just encouraging everyone to go out and experience it. It's really just amazing and delicious. And your vision is something that we need more of in the world. So thank you.

Christy Goldsby: 1:07:32
Thank you. It's just so much fun to talk to you and to sit with you, honestly. What a pleasure. Thanks for the opportunity to go down memory lane and celebrate all those different things.

Candice Schutter: 1:07:43
Of course.

Christy Goldsby: 1:07:44
I'll send you some of our cake line. We just, we're coming out with a really fun new line that's chocolate cake and birthday cake and carrot cake. It's really, really, really delicious.

Candice Schutter: 1:07:54
Oh my goodness.

Christy Goldsby: 1:07:56
Yeah, I meant to send it to you before the show, but thank you so much for having me on and I'll follow up.

Candice Schutter: 1:08:01
Yeah. Thanks so much. let's stay in touch.

Christy Goldsby: 1:08:04
Okay. Sounds great.

Candice Schutter: 1:08:06
Lots of love. Bye.

Christy Goldsby: 1:08:07
Bye, Candice.

Candice Schutter: 1:08:19
I just love being surrounded by women who are doing their work, not just out in the world, but within their own hearts. Freedom and self-trust are contagious, and I'm feeling a little bit of a contact high from this conversation. I hope it spoke to you in some way as well. Head to honeymamas.com and use the store locator to find out where you can get your hands on these game-changing truffle bars. You won't regret it. I'll be back next week with the final episode of the season, before I take a few weeks off to travel and work on a next-level summer series. More on that later. Until then, trust your precious heart and keep on moving toward what moves you. I'll see you soon. Big, big love. Caio.


© The Deeper Pulse, Candice Schutter