It Girl | BEA DIXON
I am pumped to introduce you to Bea Dixon of The Honey Pot Company. I was first introduced to her on a podcast. I then IMMEDIATELY RUSHED OUT to Target so that I could support this black-owned business. I know that feminine wash can be a touchy subject. I am a firm believer that vagina’s should not smell like flowers. While they are self-cleaning I was super excited to try this all-natural wash. My only regret is that I didn’t buy more when they were in stock at my local target. Now, I am out and they are sold out everywhere near me. I have also moved on to their menstrual cup. We are period positive over here yall! My favorite thing about the Honey Pot is that it is made “for people with vagina’s by people with vaginas”. Please read my interview with Bea Dixon, co-founder of the Honey Pot Company. For context we completed this interview at the beginning of Quarantine.
Name: Bea Dixon
Age: 37
Job Title/Company: CEO and Co-Founder at The Honey Pot Company
Education Background: Some college
photo credit: Ron Hill
In-depth Questions
1. Tell us a little about who you are.
That's a loaded question. What do you, what do you mean when you say who I am? I'm a human.
2. What sparked your interest in starting your business(es)?
I had bacterial vaginosis for almost a year. And I went to sleep and I had a dream with one of my ancestors and she gave me a list of ingredients and told me this would get rid of my problem. I woke up, remembered, wrote it down, made it, and it worked.
3. If applicable, tell us about your fulltime job and/or any side hustles you might have.
I'm fortunate that I'm at the place where I couldn't possibly have the side hustle because this takes so much of my time. My full-time job is being the CEO and co-founder of the honey pot company.
photo credit: Ron Hill
4. Who are you most influenced by?
If you're talking about my business, I'm really influenced by the people that support our business every day. The people that have gotten us to where we are, that have been here since the beginning. I'm influenced by the people that I work with. All the people that, that help this business. When it comes to personal, I'm influenced by the love of myself and by the people around me. My mother has influenced my life. I mean, there are so many places I can go with that. I have so much gratitude for being able to be here right now and all the things that provide for me that I can be.
5. What was your first job and how long did you hold that position?
My first job was at McDonald's. I don't remember how long I held it.
“Hold on for dear life, just start and don’t think that you have to have it all figured out.”
6. Can you share one of your proudest achievements with us?
I think actually one of my proudest achievements is my relationship with Simon. He’s a really a great chosen brother. He's a really great friend. He's always been really good to me and we've really built a relationship that we've been able to work together. We've been able to, you know you know, just be really, really, really great humans that can coexist in the world, you know, well without it having to be about anything other than us just really caring for each other and loving each other and having the best friendship possible. So that's actually one of my biggest achievements and then in honeypot is too, but real shit. He's a big part of that.
7. What were your initial goals with your work? How have they evolved?
I think initially I just wanted to give the world a product that had worked for me. I wanted other women to see the same relief that I was able to find through the gift that my grandmother gave me a dream. And now it's like, you know, it's not just a wash company, it's just this whole, it's like this big, huge, machine that is just evolving more and more every day. We've gotten into so many different aspects within feminine hygiene and care and it just seems to get better and better. We seem to be able to offer more and more products.
photo credit: Ron Hill
8. What do you think is the most important life skill you learned through your work?
To understand what you have control over and what you don't.
9. Where do you hope to be in five years?
I don't know. I'm too busy being right here.
10. What is a typical day like for you?
My days are different every day. Right now, my typical day is working from my couch and getting out of the house for a walk, just to take a break from work and just like get some fresh air and some sunshine, you know? But typically I travel a lot. I'm constantly in meetings. I've been getting a lot of interviews, managing our team, understanding the supply chain. It runs the gamut day by day, but I think those are kind of general things.
11. What was the biggest obstacle you’ve faced so far in the process of pursuing your goals?
There are obstacles every day, constant, constant obstacles. In the beginning, the obstacle was just getting this thing off the ground. Right now the obstacle is like keeping it off the ground, keeping it running, keeping it afloat managing all the balls that are being thrown. There's like a million balls being thrown two at one time, and just trying to manage all those, it can be a little difficult.
“But it was good for us because if you fuck up really bad, then you don’t want to go back to that. You don’t want to repeat that again, so you do whatever you have to do to not repeat it. ”
12. What is the best piece of advice you have received?
To learn how to die. Hmm. So live, you know, it sounds morbid, but it's actually the opposite of that.
13. Can you share with us one time that you failed and what you learned from that failure?
I fail every day. I mean, it's hard for me to think of one, there are things that you learn every day. I think one that I learned the most from is we didn't understand in the beginning we didn't necessarily understand our supply chain and we had some issues that happened with our wipes. We found the money, we found the capital and the investors eventually, and that was just a part of our story. But you know, not having constant access to capital when you're in the consumer-packaged goods space and not understanding your supply chain is a recipe for disaster. We went through that pretty hard. You know it caused a massive amount of stress. But it was good for us because if you fuck up really bad, then you don't want to go back to that. You don't want to repeat that again so you do whatever you have to do to not repeat it. I think it was good for us. It was just, it was just tough, you know.
14. How do you unwind?
I listen to music. I cook, I like to cook a lot. I like wine. I like a joint every now and again. I like my time, I like being around other people, but I also really like being with myself.
15. What would you tell someone else who is interested in entering your field?
Hold on for dear life, just start and don't think that you have to have it all figured out. Don't think that you have to raise a lot of money right out of the gate. And understand the best way to understand what you're doing is to start off online and then to transition into stores. Unless you get an opportunity, you know, and somebody wants to bring you in their store straight away, you know, then you figure out how to get that shit done. But if you do decide to go into stores, make sure you have access to money and make sure that you have a supply chain team. Because going into retail you really have to understand your supply chain.
16. What do you hope people take away from your story?
That it is possible. You know, that anything you can put your mind to, you can do it. It's possible.
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