Founder’s Thoughts: From Jars to Justice…and Everything in Between

I haven’t had much time to write lately.

Because I’ve been doing.

Hands covered in wax, jars in one hand, emails in the other … I’ve been head-down and hands-on producing our first export order into the USA. Two brands. One mission. I Am Real Honey and I Am Hot Honey, making their official debut beyond our shores.

What does that actually mean behind the scenes?

It means I’ve been coordinating honey from different regions, aligning label deliveries, managing supply from multiple vendors, and waking up in the dark to sit in bed building our first investment deck from scratch.

Half-business, half-breakdown, full-heart.

And here’s the truth:

Part of me is absolutely terrified.

Standing in traffic, asking for capital, after losing everything during COVID?

That takes more guts than I thought I had left.

I’m not here to play the victim card. I know I walked into an industry I didn’t fully understand. I over-sold. I didn’t have the stock. I didn’t have the capital. I didn’t have the structure.

I had a dream … and a heap of underdogs beside me who I believed in too much to let go.

But growth hurts.

And now?

Now I’m learning.

Learning to run leaner.

Learning to choose wisely.

Learning that hiring talented, values-aligned people isn’t just a luxury … it’s survival.

I’ve still got my CEO hat on, but I’ll be the first to hand it over when we raise. Because I know what I’m good at: disrupting with purpose. And I’m finally in a space where others can help build the structure to hold it.

The irony?

Some of the very companies who ghosted me after putting down deposits who tried to stall my growth by tying me up …. have suddenly circled back.

Why?

Because now I’m real.

Because now they see it wasn’t just a “cute idea”  it was innovation, and it was coming with or without them.

And the trolls?

Yep … I’ve woken up this week to more than one nasty comment.

But I see them for what they are: confirmation.

I’m rattling the right cages.

As my patent attorney always says, “The first patent is the hardest.”

Well, I’ve made it through that and I’ve got the invoice to prove it.

The truth is I’m not building a honey brand.

I’m building a movement.

A purpose-built, plastic-free, waste-into-wonder revolution.

Every jar I produce is made from hive waste.

Every lid grows a bee garden.

Every container becomes a candle.

Every step we take reduces microplastics, returns beauty to shelves, and gives nature a fighting chance.

I go to the beach every morning. I pick up rubbish.

I’ve seen what microplastics are doing to our oceans.

And now I know what they’re doing to our bodies, the infertility, the brain inflammation, the teaspoon of plastic in every single one of us.

That’s not just uncool … it’s a crisis.

This morning, I’m off to meet a potential investor.

And for once, I’m not chasing. I’m being invited.

Maybe it’s because this business isn’t about money … it’s about mission.

It’s about bees.

It’s about waste.

It’s about food that means something again.

To the brands who tried to stop me …

You’ve only added to my fire.

Repeat after me:

I am Hot Honey.

I am Real.

And this story?

It’s only just getting started.