Featuring Jessica Alba

want to let this episode speak for itself. I just want to thank Jessica for coming on my podcast and for all of you for listening every week or this is your first week listening. I have enjoyed this journey so much, and I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Jessica, I'm so thrilled and honored here on my podcast. Thank you for having me. This is We're exciting. I have looked up to you for such a long time, specifically as a businesswoman, because something that I've tried to do

or learn about is just I love creating things. I love the process of developing something and then seeing it come to fruition and the process of that. And that's what you do now, like you're the products. You're producing. They're not only doing that, but they have an incredible mission behind it. When you first started, honest um, what was the process like of developing products? Because that's a

completely separate world than acting. Um, I think the process was more satisfying actually, because I actually got to have an idea and watch or create essentially create the process to make it happen. Because I didn't I've never seen that before. I didn't know anyone who'd ever done that before. And um, I think it took three years before I even got a solid business partner to join me. So it was me putting it down on like a vision board and then turning my vision board into like like

a visual book. Um. And so my vision board became like a visual book, and then I categorized this book with a lot of photos, a lot of values, and then I had to So it's like taking something from your brain and this idea, and then how do you create something tangible so that when you sit down with someone for an hour they understand what you're talking about.

And I got a lot of people looking at me pretty confused about what I was talking about because I think for them, they were like, why is this idea so big, and I think my husband in particular, it's not that he didn't think I was capable of it. He was like, can you walk before you run? Um?

And I was like, no, I want to have like a global, you know, business that stands for these values, and I want to create safe and healthy products and frankly a lifestyle around honesty and being honest and authentic

not perfect. Um. I felt like anything that was natural ish or better for you was for like a certain type of person that lived off the grid and did yoga all the time, which more power to you, but that wasn't me, um or it was for a group of people that, you know, just lived in a certain tax bracket. And while I had at that point made money in a different way, I grew up with family. You know, my family was living paycheck to paycheck all my life growing up, and so I was just like,

this shouldn't just be for wealthy people. This should be for everyone. Everyone should be able to live a healthy life. Everyone needs tips and tricks on how to like hack their way through parenthood or had to change the dip for really quickly, but then also how to do a five minute face if you need to just get out the door or you know, and throw an amazing dinner party.

And so I was like, there has to be a and that kind of stands for these things, but could also give you sort of tips and tricks along the way. I think it's so crazy that you talk about is just a clean, honest brand. Is should be what all brands are, you know what I mean? But unfortunately they're not. There's a lot of secret chemical ingredients. There's a lot of misinformation on packaging that make the consumer to believe something that isn't necessarily true. What was the process and

uncovering that was there? Like certain products you're trying, You're like, this feels a lot worse on my skin than it should. Yeah, so how did I test products? Well? I would oftentimes the big one was seeing if it was if it had perfume or fragrance. So something and an ingredient list has perfume or fragrance, Immediately it was like nope. And what's confusing is a lot of times there would be

pictures of nature. It would look like it was something that you would assume was more natural leaning um, but for whatever reason, they still used perfume or fray grunts. The other big one for me was looking at sort of the ingredient list and then comparing it to a conventional and I would see, oh, just because it has a it's a brown packaging, it's four times more expensive, and the ingredient list looks pretty much the same as

the conventional. What's going on? Just yea, and so you're often paying so much more money for alternative packaging, but

the juice inside was different. And UM, what I learned is that the only way we could really differentiate and create products that stand for our values and are we call it our no list of chemicals we won't use is by having our own labs in house, having not just a team of chemists, but then also a regulatory team UM and a supply chain operations team that can source raw materials that can help create these formulas and find third party manufacturers to make it, but then also

be there when the manufacturers are making it, showing their team how to batch something and be there kind of for the It's it's a it's a long and drawn out process, but it's the only real way to create the types of products that have the integrity that we want behind our brand, but then also effective. It really works, and it's not using a ton of these chemicals that we just are choosing not to use in our products.

So it was it was a hard lesson to learn because it's expensive to invest in that much of R and D supply chain operations. And it's also again, I never knew how to do this stuff. Like you know, in movies, most movies or TV shows that you see, they've been in the works for ten years before you ever see them, you know. And that's something that a lot of people don't talk about in Hollywood, and probably most people don't even know. So I, you know, I didn't have time to wait around for ten years for

someone to like get with the program. I love that, and especially like you can't wait on other people to do something. That's the biggest lesson I've learned. The best way to do is by starting and by going and trying and trying and it and failing. It's as long as you learn from it, that's the best lesson you

can have a lot of the time. Yeah, And I think that's like a great way to think about, especially because you're so young in life, not necessarily looking at quote unquote of life experiences as a failure, but you should like it really is the lesson. Um, you embrace it. You only learn by trying, right, Um, you only get better by it not working, and you only know how to iterate and refine it literally because it didn't work the first time. Uh, and that is how you create

incredible things. If we all had an idea and things just sort of fell into place as we thought it would, what would be the point of life? That would be? Everyone could do it? Yeah, if it was easy, and if you could think of it and it just happened, you know, by snapping your fingers, then what what is that?

It wouldn't even be. I don't think as as gratifying, um, anything in life that you really love and appreciate, Um, you spent time on it, You've iterated it, you've refined it, You've learned what didn't work in order to know what does work. And so I think I think through life if you maybe don't think of the word a failure, but think more of like, this is me trying it so that I can be better at it the next time.

Something that I've been trying to do is look at everything as more of a experience and a journey, not what the final outcome is. But the process of getting there, because that's where you learned so much, is what I'm realizing. Yeah, that's a great one. I didn't learn that until I was thirty. What made you learn that? I think just all of the outcomes were so disappointing, and Hollywood especially, I was like, this is so out of my control.

Why you know, you would have a big weather issue, and you know, if of the country is frozen, guess who's not going to the movie theater that opening weekend? But you're slotted for that certain opening weekend. You just spent you know, I think collectively, like I said, ten years someone had spent on this project. You've spent at least two years of your life and you think it's going to turn out some way, and then the country's frozen over and no one can leave their house. Does

that mean it's a failure? No? Does that mean can they take away from your experience creating it and wanting it to be good? No? But I always looked at that final sort of outcome as that's what I'm trying to retrain my brain heart. That's a hard lesson it, but in a way, it sort of releases you from what's out of your control, and it allows you to sort of really be present in the moment and make

the most with what you got. Absolutely, and I think something that I'm someone that likes to have control, I overthink, I like to I'm a perfectionist and something that I've very quickly learned is that is not the business to be. And like I, things happen and that's a part of life, and I'm trying to embrace that. Um And I think something that I'm also learning currently in dealing with is being burnt out. And I'm so curious how you run this incredible company, you act you're running a family at

the same time. How do you stay inspired and motivated but not let the nose get you down. I would say that being a perfectionist and wanting everything to be just so is for me another lesson that I had to learn. And the more I paid attention to every little tiny detail, the in a weird way, the less happy I was in the end. Because you're so caught up on those details, you're always going to be disappointed. Um, nothing will ever live up to being one hundred all

the time. It's just not possible. And also you're not focused on the right stuff, and so burnout for me comes when I'm focused on all of the small details and I'm not living in the moment of what really matters. It is a great way to distract yourself from probably what you're meant to deal with. I think it's it's a great way to um feel like you're doing something

by busying yourself. But ultimately, what I have found in my life is I'm probably running away from the thing I actually should be focused on, which is like, where's my heart? What am I really struggling with? Where am I emotionally? Is this filling me up? We only have today, we don't really have tomorrow. There's nothing guaranteed. So for me preventing burnout um or when I start to feel burnt out, it's usually because I'm not focused on the

right stuff. Interesting, I haven't heard that perspective. I like that, though, What do you do to stay in the moment? Because I find being present can be difficult. Sometimes it is difficult and I'm and I my mind wanders man um and so I have to make a concerted effort to surround myself with reminders to be present. I think weirdly,

my children are all right. My family um naturally forced me to be present because they don't give a flying fuck about tomorrow, about five minutes from now, none of it. They just care about what's happening right now in this moment. And they're so visceral in the way that they operate.

You know, they all have all of their emotions and there what's going on in their head and what they think it should be, and they all have their own individual experiences and they're all three very different um and at different stages in their life experiences. So being around them forces me to be present. And and it's not fair because if you don't have kids, how could you

ever have a takeaway? Um I would say. Another thing is I found that I nat really compartmentalized things in order to be productive as a young person, because that's what I do too. I got very distracted and my mind wanders. And so if you can figure out how to sort of compartmentalize your time in a way where it's like, Okay, this is going to be the time that I'm gonna focus on studying, and this is going to be the time that I'm gonna focus on talking to my family or my I'm gonna do a FaceTime.

And I find that even facetimes force you to be more present in your communication with your loved ones versus you can be on the computer and on the phone and whatever. If you do have that face time, you know, force yourself not to be on another device and force yourself to be present. So I think that's a big one. Um and compartmentalizing. So it's like, this is my study time,

this is my friend time. And when you are around other people, try not to be on your phone, try not to be on a tablet, try not to be on your computer, and really then dedicate your work time

to work. And if it's like, gosh, these four hours are going to be my study time, and I'm going to break them up because I get exhausted when it's a four hour block, it's gonna get myself an hour in the morning, maybe an hour in the early afternoon, an hour in the early evening, and one late at night because I'm a night All great, but then you know you have four hours that are just dedicated to that work, so you can be effective all the other time, though,

should be filling you up spiritually, intellectually, emotionally. Time management is so important and yeah, it's tough though it is, but if you can get time management down, I feel like that is such a tool to have in your toolbox for the rest of your life, work or in family. Um, you just filmed a movie and I know your work schedule was very hectic around that. It's very ambitious. I don't I don't tell people this is you. Yeah, tell

people the situation that you put yourself there. That was dumb. Um.

So we've been developed. I've been developing this movie for about four years and it was finally going to happen, and it just happened to happen like right after I took the company public, and so I just felt like there was no way I could completely neglect honest and I know face time matters, especially right now, right after you take the company public and people are feeling fragile about is a company going to be need different and

are we going to operate differently? And you know you need to implement new standards and practices, but people need that. And after COVID there's there's a sensitivity and a vulnerability absolutely, and so especially with my leadership team, I just felt like it was important for me to show up for

them and be there. Um. And then I also shoot a ton of content um from a creative standpoint, and I'm the chief creative officer, so I have a lot um of say in that content and how it gets sort of yeah, you're not just a faith of it, like what people don't realize. You run the business, which I help. You know, I'm definitely a strategic arm and how we communicate with consumers and go to market and how we show up on packaging on our website all of that, so yes, I am you know, part of that.

And then as well as like formulas and ideation around new categories and all the things. So I just felt like I needed to be here. But then we were shooting in Santa Fe, which is a beautiful place, but you know, those hours are long. I'm doing an action movie and certaining energy and being on set. It's a lot of hurry up and wait. It's there's no waiting, there was no there was no way, only hurry up.

I'm in every scene and there's a ton of action, so I had to learn choreography for these action sequences and a lot of it is me um, you know, mourning my only family member that that has passed. So it's like days after my only family living family member that like raised me as my grandfather in the movie and he's uh, he dies and so I'm mourning him, and then I'm uncovering how he was, how he died,

and then killing a lot of people. They need to die in the process, and so or defending usually defending myself itself defends sometimes they needed to die. Yeah, So this to me was like an important movie. The directors a woman, the DP as a woman, that the producers, the key producers on set, we're women, and we were doing like a very intense action movie with a lot of feminine energy, and it was cool. So I was

like passionate about doing it. But then and and it's a modern day Western, which I've always wanted to do, and instead of guns, I use knives, and so just like flipped a lot of those uh the genre, flipped a lot of the stereotypes around. And I just so I did that five days a week, and the hours were brutal. I'm in every scene. It's very physical and emotionally exhausting. And then I would get off at work at six am, get on a plane at six thirty

and I'd fly home. I'd land here like seven thirty because it's an hour time difference, and sleep and seem usually trying to see my kids for five minutes as they were running out the door to go to school, kiss them, jump into bed, and then I'd get into hair and makeup at one to do UM shooting until like seven pm, sometimes eight pm, try and get home for dinner, try and connect with the kids, talk to

them about their day, their homework. Again, they do not care about me being gone, me filming, none of it. They are like they want to go in you know, and I've been gone for the week, so they want to catch me up on all the tea of their life and school. If school is back in person, then there's actual so they're telling me all the drama. But then also like I have this thing coming up in this exam or you know where they're they're they're academically.

They want to show me um. And then the next day nine am to five thirties, my all day meeting with my leadership at Honest, so I had to go there and then I would go straight to the airport from there, jump on a six o'clock flight, fly back to Santa Fe, have a four thirty am call in the morning. How long was How long? Did this last? Two months? Okay, it's finished, finished, so exciting. Have you done anything to celebrate? Well, last week I did three

add jobs okay, so I basically worked every day. Okay, And are we doing something to celebrate? I hope I can sleep soon. Um, I need to sleep. I need to hang out with my hids. I want to figure out how to carve out me time and also like husband time and then also kid time, because like I kind of feel like when you work, work, work work, which is my tendency. Again, I'm focused on all the details and I'm not living the life in a full way.

And I only really get filled up when I have genuine, like tender interactions with my family, so and my friends. So I'm trying to figure out how to do more of that. It's a journey, though, you know, It's one of those things that is what has it been like going back into acting, because I know you took a break for a little bit, You know what. I was such an insecure actress when I was younger, really so wildly insecure about my abilities as an actress. UM, I

felt so judged. I was quite criticized. In my head, I was my worst critic. I think I didn't feel work the UM and so I was so in my head and so paralyzed with fear that I never had a real liberating, fun experience. Like I just admired people who just we're swaggy on set, just like we felt like they were just in the zone. And you can tell when someone's in the zone and when they're just

when they just feel good. And I think taking a break for so long from it and literally having no consequence to whether it works or not, it allows me to have the freedom as a storyteller to just be completely present and try things and and and I really love it and it and it's like it's brought me like real joy. That's incredible to have that outlet. Also, and I feel like and a nice balance to the

really logical, pragmatic day to day of running a company. Yeah, for surely, Okay, we have to take a quick break, but when we come back, I want to talk more about your acting career, the way the media and Hollywood has portrayed you over the years, your thoughts on social media, and much more. We'll be right back, and we're back.

The way Hollywood is structured, especially the way they treat women like you were sexualized at a very young age and then starting your company, did that affect the way you were perceived and just being a badass, smart business women. Did people not realize that because of the way movies you were in portrayed characters or the way Hollywood or

the media did you know? What's interesting is like I don't even know if the characters I played were hyper sexualized as much as the media around me as a person, and when they would advertise said project, I wasn't that person.

And so you know, when you have a studio advertising this piece whatever it is that they need to come out, and then you have these various publications that are trying to give their audience clickbait or now it's a clickbait, but like those you know, headlines that will get the readers to want to read the article. They're looking for provocative, controversial kind of things. And you know, for me, I

guess in a weird way. I know social media is really um it's a hot topic, but for me, social media gave me a way to speak my truth through my lens and the tray myself the way I wanted to be portrayed and not always be sort of um, the pond and someone else's chess game, which is sort of how I felt in Hollywood. You know when I when I really embraced social media and was actively on it. I guess that's kind of how I've always viewed it. And then I also view it as like it is

a business, right, um and I and I don't. I don't feel like I overshare. I think that I was being hounded by the paparazzi and and and in a lot of these um places, we're going to write stuff about me anyway. And in a way, it's sort of like diffused it all um, and I didn't become a target anymore. And I got to really sort of feel like I was in control of something that felt so out of control for so long. Um the power back. Yeah.

And then when I started my business, I had already been active and starting to really own my own narrative for about three and a half years before the company

was officially founded. I guess my whole journey with Honest was me more and more getting more comfortable in my own in owning my power, not apologizing for myself, and just feeling worthy, I guess, And that's something that I've realized from doing the podcast, a passion that I've kind of stumbled upon, um in realizing that the media has kind of taken the human out of a person they portray. They put people on a pedestal, and it's so easy to forget that these people are, like, there's just a

human being. And I feel like social media, for as many great things, it does accelerate that a little bit, and I aspire to be more like you in the way you view social media as a business, because I'm trying to do that. But at the same time, I'm like, Okay, I'm nineteen. I'm a nineteen year old girl, and then I have the effects of social media, but I'm trying to think of it as a business. What advice do you have, because I know you say you compartmentalize pretty

well to kind of not feed into that world. I would say, it's interesting if I was a nineteen year old girl, what would I do if I was going to leverage social media as a strategic business, you know, Avenue, I would probably unfollow most people that I know, and I would probably only follow people that I aspired to be like or people they wanted to work with. And I would obviously follow my mom and dad because they you know, probably and they would want me to see

their their posts. Um. But then your feed is really strategic. What you're seeing reminds you while you're there, and if I you know, for me, I follow a lot of people that I think just do a good job on social media and resonate with people, and I'm like, God, they do a really good job at making people feel like they're getting an intimate sort of snapshot of their life. It they're not really saying much. It's just like them like feeding their dogs cereal or you know, it's like

they're just like taking a selfie on set whatever. But that's like, it's the BTS. It's the BTS, And there's something that feels so intimate about it because their coffee is spilled on their shirt and that feels so human, right,

and so I the bar is so low. But I'm just saying, like they there are certain people that are really good at social media, and so I would follow those people, and then I follow just people that I think would be cool to collaborate with, or to do a skit with, or do something on YouTube with, or to do a podcast with. And so I just follow a lot of people like that as well that I think would just be like a good business partner. And uh.

And then some news feeds that I think are cool. Um. And if you do follow entertainment news feeds, I think you should accord order of your news feeds should be entertainment and gossip related if you are someone that you know follows those feeds. But I think three quarters of it should be about real things that you care about, inspirational quotes, something in science or math or the media that you really like, you know, whatever, it is a bird species, you know, you can kind of go in

on any of it. Social mediabit hole, it is a rabbit hole. But I think funnel your feed so that it's serving you and the algorithm picks up a more healthy mental process for yourself. I like that idea a lot, and I'm very much going to consider that and do more research on that, because you know, do you know my left my life motto is for the past, Like it's a eight months tell me fuck it? Why not

suck it? Why not put it? On a shirt. I think it works because something I've realized is the amount of time I spend on my phone in high school, especial you joined the pandemic, it was like thirteen hours a day, and I was like, that's terrible, and so I started being very aware of it. I started deleting apps, just spending less time of it, and then I got creative again, and then I wanted to develop more things. And I think we can live in a world where it can be hard to know where to start. I

always say the hardest part is starting something. Um, what would you say the best way to start is, whether that's creating a business or starting a career in an aspect, would you say it's doing research on it or would you say it's going full steam ahead? I would say how to start something. I'm a fan of a vision board. I think I love a good vision board, you know, cut out and do it in real life, something that's

I r l um. Go to like a flea market, thrift store, magazine stand and just get things that make you happy or look pretty, and gets a hot glue gun and some poster board and just start together a mishmash of things that just bring you joy, um, and if you can focus it on a something that reminds you of whatever for you. If you're like I want to make films or documentaries or produce you know, something specific, and it's like, okay, so what documentaries inspire you and

what stories inspire you? And you'll just almost if you like meditate and you just like sort of quiet your mind and take like three breaths and you just say, like, I just want to be open to the stories that I should be telling. And whoever you believe God, your spirit guides yourself. UM, guide me to where what I should care about and stories that I should care about, and and the things will come in when you're open,

Life will hand you everything that you need. Yeah. I the first vision board I created, I photoshopped my face next to um people that I wanted to interview, and I would take an interview and I photoshot my face on top of the interviewer just to like see it visually. And I think that really helped. And those there were and it happens, many of them happened. I'm the manifested. Do you believe a manifestation? Of course? Okay, because I'm trying to get more in it, and I you know

that you you just explained it. See I agree with that. But then when I talk to people, some people are like, no, it's not a thing. It's in your head. Why isn't that a thing. That's what manifesting is. You have to first have the thought that it's going to happen, and then if you need to solidify make that thought more tangible, you create a vision board. Otherwise, if the thought is there, you and you create. I mean, you're interviewing people, so

there you go. You manifest unintentionally manifested acts. Yeah. Yeah, I mean you can either call it manifesting or not, but it is what it is. It's just facts. That's what you've done. I guess, so I haven't really thought of it like true story. Okay, we have to take one more quick break, but when we come back, I want to talk to you about what it was like on the day your company went public and how your new children's book is giving back to those in need

in an amazing way. We'll be right back and we're back. What was it like going public with your company? It was like an out of body experience. I mean, I

can only really liken it too. I never had a wedding, and I've never really had like a big celebration that I like planned for for months um, And so the only thing I can really think about that it could be like is maybe wedding um, where you like plan all the details and you like have an idea and there's speeches and there's you know, a time when this is gonna happen and that is going to happen. So UM. It felt weird because we were planning for it for so long um leading up to it, and then when

it actually happened, it was like very surreal. It was weird. It was like a really cool experience because my family was there, my friends were there, and this journey was like so wild and and no one in a million years ever thought that it could ever be possible. And so when it comes to manifesting, I think me acknowledging that I manifested that and I created that reality and giving myself the space to enjoy that moment and really um be present, I think that that was like the

most important thing for me. And regardless of sort of like anyone else's experience in it, I had to take ownership and and really lean into what my genuine take away and experience what I wanted it to be, and be okay with that because I love to distract myself with like is every is what are my kids going to think? And what is what are the bankers going to think? And what is you know, a leadership team going to think in each one of them and thinking

of where they are in their life. Because I'm very um an EmPATH, right, and so I try to take on everyone else's experience and and see through their eyes. But um, I really disallowed myself to be completely present in my own body and it was wild. That's a great state to be and demeditate. I should meditate more. I want to try. I have troubles like being still for that long. Yeah, you don't necessarily. It's interesting because I don't think meditating is the same for everyone, and

I think it can take on different forms. I like actually like to listen to and be guided through meditations. Um And there's actually a lot of like brain um sort of like frequency music that you can listen to. You can even get it free like on Spotify. Um And it it's just like meditating to me is when you can sort of like allow yourself to breathe and even let your mind drift, but then sort of like rest your mind from the busy the busy stuff in and all the details right and just be able to

just sort of like drift um. And sometimes it's going on a run, sometimes it's on a spin bike. Sometimes it's doing yoga. Sometimes it's listening to, you know, a guided meditation. Sometimes it's listening to like frequency sounds. So I love listening to frequency sounds on you the see. I guess I'm realizing many things I do now have titles they didn't even realize at this point. That's what I think. We are living in such a world where

everything is so go, go go. Taking the time to kind of acknowledge everything that's happening and take a moment to think about where you want to go forward is so powerful and something that we don't do enough in society. And I feel like we're always focusing on the next thing, but being present is so important. Yeah, And I think it's like sometimes when you're so focused on the future, you forget to be grateful for what's happening right now.

And if you're always living for tomorrow, you're almost never going to be satisfied, right, because it's hard for it to live up to a fantasy. And so I do think that there's something that I've been doing lately as well to sort of help with that focus. Is there's certain crystals that kind of like remind you of certain um things. And one of them is like a rose quartz crystal is really it symbolizes like a heart opener um.

And so if you're like listening to your frequency sounds and you just have your like a rose quartz crystal doesn't matter what size it is um and you kind of like lay it like in the here, like next to your heart, and you just sort of like lay there with the crystal there, and you just think about, like I just want my heart to be open, and I want to be open to what I'm supposed to be doing in this life, in this moment, and just like kind of say that in your head a couple

of times while you're listening to your music, maybe you'll get some kind of opening that, yeah, you know, you never had before. I love that you're doing a lot. We can also now add children's book author to them. I'm very excited to talk about this because I'm also developing a children's book right now you are, I am, um, what was the process like of creating it and what is it like now that it's out? Well? I I

collaborated with my friends. My my girlfriend, one of my best girlfriends joined a charity called Baby to Baby, and another with another friend of ours, and they really took it from being kind of like a small uh nonprofit that takes gently used items and you know, so cleans

them and distributes them to people living in poverty. And when they came on and I joined the board, we sort of we were saying, you know, the goal is to really like think about the scale of children living in poverty who don't have access to things like a clean diaper, basic human miss as these, yeah, that we don't even realize that people just don't have access to.

And because um the government UM programs like WICK and and different government programs, they don't um actually allow you to buy diapers or feminine products with uh food stamps and things like that. It's actually looked at as a luxury item and they tax for and they tax it like like they tax a luxury item like tobacco and alcohol.

They tax diapers and feminine care outside of California. That is an interesting cycle of poverty where something like diapers is literally like the difference between a family being able to like go to work, pay the rent if they do have a roof over the head put food on the table, Like they have to choose. Am I gonna put food on the table. Am I going to pay the rent? Am I going to keep the lights on? Or am I going to diaper my child? So they

use dirty diapers and reuse them on their babies. Um, a lot of these families don't have a safe place for their babies to sleep. A lot of children get smothered because they have multiple children in a bed um and they just don't have kind of any other way. And especially COVID really knocked people sideways. Um. So we at Baby to Baby have distributed two hundred million items to families living in poverty, and a hundred million of

those items have happened during the COVID pandemic. But to be able to like collaborate with my my girlfriends and create this this book that teaches a child about giving back, and I wanted to have like an Afro Latina as our main character. Um, there's actually more animals that are leads in children's books than um children people of color and grow rolls. Um. So what is the world we

live in? It's the truth And so for us it was like also just showing up my kids are mixed, their black, Mexican and white, and just to have that representation of like our family and then it's so important and heard right, it's it is important. That's awesome, And I think having that representation and having those lessons instilled is hopefully can to make the country much better because

I think we can all do better. I think the more diverse our country is, the more women stand up for themselves, the more people of color stand up for themselves, and the more that we all decide that we deserve to be treated equal, the more we're going to continue to expose the injustices that have been afflicting us for

thousands of years. Yeah, And I think it's one of those things where you inspire me to want to have a business because the way, in my opinion, you said you look at success is doing good instead of making money, which I think is so important. I feel like if we all looked at the world like that, we can make such more of a positive impact. Yeah, and I don't. Here's the thing, like I'm not. My business is a business. It's not a charity. But you can align yourself. You're

doing charity. So when you buy Honest, you are supporting baby to baby, you are supporting March of Times. You are supporting. We wouldn't be able to do what we do and with the nonprofits we work with or give back the way that we do if people didn't bring on us into their homes, into their lives. So the more you support us, the more we can do good on top of standing for sustainability, transparency, clean ingredients, and high ethical values and standards in the way that we

run our business. Yeah, I love your business structure. I think it's so more people to do it. Thanks. I hope it becomes a trend. Well, Jessica, thank you so much for coming on my podcast. I know you are insane. Um, it's been a few years in the making. I know, and I you know. I hope you get to sleep soon. You know what me too. Yeah, thank you guys so much for listening to the season three finale of the

Last Bieral Podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you haven't subscribed to leave a comment, you, guys, if we want to force season to happen, we need some comments, We need some good recommendations. So that would mean so much to me. And thank you so much, Jessica for taking the time out of your incredibly busy schedule to

chat with me. I think this conversation, I think all of us can agree that it was really refreshing to hear the truth about what it's like to be such a inspiring and hard working woman in this day and age. If you haven't followed Jessica on all her social media, and follow me on Instagram and it's Sammy J. That's I T S S A M M Y j A y E. And I will hopefully see you next season. All right, bye, guys,