We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful India Pierce. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with India below.

India , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I believe in the power of radical pauses, moments of deep rest and rejuvenation. All around us are messages pushing us towards being more productive, so much so that making time for nonproductive joy is its own liberation practice. There are a million things to do and not enough time to do even half of them. As such, we’re constantly going and rarely give ourselves time to relax. Armed with the motto of, more joy and less stress, Omi Picnics is on a mission is to transform our slice of the world, one picnic at a time, by creating unique experiences that allow our clients to slow down, spend time with those they love, and boldly chase joy.

The creation of Omi Picnics was definitely a journey. Prior to creating Omi Picnics, to say that my plate was full is an understatement. Between my research, teaching, consulting, family, and other passion projects, I often found myself stressed and overworked, which is not the type of life I want but wanting something different wasn’t enough to persuade me to change course. Well, after a series of life circumstances and the loss of some people that were very important to me, I came to realize that I couldn’t continue to wait to shift things in my life – I needed to boldly chase joy and that’s what I did. I decided that if my plate was going to be full it needed to be full of things that brings me closer to joy. Omi Picnics is my way of inviting slowness, joy, and connection into my life and the lives of my “picnic friends” (what I call our clients).

More joy and less stress, isn’t just a motto that guides our mission but also my life’s motto. Now, I challenge myself every day to build a life and a business led by joy.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My background is a bit nuanced and I think that’s what makes me so passionate about the work I do. As I alluded to above, I am an educator and racial justice and equity consultant. In addition to owning Omi Picnics I am also the co-founder of Moxie Consultancy Collective, a consultancy groups that works globally to support organizations in the creation of socially responsible, anti-racist, and equity-driven workplaces. I actually moved to San Diego years ago for a PhD program. There was a point a few years ago where I made an intentional decision to let joy lead my life (laughs), that’s a whole other story. Out of that intention Omi Picnics was born.

Omi Picnics is a luxury picnic events company that takes the classic picnic that we know and love, and kicks it up a notch. Our clients look for high quality, unique ways to gather and celebrate special moments while taking in the beauty of the city. We meet this need by providing a no-stress luxurious experience all while saving them time and money. We take care of everything; removing the stress and expense of hosting, so they can focus on meaningful connections. Further, our clients get to explore the most beautiful parts of San Diego, without searching, they simply choose from our curated list. With the belief that every occasion is a picnic occasion, we have created picnics for birthdays, proposal (our favorite), bachelorette outings, baby showers, employee appreciations, and even simple friend get togethers.

Aligned with our commitment to joyful work we have launched The Picnic Circle, an online community of luxury picnic owners who come together under the common belief that community is more powerful than competition. We create online opportunities for members to network and learn together.

Omi Picnics is proud to be a part of the ever growing community of women, Black, and LGBTQ+ owned businesses in San Diego.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

My biggest piece of advice for managing a team is to prioritize transparency. So often we leave our team guessing. Guessing what we want, how we want things, what’s going on in the business, how their specific tasks fits in the larger pictures, and so forth. I get it, we’re busy, and as business owners we don’t always have the time to share updates every moment of the day but if we want to cultivate a strong team culture we need to not leave our team guessing. It is important that our team members feel like they have a clear picture of the larger plan for the business so they can feel invested. With greater investment comes more general satisfaction in the work they’re doing. But here’s the thing, with transparency must come open lines of communication. We should provide our team with ways to provide us with feedback and that they know will be heard, respected, and acted upon. And transparency doesn’t just begin and end with the work, I have found that it is very powerful for me, as a boss to be transparent with my team. When I don’t know something I tell them and if it’s something that they are experts in I ask questions and ask them to teach me. Just that small action goes a long way in building a strong team culture.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One thing that I had to unlearn is that the amount of money in your bank account is not the only measure of success that counts. Of course, as business owners we want our energy and time to pay off. There’s nothing wrong with wanting our business to be profitable. However, that should not be our only measure of success. It can take a long time to get our businesses to the scale that it is bringing in the type of money that will provide us with financial security. Therefore, it’s important that we have a vision of success that while includes financial goals, moves beyond them. For me, my vision of success is inextricably tied to living a life of joy. I got very clear about what exactly that means to me and I started to create business goals that work towards my more expansive vision of success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.omipicnics.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/omipicnics/

Image Credits
Taylor Mckie Jenni Summer