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

Stacey, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?

I believe that success is subjective, and is as unique as each individual person. There is no one set of criteria nor is there a one size fits all checklist where you can just check off the boxes as you complete each task. Success, and how we define it, is rooted back to our foundation, to our belief system, and to our life experiences that mold us and shape who we are. What might be success for one person may be completely irrelevant and unimportant to the next. Often people associate success with money. The more money you have, the more successful you are. The more “things” you own, the better you are doing.

While there is absolutely a part of me that strives to be financially successful and secure, overall success is so much more. If I had to define success for myself, I would say that success is continually working toward creating the business, the life, and the family I’ve always imagined, while maintaining my beliefs, my values, and without compromising the things that are most important to me. Sometimes I think I will always be working at “becoming successful”, but when I really stop and think about it, I’ve had successes all along. Of course, they’ve been mixed in with the not so successful moments, but those allowed me to appreciate the wins even more. I don’t think I’ll ever stop working towards my success, nor would I want to, but I try very hard to appreciate each small goal and success I’ve accomplished through the whole ride. It’s easy to dismiss those, and only focus on what’s next.

Stacey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am the mom to three beautiful daughters, and the wife to my hardworking police K9 husband, Nick. Together, we own Be Blends, a company that focuses on creating safer and cleaner bath, body, and home products, that you can feel good about using on your family. We manufacture products like organic lip balms, deodorants, and lotions, to essential oil blends, soy candles, and aromatherapy jewelry. Everything we produce is handcrafted, and made with the absolute best quality, and safest ingredients we can source.

Be Blends was created when Nick was diagnosed with cancer in 2006. Our first daughter was two weeks old, and I was determined to clear our house of any chemical-laden, nasty, harmful home and personal care products that could contribute to his illness, or create a potential health risk for our new daughter. When I had a hard time finding natural, safe, organic products that were effective, and affordable, I turned to making my own. I began sharing my new products with friends and family, and when they started coming back asking for more, I realized maybe I was onto something. A few years later, Be Blends was born. What all started with a few lip balms, a body butter, and essential oil blends, has now developed into a full line of facial products, bath and body products, and home products. But even as we’ve grown and evolved, our mission and purpose has remained the same.

While we started Be Blends as an online only store, we added wholesale into the mix shortly after we began, and our products are now carried in stores across the US and in Canada. We also opened a brick and mortar boutique, Be Blends Collective, which carries our brand, of course, along with unique, handmade products from other small, local businesses, just like ours.

Be Blends began as a small, family owned business, and that is still very much what it is today. Our daughters, who started with labeling products, and packing orders when they were younger, are now involved with product development, marketing, bookkeeping, inventory management, running the store, and every other little thing in between. Business meetings are often held around the dinner table, and there is almost never a day that we don’t stop by the store or the warehouse when we’re on our way to something else. While we’ve added people to our team to help with production, fulfillment, and working the retail store, our family is very much the core of this business, and I hope to always keep it that way. Family is incredibly important to me and I want that to come through in Be Blends

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In 2018 we decided to open up a brick and mortar boutique to showcase our product line, as well as highlight some other small brands. We searched for the perfect space in a busy, well-known Main Street town, Ellicott City, where my husband grew up. We worked with the landlord and contractors to build out this beautiful perfect space from February to May. On May 25th we moved into our new space, so excited about our future in this incredible town. Two days later, on May 27th, Ellicott City was devastated by a horrific flash flood that brought 9 feet of water rushing through our store and every other store on the street. In less than one hour, our entire store and everything in it was completely destroyed. All of the furniture, fixtures, and merchandise that we had just moved in two day earlier was gone, and our storefront was considered a “collapse zone”,

Part of me wanted to throw in the towel and give up. Maybe it was a sign that this business wasn’t meant to be? But a bigger part of me knew that giving up wasn’t an option. For one, I’m not a quitter. That’s not how I was raised, and that certainly wasn’t how I was going to let things go down for Be Blends. I also knew that I had my three girls watching my every move during this tragedy, and I wanted them to know that just because life sometimes throws things your way that seem overwhelming and unbearable, it’s possible to stand back up and overcome those obstacles, even when it seems impossible.

So, we pulled together all the money we had left, we got back into the workshop and started producing as much product as we could, and I signed up for every single event or fair that I could find. We set up our tent and tables, we shared Be Blends with people, we used our grief to propel us forward, and we were determined to rise back up. It wasn’t easy, but business never is easy. All the whole time I had this doubt in the back of my head wondering if maybe we just ignored the glaring sign, but I kept telling myself that it wasn’t a sign, it was what I needed to prove to myself how hard I would work to make this business happen.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Let me first start off by saying that we don’t have a huge following on social media. While I know the importance of social media in today’s world, I feel like it’s more important to know how, where, and why it fits into my business. I know while “Reels” are incredibly important for engagement and growth, many of them feel silly to me and honestly just aren’t in line with who I am, what we are, and what I want our business to be.

So, with that said, although we don’t have a large following, I do feel like those that follow us are “our customers”. They aren’t random people who happened to come across us because they liked some goofy thing we did to get more likes and views, although we have done our faire share of goofy posts. they are people who follow Be Blends because their values align with ours, and they can relate to us, and what we offer.

We have a very loyal community and customer base, and I believe that is because I have always just been real with my customers. I let them into our family, I ask their opinion (and I value it), I share my struggles, not just my wins, and I never once pretend to be something that I’m not. I think that customers can see that we are authentic, and they appreciate it, and relate to it. They can see that we’re just not sharing the highlights, but we’re sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly.
So, if I had to give one bit of advice about social media, and take it for what it’s worth because I’m no social media know it all, just be real. Just be your authentic self, and let people get to know you a bit. There are lots of brands out there that may be similar to yours, but there is no one else that can be you.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.beblends.com
• Instagram: @beessential
• Facebook: @beblends

Image Credits
Brooke Reid Photography