Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jennifer Honeycutt. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jennifer, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Covid turned everyone’s life upside down – I am one of the fortunate people that was able to use the pandemic as a catalyst for a starting point of change for my future. I had built a name for myself in San Diego, CA operating as a high-level executive. 24 hours in a day were not enough to complete everything I wanted to accomplish. My mental and physical health were on the backburner indefinitely, my family and friends were distant acquaintances and those nearest and dearest to me were my work associates. I knew something wasn’t right and working but I didn’t have the time to even sit down to take a second to think about it, also- I got addicted to the buzz of grinding and being a “boss lady.” Our company was expanding aggressively and the outlook on the horizon was long hours and dedication to that life. When March 2020 came around, it didn’t hit me at first. I fell ill with Covid and correlated events made me realize I was just a moving number for this company that I willingly sacrificed so much for. I knew I wouldn’t get another opportunity to step away (mainly because I was too afraid of the what-ifs and the unknown) so I sucked it up with no plan and left the company and a career I had spent forming for 10+ years.
Fast forward to the end of 2020 and I end up in Austin, Tx with the mass exodus of Californians. (My husband is from here so y’all can’t hate on me too much!) :)
Sprinkle in a marriage and a pregnancy and you have a recipe for WTF DID WE JUST DO.
I immediately jumped into looking for positions that aligned with my previous career path. I interviewed, I got offers, I accepted offers, and the whole time I KNEW it was not right. I was terrified to go back and for all the wrong reasons.
I decided to take a step back to remember who I was outside of a job, a career. What did I even like to do?
Three years later, I have never been more grateful for the life I have. I am excited for work everyday, I have found creativity. Stress and anxiety don’t rule my life. I take a look back at three years ago and don’t even know how I became that person. She was a work-psycho and her era was over.

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?

Coming from a high-volume background, I was always on the move and exhausted. When we had our daughter, I got slapped hard in the face with motherhood. I could not believe that exhaustion could hit even harder than I had experienced. Postpartum anxiety and depression took over and I was so lost. I didn’t think motherhood was for me and thought maybe leaving my career was a mistake, I didn’t know who I was or what I should be doing. I turned to social media to help look for answers and for maybe anyone else that was feeling the same and not afraid to say it. I found a community of newer moms who helped pick me up out of the darkness and let me know I wasn’t alone. Once the fog lifted, I started noticing things on my friends’ posts who recently had first time children and I could pinpoint worries and feelings they were having. I started reaching out to people behind the scenes to share what I had learned and experienced to let them know they weren’t alone – that ended up growing a small community of people who turn to me to calm their worries about motherhood or at least laugh at our shared hurdles. I quickly learned that sharing bits of our daily life and showing the reality of being a new mom was helping others in ways I didn’t fathom. Often we look to our mothers and elders for insight or advice but regarding parenting- that’s outdated and met with disappointment -but a community of our peers going through the same thing can be beautiful and eye-opening.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

It was drilled into my brain that hard and successful work = long hours. If I wasn’t the first one in and last one out, I failed my team, I left things on the table. This approach did get me further along in my career and specifically opened up opportunities, however, that’s not saying there aren’t other ways to obtain this – I just didn’t know any other way.
Now, as a stay-at-home working mom, long hours I got – but not for the j-o-b, for my daughter. My priorities shifted, my mindset was no longer on accomplishing everything possible in the day – it was set on quality time and intentional moments.
I had to re-learn how to fluidly move between both mom and work mode, I didn’t have the privilege of focusing in a quiet office anymore. I refused to let that diminish my work though, I just needed to reorganize how I did things.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I used social media for our company but never utilized it much for personal use. I was the first one to say that “social media is not a job.” Welp…. I humbly apologize to everyone who has heard me say that because this work is not for the faint of heart. It takes time, commitment, humility – like any other career path. There are imposters and different tiers of success out there but if you have a goal in mind – that is all you need to grow. There is no difference between an entrepreneur working on his coffee shop, or an executive working on her promotion, or a creative starting their own brand . We all build on our goals, build on our finish line. Creatives have the ability to lead with empathy, kindness, connection, and vulnerability – not all things that are available for other fields.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @thehoneybutts
• Youtube: thehoneybutts_