We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jenn Hill a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jenn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I like to say I started ZENJENN back when I was about 10 years old. My mom brought home some epsom salts and a small box of essential oils. It was the 90’s so you could really only get the basic essential oils…lavender, eucalyptus, and lemon. We made our own bath salts that day and I was hooked! From then on, I started making my own beauty and skincare creations from ingredients found in my kitchen. Sugar scrubs, hair masks made with egg whites, and avocado face masks. I experimented with all kinds of natural ingredients. Throughout college I made products for my friends and even had a friend or two come over to shower at my place just to try out my latest creations! Cut-to many years later, I’m working in the fast paced fashion industry and starting to feel burnt out. I was a new mama and torn between a career I loved and my newest roll in life. I found that my morning and night routine was the only thing keeping me grounded as I navigated my new over-scheduled life. My nightly bath and skincare time became a sort of ritual that really helped me to end the day feeling more relaxed. Using products that boasted natural ingredients, lighting a candle in my bathroom and letting the botanical smells of my oils bring me back to myself over and over again shifted my overall
well-being.

I became even more curious about the benefits of natural ingredients and creating rituals out of mindful moments.
I began studying herbalism and meditation over the course of two years that lead into the pandemic. Through my own need for natural and sustainable products that serve a bigger purpose, ZENJENN was born. A holistic beauty and skincare brand that focuses on the ritual of self-care. The three pillars of the brand being: ritual, beauty, and wellness. I began to formulate products using herbal techniques such as soaking dried herbs in oil for 6-8 weeks, using botanical colorants to create an intentional bath soak, and creating a multi-purpose face oil that smells and feels amazing and even replaces several steps in your routine through potent plants. I started to research sustainable ingredients, bottles, and labels to further elevate the level of care in each product. As I began to build out the
brand values, I knew that giving back would be important for me. From the beginning I reached out to Mental Health America and began a partnership to donate a portion sales towards the mental health crisis in this country.

Once I had all of these pieces in place it was time to launch…but how? I have a little something people like to call “analysis paralysis.” It’s something us perfectionists use to NOT do something for fear of rejection. Luckily, a great mentor of mine Natalia
Benson always says “begin anywhere,” and she was right. Even Elon Musk failed at launching Paypal over and over again. And so, I put my products on a website, created an Instagram, and have taken it one day at a time ever since.

I am very in tune with myself through meditation and self-awareness so I run my business by letting my intuition be my guide. As another mentor of mine Suzy Batiz says “go with what lights you up and makes you feel ALIVE.” If a potential collaboration or partnership doesn’t feel aligned (even if it could be a big opportunity) I pass on it. I trust in my gut and know that I am always guided by my inner knowing.

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 background and context?

I explained a lot of this in the first question, but here is a little bit more about me. I am a mama of two girls Harlow and Ziggy and am married to my college sweetheart Jeff. We just celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary, but have been together for almost
14! Almost half of our lives…that is crazy to think about. It wasn’t an easy road to grow up with your partner the way we did, but becoming parents together has made us so much stronger then ever before. I feel very lucky and blessed to be able to say that,
because being a parent is HARD.

I have found that raising kids is so much like building a business. You must be adaptable, an out of the box thinker, and resilient to the point of absurdity. It’s having blind faith that you know it’s going to work out despite the constant battles, set backs,
heartaches, and days you spend crying on the floor. At the end of the day, having this business to grow along side the girls has been so rewarding for me. I get to be creative, analytical, and playful all while being able to create my own schedule so that
I can be with the girls when they need me. I look forward to continuing to guide both the business and the girls for years to come.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Markets and pop-ups! I am very social and love to be “out in the world” as I call it, so my favorite place to meet new clients is at local markets and pop-ups around DFW. I get lots of repeat clients that will order from my website once they run out of their
favorite products!

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I am big on keeping up with social media. I am always quick to respond to messages and emails when clients have questions or concerns. Just recently, a mail delivery service failed to send a package to a client and it was totally lost. It was a fairly large
sale and at the end of the day I wanted to make sure the client had the product they ordered.

I quickly sent them a new one. Yes, I lost the units from that first package, but it is so important to me that the client come away from the transaction happy and with the products they love! I’ve worked with companies before that would fight tooth and nail
to not be responsible for a missing package and I find that completely ridiculous. The client was so grateful for the quick response and turn around time for resending their order. Interactions like this one are so important to building brand loyalty.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.zen-jenn.com
• Instagram: @zenjennrituals
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zenjennrituals
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zenjennbeauty
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtZAhvIc9JSWJ-_bB7XpJTQ
• Other: Google My Business: https://g.page/r/Cc0ptWT9r2BREAE

Image Credits
Emma Leigh Studios,  Keetch Miller Photo