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

Cara McQueeney, Hailey Sardi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

After moving to Colorado Springs, we both felt compelled that in Colorado Springs needed a space for women to shop locally and build community, and our space was born. Our mission is to create a space for community coming together to encourage and empower every woman to be their own. We started the store in order to give the women in our community a central place to build relationships, community, and feel comfortable while shopping. Our heart behind Local Honey is to help women feel at ease while shopping, and be able to find pieces that inspire each woman to feel at home.

Cara McQueeney, Hailey Sardi, 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?

At Local Honey, we believe that what you wear can change how you feel about yourself and how you approach certain situations. We want to provide affordable, on-trend clothing for women in an approachable setting so that each woman can feel encouraged to be her very own version of herself.

We exist to provide these items to our community but also, with we do so with the hopes of bringing people together. We believe that women, banded together, create a stronger community, and that’s what we want for our space and our mission here at Local Honey. In the short two years we’ve been open, we have met and helped inspire countless women on their own journey of entrepreneurship or furthering their careers. We want to provide clothes and accessories for our community, but we also want to cheer each women who comes into our store on toward their goals.

One tangible way we help build and fostering community through our space is hosting events in our brick and mortar store. Creating almost a hybrid retail/event space, we have held classes from everything to floral arranging and cocktail making to exercising and macrame weaving. We’ve held courses for learning more about post-partum movement, wine, and entrepreneurship. Our heart here at Local Honey feels most proud when we’re able to bring together people in our community for these events.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

We would be remiss to not mention that the entirety of the pandemic was a constant state of pivoting and growing and trying to keep our small business afloat. But – one of our largest pivots was written into our origination story. We had obtained licenses, ordered inventory, and prepped for an opening in the Summer of 2019 while finalizing details of a Letter of Intent (a step before signing a commercial lease) when all of a sudden the owner of the property stopped responding to our emails and eventually told us we were not longer able to rent the original space we had envisioned. While devastating, we had to pivot from first opening as a brick & mortar location to opening as an e-commerce store with no idea when or where we were going to open our brick and mortar location. Through a few very fortunate happenings, we found our current location and are still in love.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Hailey Sardi and I knew each other well, but we like to say now that we were acquaintances-at-best. We had met in college but were both in a post-graduate job that we didn’t love. One evening, over dinner with friends Hailey shared a dream of owning a store but that she wanted someone to do it with, and that’s when I volunteered myself. Over coffee a few weeks later, we shared our vision for community, bringing women together, and creating a space to shop but to also welcome people from all walks of life. We always agree that we aren’t sure how anyone owns a business alone. Having a partnership like ours, while not always easy, is one of the most rewarding parts of owning Local Honey.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: @thelocalhoneyco
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/thelocalhoneyco

Image Credits
Brenna Skattebo Photography, The Elan Studio