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

Chantel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My personal mission of cultivating a culture of joy and wellness within my community is deeply personal for me. Although my business Joy Juice Culture is a vehicle for this mission to serve others, the essence of my work has saved my life in so many ways. I simply got to a point in my life where I was not mentally, spiritually or physically well and I was suffering because of it. I struggled with health issues like chronic hypertension, bad cholesterol was high, painful fibroids and anxiety to name a few. I tried every diet that exists, joined gyms and did all types of workout programs, but never found a sustainable solution that brought me a sense of joy and peace. All things changed when I was introduced to the world of juicing and living a plant-forward lifestyle.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Of course! I’m a multi-hyphenate wife, mom of two, higher ed administrator and CEO founder of a profit-for-purpose juice and wellness company; Joy Juice Culture. About 8-9 years ago, I came across a documentary that spoke about the healing powers of plants and juicing. I immediately went and bought a low budget juicer that I had no idea would be the start of a beautiful journey that essentially over the years would help me to develop a daily wellness practice and total restoration of joy in my mind, body, and spirit for myself. About a year ago, I really started to see and feel the full benefits of being intentional with my re- commitment to my healing. I mastered juicing recipes that made me excited to consume. I remember using my husband as my first taste tester, because it’s one thing for you to think you have the best product in the world, and another when others believe the same! So I gave a sample of what I now call our “Gimme a Beet” juice which is a perfect blend of beets, pineapple, carrots, lime and apple. His eyes lit up with joy after one sip. Now, for context- my husband is a total southern anti vegetable and limited fruit loving carnivore. He was amazed and encouraged me to share my juice with others. And so I did. I started sharing more of myself making my favorite juices on social media and sharing more of my story of the benefits that I was experiencing. My biggest win was witnessing lowering my high blood pressure after just a few days of juice cleansing. Before I knew it, samples turned into orders, and those orders turned into outgrowing my home kitchen and officially turning my love for juicing into an e-commerce community juicery with a commercial kitchen located in Garland,TX.

I’ve created the essence of my business model to serve as a solution for people like me who are deeply consumed with the demands of work, family and life that often leaves our inner cups empty and leaves us depleted of joy and vitality. Joy Juice Culture is the solution for the person who, similar to 90% of Americans, aren’t eating enough fruits and vegetables, and juicing feels like the ideal solution for them but they lack the time and desire to juice themselves at home and/or haven’t found juices that makes them want to drink everyday.

I’m proud of reading our google testimonials that read “Joy Juice Culture is so good, I forget it’s healthy,” or “ hearing women talk about how they originally bought the juice for themselves but shockingly ended up having to share their juice with their partner who originally said they hated fruit and veggie juice. These stories light me up inside with so much joy.

I’m also most proud of seeing the joy and hope in a person’s eyes when they taste our juice, that says- ok, I can do this! I can reset my habits and give my body what it needs and loves.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Now that I think about it. My business is rooted in my resilience and determination to heal myself naturally of chronic health issues through Juice. Some people come to pursuing a wellness practice because of inspiration. You know, the cute, sweet, inspiring photos and videos you see on social media. Often times, inspiration doesn’t last. For me, it was quite different. My life was on the line. My blood pressure spiked so high that I’ve been hospitalized numerous times for intervention and risk of stroke. I knew deep down that I wasn’t living a healthy lifestyle to support my healing. I got to a point of being sick and tired of my excuses. I did NOT want to accept being on medications for the rest of my life just because I didn’t have the willpower to at least give my all to my healing. So, I made a plan with my doctor and told him that within six months I would come back after making different lifestyle habits with improved blood pressure. And that’s what I did. I enrolled in health, wellness and holistic healing courses at YouTube University lol, wiped out my Half-Priced Book store to get knowledge and got to work! Each day, I made a commitment to a new habit. Whether it was practicing more movement, introducing a new fruit and vegetable in meals, and even successfully completing a juice detox and cleanse. I naturally dropped my blood pressure from extremely high 180/95 to near perfect 110/67. I truly believe this was resilience in action.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Well, I think the pandemic was the ultimate teacher of learning how to pivot in business. It gave me a different lens to approach business to reduce risk and think creatively. When many people hear of a Juicery, they think of a brick and mortar, and we all saw how hard the pandemic hit businesses with this model over the last few years. I’ve kept this in mind while creating a lean start-up model for Joy Juice Culture to ensure our ability to be fluid and flexible in this way. Thus far, we solely operate out of a shared kitchen to run our e-commerce model where we deliver what we call our Joy Drops, juice deliveries to our client base. The uncertainty of the economy has crippled many in pursuing their dreams versus thinking innovatively about how to pivot under the current conditions to still be a solution to a problem that exists in our community here and now.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.joyjuiceculture.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joyjuiceculture
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joyjuiceculture
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/joy-juice-culture-garland