We recently connected with Finnigan Jones and have shared our conversation below.

Finnigan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

At Mother Madre Bees our mission is “Honor the Mother within and without” and that guides every decision I make for the company on a day to day basis. So what doest that mean? It means to honor the mother we live on, the Earth, honor the mother in each of us, and to live each day in a way that honors what the Earth provides for us. The Mother is a symbol of abundance and creation, just like the honeybee. Mother Earth creates everything that we all need to survive and thrive. I try to honor the Mother by being mindful, ethical & sustainable in my business practices. I do not take before asking, I do not create without permission. I always want to come from a place of reciprocity with the bees and the Earth. I worked in fashion for years and saw so much waste. So I am always trying to do better and see how small I can make my footprint in this business. I very much believe that working in this way is what has made my business grow so steadily over the last few years. When I am old, I want to know I did my best to create something good and thoughtful.

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.

I worked in fashion for close to ten years and saw a lot an incredible amount of waste, which is a huge reason I started to look beyond fashion for where I belonged. I started working on other projects and really dove into the wellness space and learning about herbalism and beekeeping. I felt much more at home in the holistic space and had a few business attempts that provided many learning lessons. One of those lessons, was simplicity. From all my “failures” I found keeping things simple was what was needed and I needed to do something that gave back to the Earth in some way.

During an extremely difficult time in my life, I started making beeswax candles in the shape of a beautiful naked woman. I just had one mold and would make these candles to gift to friends. I gifted one to a dear friend of mine, Anna, who has a store Oil Studio, and she asked to sell them! I agreed, and they sold out the first week! I thought maybe I had something so I asked another store to sell them, and again sold out quickly. I feel so lucky that over the last few years this has been my experience consistently.

I have made a conscious effort to let the business grow naturally and not push it. Mother Madre Bees was born from a place of great pain, but I created something beautiful in those quiet, hard times. I feel that it has been such a gift from the honeybee, but also Mother Earth. I always had in my mind that I wanted to be a candle maker and here I am making candles. That is a blessing! I started with just a simple double boiler and one candle mold! Now I am lucky to have a small shop, weekly orders, loyal customers, many candle molds, and a gorgeous wax melter!

Currently, I make 4 different beeswax candles in the shape of women, of course to honor women. I started with Abundant Goddess who truly brought me abundance. Then Fertile Mama was born and is a naked pregnant women meant to bring comfort and fertile thoughts to women on their fertility journey. Sexy Little Mush is our biggest seller and is a woman’s tush with a mushroom top! Lastly, we have Bountiful Babe which is my curviest and most divine candle. They all are meant celebrate women and each offer up a different affirmation. Next year, I will be adding more gorgeous ladies to the mix and be adding something extra special in honor of my own mom who taught me how to make candles. She was even the reason I got into beekeeping.

Currently, I source my beeswax from different small beekeepers from across the country! That’s really important to me, to support small beekeepers who are working in harmony with the bees. One day as my own apiary grows I will source my own beeswax for the candles, but will also keep supporting the other beekeepers I work with now. I just want to grow and learn everyday from the honeybee. My end goal is to one day have a place where people of all ages can come and learn from the honeybee.

Truly want to do is continue to make candles, learn from the honeybee, honor Mother Earth, and keep growing this business steadily and simply. It brings me pure joy and happiness and I hope that translates to those who buy them!

If you have multiple revenue streams in your business, would you mind opening up about what those streams are and how they fit together?

I think multiple revenue streams are KEY! I have been lucky enough where I just put a tiny bit of capital to get it going in the beginning but it has been profitable ever since, but that was definitely not the case in other ventures of mine. Next year, I will be adding more diversity to my business by adding other revenue streams. Currently, I just have 4 candle options, but it definitely time to diversify! I am adding downloadble pamphlets to my products. I am going to focus on making them “how-tos” such as “How to Plant a Pollinator Garden” or ” How to Make Taper Candles”. I want to have more education for my customers about honeybees! I feel education is so important, it is not just about selling candles but creating a relationship between my customers and the honeybee.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn that money and profitability is most important, Yes, it is important, but when you are just focused on that, where is the heart and soul? I love money and making money, but a business needs to be more than that. Our world is vastly changing, and we need more businesses that matter, that care, and that want to do better. You have to be open for change, for flexibility, to see how people want to spend their money and who they want to connect with. People more and more want to connect with brands that care beyond the dollar. When you are just focused on the money, it becomes stressful and inauthentic. Now that I focus on the product, my customers, and being mindful with the honeybee and Earth, I am having way more success. I think it is so important to remember that as a business owner all our thoughts, and intentions are going into the business, so we need to be mindful of what we are putting out there and the energy we are creating!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mothermadrebees.etsy.com
• Instagram: @mothermadrebees
• Other: wholesale website faire: https://faire.com/direct/mothermadrebees

Image Credits
photos by Lena Britt Photography *every photo besides one in beesuit