We recently connected with Laura Hill and have shared our conversation below.
Laura, 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?
I recently left my full-time job and 16-year career in the medical offices of the healthcare industry so that I can live my mission more completely. I truly loved the work that I was able to do, but it became abundantly clear during this pandemic that it was time for me to make this jump and pursue my dream of working for myself. A little back story about me, about what I have learned about myself throughout my journey is that I am quite certain I was born an entrepreneur. From delivering newspapers at ten years old, to running my own babysitting business, to designing my own shirts and earrings with a friend, I have always been a self-motivated leader with a strong work ethic, and I am deeply rooted in my faith.
It is not easy to build a natural health selfcare brand. Natural health and being healthy is by far the hardest job I have ever done. I have been building this brand basically since 2014, though I may not have known it. As with most families, ours was touched by cancer when our only daughter was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma of the chest wall. Her legacy really showed me and taught me what quality of life really means. Through her journey, we learned living naturally is all about the quality of life. Tara’s legacy was about teaching others how to achieve this quality of life through natural means. It was about feeling good, living good, and thinking good.
It’s my “why”. I have had to stay extremely motivated when I felt defeated. I have had to struggle with doing all the ins and outs of developing and maintaining my own website. I have to be the product developer, the writer, the editor, the CEO, the customer, the accountant, and tax specialist. And I still do. I still have to stay diligent and mindful of all these things and so much more. It is more than any fulltime position I have ever worked, but it is also by far the most satisfying.
I am driven. I care deeply about living a natural lifestyle that is still conducive to being able to live in this modern world. It’s more than just making some natural bath and spa products. It’s also about teaching and learning about our physical bodies, our spirit, our energy, and what foods and chemicals do to all of these aspects about us. I eat, sleep, and dream this stuff! I feel it’s important, for me, for you, for my family, and so on. We are all connected. I know that without the lessons from every single situation, every single job, every single hard moment, comment, and emotion, I would not have created what I have created. We have a motto here at Honey Hill Naturals. “It’s how we live.” And it literally means life happens, been there done that, It’s how we react, it’s how we feel, it’s how we eat, it’s how we work, it’s how we live.
My “why” is to teach, myself and others, to truly live for their family. What does this mean? This means to take good care of your own health so that you’re loved ones aren’t having to worry about you, or worse, take care for you when you’re in poor health. Without good health, nothing else matters.
My company is Honey Hill Naturals, LLC. We are an online company born from the need of wanting chemical-free products. In my book, Tara’s Choice, Second Edition, I tell of this mother-daughter cancer journey in a story format, that includes all of the ways we tried to clean up our home and bodies. I share all of the natural treatments Tara did, and all of the natural therapies that her father and I still do to this day. I became a certified holistic nutritionist and health coach to help deliver this message that is Tara’s legacy, to help others to live more naturally and be healthier.
So, I hope you continue to be with me during this journey because I really feel like I am just getting started. I feel now is more important than ever to get back to any part of being natural, with the state of the world these days. I will continue to give it my all as this is truly my passion.
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 am a self-published author, an AFPA certified holistic nutritionist and health coach, teacher, and healthy living advocate with a background in Health Information Technology. I started blogging to inform people of my daughter’s (cancer) progress. It has elevated to teaching women to be critical thinkers about their health; helping women (and men) to use more natural products on their bodies, as well as eating more natural foods.
Healthy living was ingrained in me as a young child. I am the ninth child in line of a family with twelve children. Fresh air, diet and a positive attitude was the way I was raised. Craftiness, another attribute of a large family, came second nature and I learned to craft my own natural, homemade soaps and candles in high school. Little did I know that holistic living and natural products would become my passion when my only daughter was stricken with cancer. It was during this life experience, that my daughter’s decision to do natural therapies for a better quality of life along with conventional medicine, that I was thrust into a wealth of holistic knowledge.
The importance of clean living gave way to wanting to be chemical-free in the products I use every day. I am the creator of Honey Hill Naturals, LLC; an online company with a product line of natural bath and spa products such as soaps, lip balms, Magnesium Oil Spray, fine mist sprays, and creamy salves to name a few. I lovingly calls them “nutrition for your skin”.
Today, I serve to inspire health-conscious women and men to live healthier, with a belief that self-care and self-love is at the core of health and vitality that balances all else; mind, body, and spirit. The effects of autoimmune disorders, as well as cancer and even epilepsy, can be greatly decreased by living healthier. I teach mindfulness, not will power, will help you to reach your health goals. I live by example with clean eating and clean living. With the full support of my husband Craig, I created The Hill System. A Masterclass at which I provide strategies and support to remove the unhealthy habits that are holding you back to a more healthful life.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Resilience. Boy, does this word really resonate with me! I write in my book, Tara’s Choice, Second Edition, “Absolutely nothing about this journey has been textbook. I think about those who seem to be so composed during times like these. It is truly a talent they are given to be able to withstand such a calamity. I would often wonder about how parents of sick children could walk around and interact with others like nothing was wrong. Then I became that parent. What is their secret to making it look so easy, I wondered?”
Just as a mother can recall in her memories the day her children are born; I can recall just about every moment of this cancer journey. I continue to write, “I understand the reality of what strong means. Mothers will do anything for their children.” This journey has proved to me there is no other option than to be resilient.
One of Tara’s mentors said to me, “All parents say they will die for their children. I want to know; will you live for them?” This, too, was monumental in my thinking. I had to overcome my fears of dealing with this horrible disease, face my own health challenges, face the fears of all the change that has already happened and will continue to happen. Most of all, I had to overcome those dreaded thoughts of losing her. I had to be resilient and live for my family. I learned to “show up” every day and not give up. I really focused in on the foods we were eating, the products we were using in our homes and on our bodies, the water we were drinking, and the thoughts we were thinking was just not acceptable. More change was coming.
This is what I continue to do to this day. If our message only reaches just one person, and they find the strength to accept what it actually means to live for their kids, that is worth it for me.
The final message in Tara’s Choice, “Trust in your own power to heal. Be mindful about eating good nutrition, staying physically fit and active, and other practices like mind work, gratitude, and self-care. Practice self-love like you mean it. Keep an open mind to your natural practice. Be willing to accept new ideas. Be willing to let go of what no longer serves you. Be willing to change. After-all, a cancer diagnosis, or any diagnosis for that matter, is your body screaming that something is out of control; something is wrong. Treat it with love.” And I mean every last word.
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
I prefer to sell on my own site. In the beginning, I tried working on Amazon, but that didn’t work out. I am a self-published author on Amazon where you can find my books and journals. This happened because no “real” publisher even cared to look at my story. I was told once that it was just another cancer story. What a horrible thing to say to a grieving parent. Nonetheless, it’s business. I get that. They only care about what they can sell. I would recommend Amazon’s self-publishing process, though, for anyone who wants to write their own book. I believe all of us have a testimony to give at some point in our lives. Write your story! I am currently still on Etsy with just a few products, but quite honestly, I’ve not sold one damn thing on this site. I checked into Cratejoy as well, however, I just didn’t feel like this was for me.
I prefer my own website for two main reasons. Firstly, I have the freedom to say what I choose to say about natural health and the like. I own my site. I’ve actually been told in the past that natural health is a conspiracy theory. That one actually made me laugh out loud! Secondly, I am responsible for the traffic (mostly) that comes to my website. There is less censorship or shadow-banning.
I was censored quite a bit on natural health about two years ago. I do use Facebook and Instagram social media to share most of my content. I am just branching out on Pinterest as well. I do try to do some emails; however, I have many concerns about this. We are bombarded with countless emails. So much so that I would say most of what I receive, even from people and companies that I signed up for, I don’t even read. I delete them. My emails currently for this week are over 1,500. Who has time for that? My daughter Tara always wanted to start her own natural health magazine, so I was sending out a monthly Tara’s Choice Newsletter in the format we used to speak about. I will work more on this, but I do not want to bombard anyone. I do not want this important knowledge and information to be deleted.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.onetarahill.org
- Instagram: Laura_B_Hill_Hc
- Facebook: Honey Hill Naturals
- Youtube: Coming soon!
- Other: Pinterest under Laura Hill, board for Honey Hill Naturals.
Image credit:
Photography by Kristy Burnett, https://www.facebook.com/