We were lucky to catch up with Sarah Batley recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sarah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
Hon’s Honey was birthed after 16 years of ‘doing life and being a good neighbor’ in one of Baltimore’s most under-resourced and vulnerable communities. After being in the community for 10 years a non-profit was birthed that was based on one principle – love heals. From there a mentoring, education, and COR life curriculum was developed at The Well. After serving survivors of trauma for all of those years, the need to provide meaningful employment drove the conception of Hon’s Honey. This social enterprise offers survivors of trauma the opportunity for dignity and purpose through having steady employment while enrolled in the COR Life program at The Well (the parent non-profit). Why honey? Because it is one of Marylands most special natural resources and the way that bees live in the community is a model to us at hon’s honey. Honey one of nature’s most healing resources. At the corner of Church and Pennington in Curtis Bay, there truly is a healing hive…
Sarah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Hon’s Honey is a social enterprise dedicated to giving dignity and purpose to women survivors of addiction, sex trafficking, generational poverty, abuse, and trauma. We know that employed women take pride in the work of their hands, develop a wide-range of skills, manage financial independence, and provide for their family.
Through a community of support and encouragement, she finds restoration and discovery of purpose. Hon’s Honey is a healing hive that gives women at risk a purpose for their lives and hope for their future.
Using local raw honey and all-natural ingredients, the women employed by Hon’s Honey make bath and beauty products and bottle raw honey to sell via retail outlets, online, and at craft shows/ markets.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Recently, one of our worker bees at Hon’s Honey (affectionate term for one of our production specialists) stated that the best day of her life was the “day she walked through the door to Hon’s Honey.” Giving women the opportunity for employment — women that had thought that addiction, trafficking, and generational poverty (ie. trauma) had stolen that from them — is the greatest resiliency story told here in Curtis Bay. Just this morning, another worker bee shared that she could not wait to get to work… because this was her home base, her settling place, her place of calm. That is how she feels about her job! We, at hon’s honey are in the resiliency business. We get to be a part of being resiliency builders…
How’d you meet your business partner?
I will tell the story of how our founder met a non-profit…
19 years ago a group of women came to Curtis Bay to drop and run… Drop off Holiday Gifts, cloths, food, etc. and return home to Annapolis. Over the next 10 years they met the community, engaged with the families, understood more of the vulnerabilities and learned about trauma.
After 10 years, a non profit was born. This was birthed out of a knowledge of people… they needed life sustaining help and The Well provided that. in order to rise out of and above life’s challenges they needed education, mentoring, and resources… The Well provided, and still provides, this.
After 6 years as a non-profit, it became evident that if The Well could not provide meaningful employment then there was a ceiling on what they could do. At that time Filbert Street Gardens had an excess of honey. And, hon’s honey was birthed…
Contact Info:
- Website: honshoney.com
- Instagram: hons_honey
- Facebook: Hon’s Honey
Image Credits
Jill Fannon Prevas Jill Fannon Photography