We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ali Hartwig and Caroline Kenyon from wyld honeys. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with them below.

Looking forward to hearing your stories today. How did you both come up with the idea for your business?

ALI: It all started in the summer of 2021. At the time, I was working as a Partnerships and Content Manager for a protein bar company, and after the craziness of 2020, I needed a change of direction, so I quit my job and went back to freelancing. I instantly called Caroline to tell her the good news, and it turned out that she had quit her full time job the same day! Within the week, Caroline flew out to meet me in San Diego and we packed the car, grabbed all the snacks, downloaded some playlists and hit the road for the month.

CAROLINE: We headed straight towards Zion and decided to stay there for a few nights. After long adventures in the sun, by night three we were already craving fresh meals that weren’t your typical types of camping food (think cheesy nachos, s’mores, hot dogs, you get it!) We had access to a grocery store and cooler so we decided to make something special at our campsite to celebrate our last night in Zion. We ended up making fresh tofu spring rolls with peanut sauce and they were exactly what we needed!

ALI: I am a photographer by trade and thought it would be fun to document the process of our dinner, and that’s how this project got started. Within 24 hours we had a concept, name, and had three more recipes created and filmed. It seemed like something magical was happening.

After some time spent working for another company and dabbling in my own freelance projects, I eventually felt the pull and decided to fully dedicate myself to working on wyld honeys. I reached out to some previous brand friends and connections (never burn a bridge folks!) that took a chance on us, and ended up collaborating with a few companies that we now work with consistently! Fast forward a few more months, and the opportunities kept coming, so Caroline ended up quitting her full-time job too so we could 100% commit and do it for real. We’ve now expanded beyond just shooting recipes and creating content for brands, and have started to do in-person events and outdoor experiences.

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.

ALI: wyld honeys is on a mission to inspire people to get outside through nourishing food, adventure, and most importantly–good company! We aim to do that by creating experiences, gatherings, and curating events where people enjoy nature. A big piece of this is with dining experiences; everybody loves to eat, and everything tastes better outside.

We are always looking for the next experience to curate, and trying to find more ways for people to come gather with us in the outdoors. We do this by collaborating with like-minded partners/brands to help us get there, and couldn’t have gotten this far without the help of our friends.

The community of the “honeys” is much bigger than us. We want to acknowledge that not everyone has access to nature and outdoor recreation, and that informs us in everything we do. With that in mind, our everyday motto is “take it outside.” It’s as simple as grabbing your friends and sitting on the front stoop with a glass of wine, maybe packing a little lunch and a deck of cards to bring to the park, or planning a neighborhood block party. Whatever it is, just take it outside!

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

CAROLINE: We’ve been friends forever! Ali and I lived on the same street growing up in Chicago, and our parents became friends. We used to run around the neighborhood and get into all sorts of shenanigans. Eventually, my family moved to a small town Arizona, but then not even a year later Ali’s family followed suit! We were neighbors (again!) in Arizona all through high school until we parted ways to go to college and travel.

When we started wyld honeys, we were still living in different states–I was in Phoenix at the time and Ali was living in San Diego. She told me she was thinking of moving to Denver, and that I should check it out since she thought I would really like it. Well, I visited and fell in love with Colorado instantly, and moved pretty shortly after. Ali moved about a year later, and now we’re back to living five minutes from each other, 25 years later!

What’s really cool is how this long-standing friendship has seamlessly translated into a business partnership. We should have expected it–after all, we’ve ran lemonade stands together, negotiated with our parents for sleepovers, and survived plenty of sisterly squabbles over the years! But getting into business with a friend can be a tricky road to navigate. You want to make sure that roles are clearly defined, lines of communication are always open, and, most importantly, that there is a deep-rooted trust that takes precedence over everything else. We’re working on a business contract right now so that we always have that to refer back to as our business grows.

We’ve learned that we each enjoy doing the things that the other doesn’t. For instance, Ali is a total connector, and managing brand relations and partnerships comes naturally to her. I, on the other hand, prefer working on the back end to hone our systems and project management tools. Our skills and strengths are complementary.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

CAROLINE: Building connection with a community has probably never been easier than it is today with so many social media platforms and spaces. At the same time, the unfortunate truth is that social media can be so draining for both businesses and audiences. When it comes down to it, we want to have a good time with what we do–so our biggest goal is to always keep it fun for us and for our community. People connect with people, so we try and have as much of our personality come through as possible, while creating content that reflects our genuine passion for the outdoors, cooking, and the adventures we embarked on. The outdoor industry can take itself a little seriously, so we wanted to show a lighter side that’s a bit more inviting and accessible to more people. I think this authenticity has resonated with our audience and helped us grow. In the grand scheme of social media, we’ve got a relatively small footprint, but we’re fortunate to have built a community that engages with our brand regularly.

ALI: Collaborating with other creators and brands has been instrumental in growing our socials, too. Participating in takeovers, giveaways, and other initiatives is an excellent way to get your brand in front of new but complementary audiences. We are both so grateful and appreciative of this community and can’t wait to see what we can provide for them in 2024!

Contact Info:

• Website: wyldhoneys.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wyldhoneys/

Image Credits
– Forged From the Wild (@forgedfromthewild) – Kate Milford (@katemilford) -Ali Hartwig (@alihartwig