about the founder

My mother was the crafty kind. While she spent hours making wreaths, flower arrangements, and Christmas bells, I worked beside her making bandana banana clips and silver conch earrings (did I mention this was the 80's!) Most little girls had lemonade stands. I, on the other hand, had jewelry stands.

At age 14, I took a trip with my church to help with a VBS in the inner city of Washington DC. It was there, 2 miles from the White House, that I witnessed injustice for the first time. I knew then that my life would be spent working on behalf of the oppressed in some way. 1 year later, I traveled to Kenya where I walked through the Nairobi slums and witnessed first hand what life was like without running water, toilets, and hope. I also held my first orphan.

Much to my mother's displeasure, I came home a hippie. Where was the little girl interested in jewelry and makeup? Instead, I held rallies at school to raise money for education in Kenya. Somewhere along the way, however, I rediscovered my joy in fashion and style. Too well trained in the art of shopping, the hippie phase couldn't stick forever.

After college, I volunteered in Bolivia and Guatemala with Food for the Hungry. This is when I discovered that entrepreneurship was as old as the garden of Eden when God told Adam and Eve to produce bounty from what He had given them. I spent days walking beside Quechua women hand spinning yarn from wool. I fell in love with the vibrant markets of Guatemala. I learned that all people were created in the image of God and had the ability to take a seed and make it grow. I learned that entrepreneurship was sustainable and aid was not.

Fast forward through my inspiring marriage and 2 kids to a trip to Uganda with my husband in January of 2010. We visited several friends working there, volunteered at a couple of children's homes and rafted the Nile river. It was there we knew we wanted to bring our third child into the world through adoption. We were also given the opportunity to sell African Style products in America. The gracious founders, Downie and Bobbie Mickler, donated product to help us raise money for our Rwandan adoption.

My first Noonday Collection trunk show was so much fun, it was like I discovered a dream I never knew I possessed. And for a planner, that was a pleasant surprise! I love helping women feel beautiful and have fun, I love giving other women a voice, and I love getting to share God's heart for the orphan.

The hilarious part is that, before this, I had never hosted a trunk show in my life! What I love about direct sales through trunks shows is that I get to invite other women into the story of satisfying the needs of the oppressed. I get to help women like you live out what God calls all people to do, "plead the cause of the orphan." Plus, I get to help women look really stylish along the way!

Enjoy,

Jessica Honegger

Steward of Noonday Collection

 

"My first Noonday Collection trunk show was so much fun, it was like I discovered a dream I never knew I possessed. And for a planner, that was a pleasant surprise! I love helping women feel beautiful and have fun, I love giving other women a voice, and I love getting to share God's heart for the orphan."