Women & Work
Women & Work Podcast
Episode 7: Jessica Hotz
INTRO
COURTNEY: Welcome to the Women & Work podcast, the show that inspires you to confidently step into your God-given calling & view your work as meaningful to the Kingdom of God. I’m Courtney Moore.
MISSIE: And I’m Missie Branch. We want to introduce you to women who through their own unique vocations are seeing what they do make an eternal difference.
COURTNEY: We pray these conversations will inspire you in your own calling to honor God, image Him to the world through your work, and leverage your potential for His glory.
MISSIE: Thanks so much for joining us today.
SPONSORSHIP:
“Women & Work is grateful to partner with Elevate as the exclusive sponsor of this podcast and the entire Fall Podcast Season. Elevate equips and empowers families around the world by helping them create sustainable work through small businesses.
Their leather products are beautiful and well-crafted. Please see the impact they are having and their products on their website at Elevatepeople.com!
And when you make a purchase, be sure to tag Women & Work and Elevate @elevate.people on instagram and @elevate.ppl on Facebook.
Thank you, Elevate!
GUEST INTRODUCTION:
Missie: Today, our guest is Jessica Hotz, we’re so excited. Jessica and her husband Brandon run a social non-profit and lifestyle brand that helps create sustainable job solutions for people around the world. This non-profit is called Elevate. We are so excited to have you with us today, Jess.
Jessica: Hey thanks so much for having me guys, it’s good to be here with you.
Missie: So before we talk about Elevate, we would love our listeners to learn more about you, so tell us a little bit about where you are and just like who you are, are you married? What do you do? You know.
Jessica: Totally… Yeah, I am in Lincoln, Nebraska, of all places. Just right there in the middle of the middle and… Yeah, I’m married, I have one husband [that’s all I can handle] and Yeah, we love being from the simple farm land and both grew up in pretty small town contexts, but I grew up in a multi-ethnic community, so it was just such a fun way to grow up. So we really appreciate being here though, we travel all over, coming back to Nebraska just feels like our little peace of mind. We love it.
Courtney: Beautiful, that’s awesome. So can you share more about where you grew up in this multi-ethnic place that you live… I’m so curious to hear more about that if you can share.
Jessica: Totally! Yeah, so it’s a small town called Lexington Nebraska and had lots of ethnicities in my high school, I was the minority. Primarily Latino but lots of different people as well. And so I grew up just surrounded by people who didn’t look like me, and to me, that was formative, I loved it. Some of the surrounding communities did not appreciate the diversity in our school district, but I remember just being so changed by this. By my friend groups- by just getting to experience different cultures and celebrations, and so… Yeah, it was an awesome way to grow up in a really cool community to be a part of, and we always have the best food.
Missie: Food from around the world… Oh my gosh. It doesn’t get better than that.
Courtney: That is so fascinating, and I don’t you feel just… We’re gonna tell our audience in a minute what Elevate is, but my goodness, don’t you feel like growing up in that community really was huge in starting Elevate, we’re gonna ask you this in a minute, but that just seems like it was a vital part of probably what the Lord led you to do…
Jessica: Yeah, it really was. I think if anything, what we’re not directly experiencing, it was more caught than taught. It was just my surrounding, so I didn’t think a ton of it at the time maybe, but it really impacted the way I saw people and just being around high capacity people who didn’t… Weren’t from my same culture. And a lot of times you think you’re from a small town, USA, probably you’re in a community where everyone’s like you, and that wasn’t the case for me, and so it just really broadened me in ways that maybe weren’t even super direct, but were more indirect and it did help me. I fell in love with other cultures. It was just curiosity and I loved the way people celebrated different things and the holidays and… Yeah, it just taught me a lot about hospitality and welcoming people, ’cause a lot of the Latino cultures I was around just did that super well. It really impacted me, but not as much direct, but a little bit more indirectly like, “Wow, I didn’t realize how much I love this” until I went to university and the town, it wasn’t like that at all, and I was like, This just feels like a big part of life is missing. It was definitely impactful.
Missie: Jess did you grow up in a Christian family?
Jessica: Yes, I did actually. My grandparents were Pioneer missionaries. That sounds pretty fancy, but my grandparents were establishing an aviation ministry that would fly airplanes into tribal jungles. My grandpa paved air strips and wrote protocols and trained pilots. So I grew up with that understanding of missions and stuff like that. More from a tribal lens, but man, that impacted our whole family, we were always… My parents were always like, before we do extra, we always give to missionaries or people in need. That was always the primary concern of our home, which was actually really cool, again, one of those things you don’t realize that’s what’s happening until you grow up and you reflect on your life. But yeah, my parents helped walk me through sin and one day I woke up and I just like knew, “No, I’m not okay.” There’s nothing I can do to get me there, there was that stark awareness of my need, and my mom just walked me through that and explained to me the cross and embraced it at a fuller, more surrendered level maybe in my 20s. But yeah, I had the privilege and honor of growing up in a home where my parents loved each other, they love God, and they knew their life’s work to be leveraged for his purposes, even though they worked normal jobs, and we were like, Maybe you know not super well off. I mean, there was a school-hearted confidence we did have in the fact that we were alive for Him and this world wasn’t our home.
Courtney: Wow, love it. Alright, well, Jess before we learn more about Elevate and what the work God’s called you to today, we like to do a little game that just three rapid fire questions to learn more about you. So are you ready?
Jessica: Yes.
Courtney: Alright, here’s the first question. As a kid, what did you wanna be when you grew up?
Jessica: Oh killer question! So this is ridiculous, but I thought I wanted to be a storm chaser. I don’t think I’m brave enough today to do that, but I thought I was. I wanted to drive those ridiculous metal cars and go see a tornado really up close. Yeah, it was so weird, but I’m like, I didn’t really know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I did know I wanted to do something cool or something amazing, I was just always remember that desire to like… Yeah, not in like a prideful way, but just kinda like I wanna do something different. God would you use me to do something cool or something amazing. I remember those thoughts as like a little kid- like I wanna go chase tornados.
Missie: Okay, so then the second question is like, You’re on wrap to coolness. What was your first job?
Jessica: Okay, not as cool as storm chasing, but it taught me a lot of good lessons. I cleaned homes with my mom. So my mom had a cleaning business, I got to go, she paid me more than she should have. She helped me to learn. This is what it should look like. How to be honest and time. People are letting you in their home and to do a good job and… So it was fun, we go and she would teach me how to do it all and double-check my work and… Yeah, taught me a lot. And so, yeah, that was my first job.
Courtney: Beautiful. What kind of work do you wanna be doing when you’re 80?
Jessica: 80 years old. Man. I try to think about this a lot, so it doesn’t shock me when I’m there. My husband and I have this kinda dream to potentially start a retreat center or some… I read a book once, by Eugene Cho- he’s a pastor in the West Coast, and it talked about-I think it was his book, but it talked about how he went on vacation in Nebraska because there was nothing to do, and no distractions. It killed me and I was like, That’s so great. What if we ran a retreat center where we could have a small staff and then just like pour life into the next generation of leaders, for God in this place and to the nations, and then just say, Hey, we wanna bring you in love on you. We envision having a big porch with rocking chairs. So that’s all we know but it sounds exciting.
Missie: That does sound exciting. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Okay, well, I would love to get into Elevate. So just what is Elevate? Give us an idea of the way you serve in the countries you serve, and a little bit about the artisans that you partner with.
Jessica: Absolutely, so Elevate kick started and my husband and I moved to South Asia like seven years ago, and were really upfront and close with a lot of severe injustices in our world, and that rattled us. We knew we would never be the same. We didn’t realize that God would cultivate that in to something that would be productive and helpful to families, and so that really changed us. So we got to know and became- really trusted friends and family with a group of people that live in a city of 16 million people, we found neighbors in this place that loved Jesus and they were wanting to make a difference in their community. And so we spent enough time with them Or really developed trust. They started to trust us, we trusted them, and so we just started hearing their dreams. We weren’t really quick. We didn’t wanna come in and be the hero in these cross-cultural circumstances. We had read enough and I had seen from some experiences that that makes you feel pretty good, but it doesn’t always honor what God wants to do with the local level.
And so we were like, Okay, so our dream literally before we knew Elevate was gonna be a thing- before we even had any real desire to start a business, it was like… Our dream was launching dreams. So we wanted to hear and be tuned local dreams. We wanted to develop partnership and have influence into that for sure, but we didn’t always know, we don’t know what’s best and most circumstances that were ever in, and so we just wanted to be listeners and responders and to help birth dreams that would really be holistically transformative in the local community. And so that’s what happened. They had said, Hey, we have this vision for a leather company that would be more than a leather company. And I was like, Cool, what does that mean? And you guys, I was an Education major. There was no right that I had to go “yeah that sounds good- great idea!” And so that was really the beginning. So Elevate is a non-profit social enterprise where we focus on creating at the base level, Sustainable fair working conditions and employment for key people around the world. But really more than that, we’re interested in those businesses being transformative at the local level, and then we use our profit to kick start more businesses and now several countries around the world. So we’re all into small business development, so… Yeah, we get excited about that. And into KickStart dreams.
Courtney: So can you tell us how many- are you working specifically with one country or how many… Give us sort of a scope of what it looks like and how long have you all been in existence?
Jessica: Yeah, so that’s a great question we always ask ourselves- what is the day we started the company? Is it the day we with India? But technically, we moved about seven years ago and kinda launched then. The brand maybe 5-5.5 years ago. And so, yeah, we have actually been able to be a part of kickstart-ing 165 small businesses around the world in about 12 different nations. One of those businesses is an export leather company, so most of them are chicken farms, chicken hatcheries, transportation companies, women’s beautician shop, so they’re very diverse, but the leather company, the reason we designed a brand and a logo and content for a social enterprise is ’cause the primary way those products in that country are brought to market is through an export. Exporting is really the way they bring them to market, and they didn’t have access to the market on their own. Super challenging. And so we said, Hey, what if we provide access to the market and we use our profit to resource those additional capital resources that are needed for those additional businesses.
Missie: Well look at the Lord giving you the cool job that you dreamed of.
Jessica: It feels like a tornado!
Missie: Yes [laughter] Often, we like to ask people, throughout the course of their lives, we hear things. We have life verses, a certain sermon, a certain Scripture will resonate with us- is there specific Scripture that God used or gave you in you by yourself, or you and your husband, that you hold to or it’s kind of your theme? Even when you were beginning or that you carry throughout.
Jessica: Yes, that’s a great question. So I think it was more of a concept and lens on the Storyline of the Bible. So there’s definitely a verse, but it was like… I had no idea. I mean, I knew the main character of the Bible was God, but I probably wouldn’t have lived that way, and lived as if I was the main character. So I was always looking for myself. So there was a series of teachings that I listened to that changed me, realizing that from Genesis that God was about redeeming a multi-ethnic family for his glory, and so that made me excited. So Revelation 5:9, 7:9, that every nation, tribe and tongue will be surrounding the throne and worshipping the lamb. And to me, I’m like, Man, you’re worthy of that, and so could you use us to do something in a cross-cultural context? And that was really big for us that we were… That we love our part that ultimately like we wanna be a part of where God’s going and knew that had multi-ethnic facets to it. And so we didn’t wanna live with in our own little world. We wanted to be part of that multi-ethnic family picture. And so that was really the verse and the center verses I think that were the most formative, but also just that greater narrative of: What are we even doing here and what is God doing here? And that’s what we want to be a part of.
Courtney: I love that. Yeah, I mean, it’s so missional what you guys are doing, and to think now that you’re making a difference in 12 nations and you just live in Lincoln, Nebraska- that’s amazing. So if women are hearing this and they’re really thinking, Wow, I want my life to count for the nations, for what God wants to do around the world, to love on the people that He loves around the world. I mean, I hear your heart, and I think if I were there, I would be super overwhelmed by… Oh my goodness. I don’t even… How did practically… How did you even know how to start? You know, you said your background was education, was your husband in business? Because if people go to your website, which is Elevatepeople.com -If they go to your website, they’re gonna see beautiful products, leather, beautiful things got listeners- we’re gonna include the link in the show notes, but you’re gonna have to go there and see these products, they are gorgeous bracelets, hand bags, all kind of beautiful, key chains, everything. So how did you go from, Oh, my goodness, you’ve met these believers next, your neighbors, to doing what you do today? Give us sort of the practical… How do you know how to begin?
Jessica: Yeah, I think a lot of it for us was being in tuned to God’s voice and being in tune to God’s people. So we wanted to be responsive to Him ultimately, but we also wanted to be responsive at the local level, and so that was really what they had requested. They said -We want more sustainable and non-foreign funding-dependent ways to make a difference in our community. And that’s a challenging question. There’s plenty of good reasons why we have partnerships going and we dispatch resources to people around the world, but we wanted to be a part of a different kind of solution or way forward. And so we saw business as a viable sustainable option for that and leveraging the marketplace and getting to create sustainable and fair work environments in places that are impacted by systems of injustice systemically for a really, really long time. And so we just wanted to create small businesses that would honor God and honor people. And so it was really… That was it. And the Elevate was our first pass. It was like: Can this work? Can we do this? And so what honestly happened is that these artistsans- they were the ones that were skilled, they were the ones that already knew leather, it was their passion, it was their idea, I was the one that didn’t know what I was doing. I worked in corporate fashion for 30 minutes and was like, This is not for me. I knew I was more of an activator and more of a leader, and I just knew that I wasn’t my space. And then as God would have it, I find myself with a piece of paper and a pencil trying to draw something that people would find valuable- that would meet peoples needs. And I’m a woman, so I was kind of like, Okay, I wish I had a bag like this- I wish it looked more like that… And so I was able to just put some pen to paper and draw something, and then we sent it to our partners. And they nailed it. It was beautiful, and we looked at each other, my husband, I were like, this might be a thing.
Yeah, he’s an education background person too, so no- he’s not qualified either. But he has learned a ton about business and being profitable and also what it means to honor God in business, and so we just tag team and I’m the Director and he really facilitates our international business program. We just kinda learned early that we are the body of Christ. I’m not good at these things, and so I just would kinda… As we were able to craft roles, add team… And that’s why everything we do is in the context of team because we knew early-because we were tired- that that’s why God didn’t design us to get at this alone. And so that really… It wasn’t a how to manual, it was truly like a: We were there to be responsive to God and responsive to people, and that unfolded steps in front of us. So I think that heart posture really helps- not that we always nailed it, but it really didn’t help them sort of a road map.
Missie: Yeah, this has gotta be really, really inspiring to other people ’cause I’m inspired. So Jess, how do you go about connecting with partners, and I know that that has to be quite a process, I’m sure there’s even been challenges involved in that. Can you describe that for us?
Jessica: Yeah, absolutely. So that first business, it was about proximity, and then we realized if we were gonna have any type of greater impact that we aren’t to be able to live in every place and know every partner specifically. And so what we did is we have contacts that we connect with, that they have viable trusted partners for 20 plus years sometimes, and we establish partnership. It’s all based on empowerment and on what we call kingdoms centered businesses that are gonna usher in the kingdom on earth. So we form local teams, so our local training teams are… So how to launch a business in a community, it’s all done from the local team that we have established. So we actually coordinate and work with them and have quarterly connections annual targets where we set goals with trajectories with those teams. So really everything we do is in the context of that local team. We build into them, trust them, so it’s not just one person- that was where we had seen some things go… Just go a little bit wrong sometimes. If you only have one viable connection that can speak english or communicate back with you, the capacity to handle things up, we just grouped in teams so they hold each other accountable to the bylaws, and just like their functioning and how they run their businesses and select participants. But we knew we wanted to get our training out of English as soon as possible, and so they facilitate training at the local language local level and then they just have a lot better idea of things than we do. And so that was really our process of forming partnership. It is slow- it’s based on sustainability and empowerment, and we did realize early on that’s not what everyone is interested in, some people are interested in quicker projects or different things that we don’t provide, and so we have a vetting system and so that really does help when it comes to actually solidifying partnerships.
Missie: That’s awesome.
Courtney: And Jessica, just as a side note, you mentioned a kingdom-centered business model, that kind of thing. Are the people you work with or are you finding that somehow the Lord is connecting you already to believers in Christ, or are you guys going in and meeting people that need the gospel, or how does that work together with what you all are doing?
Jessica: Yeah, so mainly our participants and people that we engage with are a part of the faith community. But younger businesses are all built on kingdom principles. So on: I want to usher in the Kingdom on earth, care for the poor. They all get at that differently, so we didn’t want it to just look one certain way, so with the leather company… Not everyone that works there is a follower of Jesus. And yet, they’re intentional about living their faith and in their atmosphere, and at the same time they have different projects and programs that are running from their profit, and so they have communities they are helping and kids they’re investing into, and they’re actually kickstart-ing more businesses for people that they’re identifying. So our key partners are part of the faith community and connected to our greater vision, just because we align on how we view the world and how we wanna treat people and so that matters a Lot to us. So it’s not about being exclusive, but it is about making sure that the people that we partner with are just like-minded and that we can agree that, yes, we’re here as image bearers of God to bring the kingdom to earth.
Missie: You know that, that reminds me, I’ve been told a lot of times that You know discipleship is working when you watch people that you disciple discipling other people. And so you know when this kind of thing is working, when you’re watching the people you’re training in business begin to train other people and help them kickstart their own businesses, so… That’s beautiful.
Courtney: It’s pretty amazing. Really to think about that. Well, Jes, I feel like I mentioned your website, if people go to your website or they view your beautiful Instagram account, I mean, they might look at that and think, Wow, these people have it figured out, look at all these amazing things that God is doing. But I’m sure there have been times that… You thought, Is this gonna work? Is this gonna happen? Are we on the right path? Was there ever a moment where you doubted or you thought… I don’t know, I don’t know if this is what the Lord has. Can you just… I feel like people just relate so much to struggle. Was there ever a time that you guys struggled and how did the Lord bring you through that?
Jessica: Yeah, absolutely. I think the times where I have struggled the most and cultivating is when I was in cultivating our team and growing our impact and directions, when I stop tuning in primarily to God’s voice and His trajectory for us, and when I start looking around… I think that’s so many people’s issue, it’s like we start looking around. And I realized that with the noise of the world and what this person was doing and what success looks like to them and to them and to them, our driving mission just isn’t the same as a lot of social enterprises. It’s just not… And so for me, for a while, I’m tempted sometimes to be an imitator, and really it was like no- I want our designs to be unique and I wanna… So I would just kind of check out of what other people were doing so that I could… Some people are the opposite, they need a big inspiration from Variety and looking around, and for me, I just need to go: Lord, what do you want us to do? And how do you want us to be different and to create our uniqueness and contribution in this… And so we’ve remained to be a social enterprise, but under a non-profit functioning status and we give away most of our profit. Which just to the Kingdom business- launches. And so it was just like man… That limits us from being competitive in a lot of ways, it eliminates a lot of Some opportunities we have to partner with people who just cost more money… We don’t have the same opportunities because of what we decided to do. At the end of the day, if I wouldn’t have been hearing God on that and our team hadn’t been tuned in to Him, we’d be waffling, we’d be disillusioned. But because we were hearing Him, we were like- Well, then he’s gonna come through on things that he’s gonna make happen because… So yeah, I feel like if I look around too much or do some of that, I can get really disillusioned, and so I know when it’s happening, it’s not… It doesn’t happen anymore, but I can identify that it’s happening and can go, Okay, yeah, I remember this and this is kind of where… We need to re-center. And I’d also say it was just hard for me to shut off… I think I was trying to make it matter, instead of trusting in those building block stages that it did matter, even if we didn’t look like this or our website wasn’t like that quite yet, or whatever it was. Every stage felt exciting, every step felt scary, even though they all seem kind of small.
I just wish somebody would have told me the whole process is what God loves. Not once you get to this threshold, or have this many artisans, you’re working with or launch this many businesses and then it’s gonna really matter. It was like the process of us just like attempting it for God mattered.
Courtney: I love that. It’s beautiful, it’s perfect. This, throughout this conversation, you’ve mentioned several times that you listen to God’s voice, and it was God’s voice that really kept leading you, and I feel like that really is such in line with our vision at women in work is to see women confidently step into their God given calling and view their work as meaningful to the Kingdom of God. To me, in my mind with that vision, to see them take those steps -those steps of faith, it comes from abiding in Him. And that takes me right to John 15, that apart from Him, you can do nothing, but when you are in Him and abiding in Him, He is gonna bring all this fruit, and so it just gives me chills thinking about that passage and what you’re saying and how you guys are really living that out, and that just like you said, every step of the process is meaningful. All of it is, because it’s all about your heart before the Lord, and one of our big values is viewing Work As Worship, and it just seems like what you’re saying is so in line with just who we are, that- man, you are worshipping God by partnering these people and making leather bracelets. I mean, someone might not know- they might wear that bracelet and have no idea to heartbeat that went behind it, and that- that was a form of worship on your part, and hopefully for the artisan as well, so… Anyway, I just love connecting with people that… I thank you, I glad you’re here.
Missie: So awesome. Well, let’s talk for a minute. I really, honestly believe that all women are multitasking through life. None of us are sitting around just responsible for one thing or just doing one thing, so what does this season look like in your life? For church, ministry, home life? What does the season look like for you?
Jessica: Yeah, good, good, good question. My husband and I don’t have children, and so most years, ya know this one’s been different, but most years were traveling up to 1/3 of the year. So we are touch and go with our home things. We have family all over the world, but yeah, it does mean we have to kind of go: What is home for us and how we get in touch with that? So we have deep community in our team. We experience really deep community in our team. I’m thankful to have great inner circle, group of people, and most of them are connected to ministry in some way. I mean not at the beginning, but I don’t know if they’ve just kind of been like, Well, I want in! So they’re just cool to get together. And then we also have an awesome neighborhood, so we moved to a specific part of the city here in Lincoln that we wanted to be a part of. There’s a front porch sitting crew, and we were like… That’s living missionally, and just like ____ be easy when we’re home. Bcause we knew if we lived over here and we had to go somewhere to be on mission, I don’t know if that makes sense, that we were gonna not get around to it. Our pace is intense, we’re building to more actively building team and all of the things that come with that, we were like, We just wanted to be right outside our front door and so… It’s funny, everyone hears me talk about the front porch, it’s like famous, so it’ll be like, “be on the porch! Breakfast club!” or whatever. Our neighbors walk across the street, singing The Temptations, and I just chime in. It’s just like, there’s funny things that we were like- man we want a life on mission- to be on our porch so hat was really fun.
So yeah, we’re part of a church family here in linking called City Light, all focused on making disciples that multiply. So we just feel honored to be a part of that family. And so we love our pastors and the mission and trajectory, and so, yeah. Life has a pretty decent clip and pace, but my husband and I realized early that we wanted to be the types of followers of Jesus that we wanted to reproduce and we wanna be strung out and crazy. If that makes sense. We wanted to be coded and established. So we have rhythms of rest that, Man, I sound like I’m all put together, trust me, there are plenty of shortcomings. Sometimes I feel like whoah- what step am I skipping because I feel like a hot mess. So there’s some of that that’s core to us too.
Missie: I love that you said that too, that you are intentional about reproducing yourself, which is because it’s really easy to hit the streets and love it so much that we’re not… We don’t have roots. But I also love that you said you have rhythms of rest, which if you’re going to reproduce yourself, you want people to recognize that it’s not just about running around and making disciples, but really spending time. So that’s really, really helpful.
Courtney: Well, there’s so much of what… There’s so many aspects, I guess, of what you all do, is there one thing- you mentioned even sitting down and kind of like drawing sketches of bags and stuff that you would like… Is there a certain aspect of your ministry that you particularly just feel like, Man, this is my sweet spot, this is just… God put this in me, I love it. I feel most centered. And man, when I’m doing this, this is what God made me to do. Is there something… Some part of that, I’d love to hear your heart on that.
Jessica: Yeah, so far, I feel like I’ve identified maybe three core elements to myself that are fun.
Courtney: So have you studied the enneagram very much? I’m curious to know if you know what enneagram number you are?
Jessica: Okay, so I don’t know on this because people would maybe say I’m a one, but I’m like, I feel like ones scare people, I don’t feel like I’m scary. I’m potentially- I don’t know what the words are for that. I don’t… I have not spent a ton of time on the enneagram, but I am kind of reformer at heart. I love starting things and transforming. When I see a problem, there’s nothing inside of me that can let that happen. I just wanna be part of making that different in some ways, and I’m passionate about that in a few different elements and areas, but it’s like… Man, I think that’s probably what people would say about me and what I probably am. But we actually, we use a different personality assessment that breaks who we are and how we tend to think, feel, and function on three different levels: One being our serving and how we contribute to the world, how we relate and interact with people, and then also how we recharge and what we feel that the world doesn’t see. So that’s kind of the tool we use and lean into a ton on our team.
Courtney: Can you share the name of the tool?
Jessica: Yeah, it’s called Personalysis. It’s not necessarily cheap. That’s why sometimes I’m like, Man, this thing, I’m so into it. It’s so informative, it helps me a ton, but it’s kind of pricey and you kinda need someone to walk with you through it, but man, as far as people who lead a team, I would say You gotta get your team into this tool and to have someone become an expert in it. Because it’s fabulous.
Courtney: Very cool.
Missie: Awesome, well, I do lead a team, so you got me on it!
Courtney: We will link to it in the show notes.
Missie: So I know part of your job and the experience that you have, you have to hear stories from time to time about people whose businesses have really just impacted their lives, their communities. What changes or what are some of the things that you’ve seen and you get to rejoice over in the lives of some of your artisans who you partner with?
Jessica: Yeah, that’s great. Starting with the leather group, I was just listening in. My husband and the facilitator of that in-country leather Working Group led a webinar together. And lots of people on webinar from all over the world. So just to see our leather partner just speaking with confidence about what it means to love God and run a business. He was influencing hundreds of people who… People who are wanting to get in on this, and I was like that. And he was confident and just articulate. And I was like, That’s really cool. So that was just recent. So on another kind of scale or a level, I think is just as exciting, there’s… The one that’s coming to mind right now is a man and his family in South Asia that are not literate, and so they did not have the opportunity to learn and school traditionally. And yet, he wanted to start a kingdom business, he wanted to start a business to… To be the light and the hands and feet where he was. And so he went through a verbal training and learned how to manage resources through an envelope type system rather than recording specifically it was adapted. And it’s been extremely impactful. He actually was recognized by the government and got additional training because he was so successful in this chicken hatchery that now he expanded to Ghost Peppers, goats, quail eggs. I mean, I was just like, That’s amazing.
There’s a lot of stories from all those businesses, whether it’s a honey farmer in the Himalayas to him in the flatlands. In North Africa, there’s some different examples, so it’s just a huge honor to see people step into their identity and to really embrace that empowerment mentality of: I think I can do this. And being like, You absolutely can do it! It’s not gonna be easy. But we can work together to get there. So I think that’s the most exciting is when we see our partners not timid around us anymore, not intimidated, but it’s just family and they feel seen and they feel valuable, and they’re like, Yeah, like this is what I bring to the table, and this is what I’m here to do… And they just walk in it. And it’s inspiring to me.
Missie: It’s gotta be… That’s the first thing that came to my mind is that you have to be inspired to go to work every day, because you’re not dealing with statistics, you’re dealing with people whose lives are genuinely changed, and that can have such a huge generational impact. Yes. Beautiful.
Courtney: Don’t you feel like- just as you’re talking, I’m thinking of how much you’re so proud of these people that you’re investing in… Proud in the right sense. And I just think about the heart of God, taking us, some of us from the shadows and really bringing us into the light, and that’s kind of what you’re doing- Bringing them into the light with that confidence and that empowerment of like, that’s what he does with us. He puts the spirit within us so that we can walk in Him with confidence and boldness and do what he’s called us to, so I just love how it even it just sounds like what His spirit does in us. So it’s really beautiful.
Jessica: Absolutely. Just on that note, I used to get really intimidated around people who are boldly and confidently walking in their calling. That used to scare me- seeing other women so confident and pointed, and I was like, That’s amazing. And that used to scare me. I didn’t realize that it wasn’t so much about what they were doing, but who they knew. Do you know what I’m saying? It was like they knew Him, and so now when I see that in people, it’s just cool to go “rock on!” I love that. But I always wanted to be in that place where I could be genuinely happy for other people who are boldly, confidently walking in the Spirit in their areas and their places. And it wasn’t me for a while ’cause I was just like always looking at that and then going- wait… I’m never gonna get there, I’m not gonna be there. But no, it’s not about what they’re doing, even as much as who they know.
Courtney: Well, that sounds like a huge way that the Lord has grown you, is there any other aspect as you’ve been in this process now for five to seven years with Elevate that you feel like, Woah, I can look back and say, Man, I am different in this particular way! You just hit on the confidence issue, or even in your marriage, you and your husband are working together, and that’s a huge thing that probably comes with challenges. I don’t know, is there something that comes to mind that you would say, Wow, I’m giving glory to God because he did this in me In this particular way?
Jessica: Yeah, definitely. There’s a lot of things, I think. Yeah, we have One Thing challenges we do with our team every year. It’s where we go and say, Hey, one thing you’re nailing, you’re doing well- words of affirmation. But it’s also one thing like hey- you might need to look into this or to work on this. It’s vulnerable, but it’s really good. A few years ago, the team said: You’re gripping onto this thing so tight and it’s not making you a better team member or a leader. And that was hard for me, but I can sincerely say I’m facing a few things even now- just discernment things and trajectory team elements of things right now, and I’m like, I don’t feel so in charge anymore.
I used to feel like-even though I’m maybe even in charge of more, I might even have more territory than I had years ago- I feel less in charge of it. And I think is a part of the healthy stewardship. Here’s another thing about women walking in their calling- some of my mentors are men and I respect them a ton. My husband! But my main mentor is a man that I served with and old enough to be my dad, but just so wise and so profound. I get to the point where I’m at the end of myself, I just remember those words of his: This is right, and it’s dependence. We never graduate dependence from the Lord. And I was like, Dang, I wanna graduate from being dependent- I really want to do this on my own. So there’s always that voice going- this is about leaning into Him. So I still don’t have more of an idea how to handle most things, but I also know that that’s the point and how God is calling- you get to to lean into him and that’s more important than getting to the outcome. Turning from that place of self-centeredness is God. I was angsty trying to matter and that was Him helping me turn from that- because that is not me.
Courtney: Glory to God- that’s huge.
Missie: What are some of your greatest hopes and desires for Elevate as you look forward, if you were to imagine five years from now, not when you’re 80, but in five years, what are some of the things you see as you continue to grow and serve?
Jessica: Yeah, a few things we’re exploring right now would be what we’re calling maybe a fancy business, where it’s like category expansions. Is God calling us to open up some more export channels to potentially partner with some groups in the Middle East and others in South Asia. And so it was just kind of like, Yeah, that could be cool. So no answers on it by any means but it does make us excited to think about. We love being able to provide high quality, meaningful, and functional products to the world because we just believe that more isn’t better, but that better is less, but it just costs more- but then you’re actually covering the cost of people’s lives. Which is really important in fashion, which is not usually considered, so a lot of our people making our things like their lives aren’t factored into the cost, and so we get really excited about being able to provide people with a few more products from the Elevate line. They may need a few more of their daily needs or gifting needs or whatever, that could create business opportunities from the profit and also impact the artisans lives. So that’s something we’re excited about and discerning if that’s the direction we’re gonna go, but we love thinking about being able to bring even more products to market and kind of the of all of those things and the things that drive and motivate us. But I think also we are eager- growth for us looks a lot like obedience, so that’s how I think about it, so we’re not hitting a certain target or of sales or influence or brand recognition. God put us here for a specific reason that we wanna be ob of how big So we’re just excited to see the trajectory of how big God really wants us to get and what kind of brand influencing grip does he want us to get at. None of us are convinced it’s a national level thing, potentially. I didn’t realize that. I thought that was when you made it, but for us it looks a lot like obedience, and so we’re just curious if anything, to see it’s gonna mean for us in the next five years.
Missie: Well, we all know that God’s economy is completely different than anything we can even imagine. Okay, so what is your favorite product that you guys sell, and then how can our listeners partner with you, how can we get your favorite product?
Jessica: So good. Okay, I have a few favorites. One I’m super loving right now, something we call The DiMarco cross-body. It’s like this great wallet that you can cinch up and wear as a belt bag- a little crossover. You can take it all the way down and it’s a good cross-body, but it’s between a wallet and a clutch size and it’s just super cute and I… I’m kind of addicted now so… Yeah, it’s called The DiMarco super cute- great one to add to your birthday or anniversary list. Whatever, so yeah.
So good one on my daily totes, so I bounce between two different tote bags. One of them is the Travelers tote which is our total original leather, suede on the back side tote. I get a felt-insert for the inside of it and drop it in, so it’s still organized, even though has a really raw leather tote look. It’s one of our originals but it has grommets on the bottom so it stands upright- so I love that.
Another working woman bag is our Mom bag for sure. If you have kiddos- the utility bag goes cross-body shoulder bag or you can… It comes with all three straps, so you can wear it as a backpack too. It has luggage straps so you can throw it on your carrier. I did this because I saw so many women in the airports. Men have these sleek leather things and they slide right over and they go to a meeting and I’m like, Why are all these women’s hands cramping in the airport? I had seen them in a cloth bag before, but never a leather bag that you could just pull up and head to a meeting, or wherever you need to go. So we kinda started designing some around luggage strap compatibility so that one has that function too and has some organization and a zipper on top that the travelers tote doesn’t have. So that’s the utility bag: Also wonderful. Those are my go tos right now.
Missie: And these all can be these all can be found on your website.
Jessica: Yes, all can be found on the website elevatepeople.com. Our instagram, elevate.people.
Missie: Pretty sure you got a couple of purchases happen with us.
Courtney: The other thing, just to follow up with that, since you guys are a non-profit, if someone… I don’t know why they wouldn’t wanna buy one of these adorable bags, but if someone just was feeling really generous, could they just donate money, could they… How would they just say, Hey, God’s put it on my heart to really give a large sum to you or even a small sum… How would they go about doing that?
Jessica: It’s a great question. So on our website, there is a give button, if you scroll to the bottom in the footer of the website and there’s a give button. And when people give, that goes directly to training and capital resources to kick starting more businesses. And so, yeah, we have whole regions and teams that need funded. We have individual families and people that need resourced. So the Elevate leather products right now Resource 25% of all of the things that we do with the business development program, and so giving makes up 75%, so it’s a real collaboration. We feel a sense it’s sustainability in that. So it was really great for us and just also leveraging involvement for people in different ways, like when they purchase a bag, a generous portion of that goes to those trainings and business start-ups, but if people give, it goes because of Elevate being able to- in the sales of leather- being able to cover all of our overhead expenses- 100% of that gift is going to the field and people are more than… They wanna email us to inquire about that more before they give, we love that. But also just people knowing that you have 100% and giving is directly pointed at training in capital for people.
Courtney: Okay, well, we are gonna wrap up, but before we do, we are just wondering, as you kind of think about the women who might be listening to this and feel that God is calling them Into something, whatever it is for them, is there just one piece of wisdom, advice, warning, encouragement, just one closing kind of word I guess you might give to these women who just their heart is to honor the Lord through their vocational calling. What would you say to them?
Jessica: Yeah, I would say that, going back to maybe I even said before, was just that: The process matters to God, the risk matters, the faith matters. And sometimes I think it matters potentially more than the result, and so to take a step, I always vision the Lord and the way that He feels when I’m risking. When I’m just in, when I’m asking that mentor if they’ll invest into me. He so enjoys the thrill of watching his children step out for Him when they wanna glorify His name. And that’s our heart desire is to glorify Him, and so he just… He loves watching you walk it out, and that… That’s so much a part of the point. For me, I just missed that for a lot of years, so I love encouraging that into other women.
Courtney: I mean, it’s beautiful. So many things as you’re speaking on my mind is just going straight to scripture, and I’m thinking about Hebrews 11, the faith chapter. And without faith, it is impossible to please Him. And it’s kind of the flip side of what you just said, but when we are walking in faith and we are just putting our confidence in him and saying, I don’t know what’s gonna happen with… I’m just gonna try Lord. I just feel like you’re leading me to try and I’m gonna trust you in it, I mean, he is so pleased with that, and so… I think that is such a beautiful way to end this conversation. Jess, we’re so happy that you came on, we’re so happy to be connected to you and just thrilled to have our listeners know who you are, and ladies, if you were able to come to the Women&Work forum in Nashville in June and were able to be one of our VIP guests, you actually have a bracelet from them, you have their slitted bracelet. A beautiful bracelet that we’re all just like, Oh my goodness, we need that. Everybody loved it. So when you wear that bracelet, know who it came from, and tell your friends about them. Follow them on Instagram and social media channels, and just thank you so much for coming on, we love your heart and your story, this has just been such an encouragement to me…
Jessica: Wow, thanks for the opportunity so much you guys.
CONCLUSION
MISSIE: And thanks to our listeners for joining us today. Be sure to check out our website at women work.net for today’s show notes. There will be more information about today’s conversation there.
COURTNEY: While you’re there, take a look at the Women and Work podcast discussion questions. We’ve provided those so that you can lead your friends from work, your neighborhood, or your church into useful conversations that will encourage you as you take *your* next step of faith into your calling.
MISSIE: If you enjoyed today’s show and don’t want to miss an episode, please subscribe in Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. We’d also love for you to take a minute to rate and review our show so more listeners can find us.
COURTNEY: And with that, we hope you’ve been inspired to more confidently step into your God-given calling and view your work as meaningful to the Kingdom of God.
See you next time!