Beatrice Dixon, Co-Founder and CEO of The Honey Pot Co
Over the years, women have been searching for healthier feminine hygiene care products as scientists and researchers have revealed how contaminated some products are and the adverse effects they can have on women’s health. Now, the $38B feminine care industry is projected to reach $54B by 2028. According to an industry research analysis conducted by Technavio, “The organic and natural feminine care market share is expected to increase by USD 892.48 million from 2021 to 2026, and the market’s growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 6.78%.” Part of that growth can be attributed to women’s self-awareness and the value they place on their well-being.
Numbers aside, one of the women who has creatively and scientifically been solving for women’s wellness is Beatrice Dixon, Co-Founder and CEO of The Honey Pot Company. Since launching The HoneyPot in 2014 in her kitchen with plant-derived ingredients after experiencing chronic bacterial vaginosis for 8 years, the company has grown prominence within the wellness space, becoming a brand women trust.
As a leading lady, Dixon has been recognized as a Forbes Top 100 Female Founders, one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs, and one of Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs of 2021. Dixon is also the host of “Your Next Move”, an Inc. Magazine interview series in which she interviews other successful founders.
To date, The Honey Pot’s products have been used in over 3.1 m homes, which makes up close to a 100% increase per year. The company’s sales have grown eight-fold in the last two years and has 36 percent repeat purchase rate.
In May, many people were stunned when The Honey Pot made headlines after inaccurate rumors about the acquisition of her company swarmed the internet. Those rumors sparked conversations about her loyalty and commitment to creating all-natural, plant-based feminine hygiene products. For others, it made room for a discussion about how cancel culture costs Black business owners their credibility and ultimately negatively impacts the Black dollar.
Dixon spoke with Forbes about her business decision to strategically change some of the ingredients in The Honey Pot products, lessons she has learned while building her business with intention, her thoughts on cancel culture as it relates to the Black community, and to share business advice.
Dedication And Energy Are Essential In Business
Lydia T. Blanco: How are YOU?
Beatrice Dixon: It’s been an interesting and unique season – trying to manage my personal emotions, the team's relentless work, and their emotions while upholding my day-to-day as a leader. Generally, I’m feeling grateful for this opportunity to learn, grow and reflect while continuing to find my calm.
Blanco: What are you excited about right now?
Dixon: That’s a great question. There is SO much to be excited about! As a brand, we have launched so many incredible products and it’s so cool to see them on the shelf - and to see them being so well received by our community. It’s amazing that my primary job is in innovation so I’m constantly brewing up our next move and it’s really exciting to think about the categories we’re looking to explore.
Blanco: What has been most important to you personally and professionally as you establish yourself as an entrepreneur?
Dixon: What’s been most important to me is two things; one, finding consistency. Be it how I spend my days or how I approach work. I used to be largely focused on balance, which I still think is super important, but now it’s a matter of upholding what works and honoring it. The second thing, which aligns with the above, is reserving the fuel tank – understanding how to preserve my energy and guide my team with that same perspective.
Nothing about building our brand, in the past or at present, has not required a tremendous amount of energy and dedication. So, it’s really about what does it look like to train for the marathon in a way that is productive and meaningful.
The Honey Pot Is Designed With Integrity
Blanco: What prompted your decision to change the ingredients in your products?
Dixon: We’ve always had a preservative system in our products and we’ve been diligent in building a system that is both safe and meets our plant-derived standards. After extensive testing, we have found that these specific preservatives are the best ingredients to ensure our formula, which is rich in herb and plant-derived ingredients, remains effective down to the very last drop.
Blanco: Was your decision purely scientific or one that would sustain your overall business over time? And how long was the decision-making process before the newly formulated products went to market?
Dixon: As research continues to evolve, we’re committed to providing science-backed, efficacious, and medical board-approved products through rigorous clinical testing. As such, we made informed decisions to guarantee that promise. The decision-making process is many years in the making and follows the science and demands of a growing business.
Blanco: With The Honey Pot being a natural brand, people want to know how the new ingredients will impact their feminine hygiene and overall health. Can you please speak to that?
Dixon: As a brand, we specifically chose these preservatives because they can all be found naturally (I.e., in plants, teas, and fruits) but can be created synthetically and safe for use (unlike parabens and other preservatives). This preservative system is designed to prevent microbial growth. Products such as our washes can be a safe haven for harmful microorganisms (this is due to water and organic compounds) and naturally where the products live (i.e., a shower environment). Phenoxyethanol helps by prohibiting the growth of bacteria, yeast, and mold. Preservatives prohibit these microorganisms, so they cannot multiply and thus support the product’s stability.
Pain Points In Business Can Produce Positive Results
Blanco: Have the misinformed rumors negatively impacted your business? If so, how has your team been solving this unexpected challenge?
Dixon: The misinformed rumors have allowed us to understand further what is of utmost importance to our humans. We have and will always be a wildly transparent and intentional brand. Through this experience, we are grateful that our humans punctuated an opportunity and allowed us to lean in more intensely to who we are and how we show up. We have an abundance of educational material we had been planning to roll out and have accelerated that effort given the appetite from our community. This includes why we choose the ingredients we do, providing education around our ingredient chemistry, and educating our community further on how these ingredients protect their health.
Blanco: Is there anything you would have done differently in the case of not sharing the news of the formula change to your products ahead of the social media frenzy?
Dixon: I wish that we were able to communicate that there was a change in progress and to communicate what that meant in more channels faster. We didn't plan for that change to happen when it did. With the current issues and nuances across supply chain systems, we’ve had a particularly unique experience influencing all aspects of our business. Education is at the center of everything we do as a brand. And that is why we had education [learning materials] that addressed the biggest questions in front of our community within days of the frenzy.
Blanco: What advice can you offer to other entrepreneurs and business owners about transparency when it comes to building brand trust with consumers? (Can you also touch on what business owners truthfully don’t owe anyone.)
Dixon: I’ll start by saying it’s always important to remember you and your brand and business are not one. It is critical to create separation. That does not mean everything will fall apart. It creates empowerment and space to do the things that you are great at. As it pertains to building trust and transparency, lead with intuition. It’s hard because, as I say that, I recognize that was a miss on our end…but the funny thing about intuition or data or planning is that sometimes the timing can be off. And as it was in our situation, the timing was a plot twist, and once we were up against our situation, we led with our brand values and opted against feeling like we had failed.
It wasn’t a failure. It was a misstep. And that is not only okay but is quite literally the most human thing a brand could do. One of our principal goals at this moment in time is to continue to humanize our brand. That is our promise.
Scrutiny Doesn’t Always Pay
Blanco: It is unfortunate how quick people were to scrutinize The Honey Pot after accusing you of selling the company. What do you want consumers and other business owners to know and understand about the realities and advantages of positioning a business to be sold?
Well, first, I want to be clear. Changes to our washes are not connected to selling The Honey Pot. The fact that that is where people first jumped feels reflective of pain they might be feeling or what they may have experienced - the exact type of generational pain The Honey Pot is trying to address. What we are building is a legacy that will last and grow forever. We are resolute in our brand purpose and pillars, which are the foundation on which we build everything we do as a brand. When you have a foundation that strong, a sale doesn’t reinvent or change a brand - it gives the brand the biggest opportunity to impact even more humans.
We don’t run our business on a day-to-day basis focused on selling - that will happen. Still, we are focused on strategically growing our business and continuing to disrupt and lead every single day. That focus, that leadership is what we are obsessed with.
Canceling Everything Doesn’t Help The Culture Or Black Businesses
Blanco: People often talk about ‘doing it for the culture.’ What are your thoughts on Cancel Culture in the Black community? And do you think it is to our detriment in the grand scheme of Black economics?
Dixon: I think it is tremendously important to do things for the culture. The culture of the collective and also specifically for the culture of your ancestors because if it weren’t for their hard work and sacrifice, we wouldn’t even have the honor to have this conversation. I think ‘cancel culture’ in the Black community can be toxic, dismissive, and incongruent with the values of our community. It also makes years of work, sacrifice, blood, sweat, and tears immediately forgotten because of miscommunications, trauma, and untruths.
This parlays almost directly to Black economics because the way capital grows (black, brown, white, or otherwise) is by more black and brown people having major financial windfalls to be able to invest back into our communities. That investment can materialize in numerous ways, from cultivating new entrepreneurs to physical investments in local spaces and towns.
More and more companies like The Honey Pot deserve to achieve scale while being Black-owned and Black-Founded because that shows the strategics, investors, venture capital, and private equity funds that they can put their money to work in our communities. That there will inevitably be a return and that the needs are exponential. Now, what happens when you have a viral moment like what we just had, marred by controversy and “cancellation”? Well, it actually makes strategics, investors, venture capitalists, and private equity funds nervous.
Nervous because the Black community (and consumers) are so quick to call other Black founders sell-outs. It becomes a liability. When truly being in those spaces only lifts us up as a race and ensures products and services designed by us, reach us. And it’s funny because we admire celebrity-founded businesses for reaching billion-dollar status and trust whatever they are pedaling. But the everyday human like me has to be called a sell-out for creating something out of nothing.
I think we’ve been conditioned to see success as something that is unattainable so that’s why it’s easier to see a celebrity’s success as a win. I’m here to illuminate the reality that we all can reach ridiculous and individualized versions of success if we have a vibrational shift to lift each other up rather than put each other down over unfounded statements and operate for personal gain. We need to pay attention, reclaim and align our values.
Growing Your Business To Sell It Is Strictly Business
Blanco: What advice do you have for business owners who want to sell their business to be able to secure their legacy or fund another dream venture?
Dixon: It can’t just be about selling a business to secure a legacy. That simplifies what this is. Building a brand like The Honey Pot is not a side project to get to the next venture. It is an all-consuming effort. It starts with creating a brand that you believe in and building that brand to support humans in their needs.
The Honey Pot sells products, but more importantly, we want to empower humans on their personal wellness journey - to learn about themselves, to claim their own wellness, to be comfortable in their skin, despite the stigmatization we have all been conditioned to feel around our physical and mental health. That purpose is why I am so driven to scale this business. And if, and when we sell, we will do so to create even more access and opportunity to build up our community.
Blanco: Is there anything else that you’d like to share?
Dixon: We believe that all humans deserve to be treated with respect and responsibility. Honey Pot will always lead with authenticity and vulnerability because we serve at the pleasure of humanity. As the co-founder and leader of this brand, I am intensely grateful for all the support, connection, and growth we have been able to experience.
We are here for the long haul, and I am grateful for that!
The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
