第1章
Embracing the Courage to Change the World
Jessica Honegger's journey from pawning family heirlooms to building a global enterprise began with a simple act of imperfect courage. Standing at an Austin pawnshop counter, she traded precious jewelry for $900 to fund what would become Noonday Collection-now a thriving business employing thousands worldwide. Her first trunk show sold 90% of her African goods as friends gathered to support her family's adoption journey. What makes this story remarkable isn't just the success, but how it happened despite Jessica's persistent fears. As Brene Brown, an early champion of Jessica's work, often notes: "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important." This philosophy underpins Jessica's approach to business and life-choosing to "go scared" rather than waiting for fearlessness. Noonday Collection has since become one of the fastest-growing fair-trade businesses in America, featured in publications like Forbes and Inc., while transforming lives across vulnerable communities worldwide.
第2章
The Courage to Begin Despite Fear
Standing in a Ugandan artisan workshop seven years after Noonday's founding, Jessica watched ambassadors who had earned their trip through sales achievements being welcomed with drums, dancing, and joyful celebration. This full-circle moment highlighted how far they'd come from her humble beginnings. Despite constant fears about both potential failure and success, Jessica had chosen to move forward because people's livelihoods depended on it.
Courage isn't about being fearless-it's about moving forward despite your fears. While comfort and safety tempt us to stay in our bubble-wrapped existence, true fulfillment comes from stepping into the unknown. Jessica's perspective on courage shifted dramatically at fifteen when she witnessed a Kenyan woman entrepreneur supporting her children through a microcredit loan after her husband abandoned them-a full-circle moment now that Noonday partners with metalworkers in those same Nairobi slums.
This understanding of courage manifested powerfully during Jessica's adoption journey to Rwanda. Standing in an intimidating judge's chambers alongside other adoptive families, she faced a crucial moment: should she speak up and advocate for their case despite cultural uncertainties about a foreign woman taking charge, or remain silent and risk delays that would keep their son Jack in the orphanage longer? This crystallized the tension she'd always felt between her bold, entrepreneurial nature and societal expectations for women to remain quiet.
Jessica created Noonday's ambassador opportunity specifically to empower women to stand up through social entrepreneurship. These ambassadors earn income while creating impact for artisans in vulnerable communities, hosting trunk shows where women gather to style, share stories, and shop. Beyond income, they experience profound rewards: making meaningful impact, empowering women globally, providing for their families, and growing as leaders. To succeed, they must embrace vulnerability and overcome fears-just as Jessica did in Rwanda.
Ambassador Brandi's story exemplifies this journey. She struggled for six months before joining Noonday, fearing failure and rejection. She almost backed out upon learning another ambassador lived in her town but persisted despite her fears. That decision transformed her life, especially when she traveled to Uganda on an ambassador trip. "Noonday has called out things in me that I didn't even know I had," she told Jessica, reclaiming parts of her identity that had been buried in motherhood.
第3章
Stepping Into Your Authentic Story
The moment you stand up for something that matters, voices will tell you to sit back down-often your own. Jessica calls this mental committee the "Itty Bitty Baloney Sauce Committee" (IBBC), which functions like mean girls questioning your abilities and worth. To move forward despite fear, you must first recognize these voices to silence them.
During a family ski trip, Jessica realized she'd spent years pretending to be a snowboarder when she was naturally a skier-all because she thought snowboarding was cooler. Similarly, she had constructed a fictional "should" story about her business background: fashion school graduate with MBA training and parental funding. The real story involved pawning heirloom jewelry, working from a bathroom desk, and zero industry knowledge. Once Jessica embraced her authentic journey with all its messiness, she discovered it was far more compelling than her fabrications.
As Noonday grew from her home-based operation to a full-fledged business with eight ambassadors, Jessica needed help while traveling to Rwanda to adopt Jack. She prayed for an attorney, angel investor, and shipping software while drowning in tasks-developing designs, training ambassadors, managing inventory, and hand-writing shipping labels. During a babysitting swap, she noticed her friend Travis Wilson's organized spreadsheets and asked for his help. After several early morning coffee meetings, Travis offered to quit his job and join Noonday full-time, bringing his Wharton MBA and entrepreneurial experience.
Moving Noonday to an office meant Jessica needed a nanny-something that didn't fit her "Good Mom" script. In her mind, a Good Mom stayed home, exercised daily, cooked organic meals, and homeschooled her children-a unicorn standard. When Lauren joined them as a nanny, instead of appreciating her wonderful care for Jessica's children, Jessica viewed Lauren's competence as an indictment of her own mothering. Her Inner Bad Boss Committee berated her: "You're not that patient. You're not that joyful."
Six months into this arrangement, Jessica was invited on her first official international business trip to Peru, triggering fears of plane crashes and leaving her children motherless. Her friend Jen texted her: "Your kids will be better, not worse, for having a mama who got on planes and flew around the world to serve." Gradually, Jessica began to erase her either/or paradigms and embrace a more nuanced story-one where she could be both a successful entrepreneur and a good mother.
第4章
Owning Your Inherent Worth
In a tender moment at church, Jessica held her friend Meagan's adopted Ethiopian daughter Tessa, who has no limbs except for one small arm, on her lap before her first day of kindergarten. As Tessa raised her arm to sing "He loves us," Jessica felt her own kindergarten memory of being called "fat" dissipate. Our souls feel the weight of our true worth-our belonging is not in our bodies.
The 1980s health craze brought us the Presidential Physical Fitness Test, where as a child Jessica was once paired with a faster student by a jump rope to "keep up." This seemingly insignificant memory revealed how she'd been chasing worthiness rather than embracing it. Women tether themselves to impossible standards-social media perception, past mistakes, clothing sizes, children's achievements, to-do lists-but our narrowly defined and airbrushed definition of beauty tops the list.
Studies show 98% of women want to change at least one aspect of their appearance, meaning only 2% believe they're beautiful as they are. As Tina Fey brilliantly satirized, today's beauty standard combines impossible physical attributes from different ethnicities and body types. Americans spend $60 billion annually on weight loss-more than the GDP of entire countries where Noonday works-yet we continue believing we can obtain our dream body if we just try hard enough.
Jessica's adversarial relationship with her body began at age eight when she attended her first Weight Watchers meeting with her mother. In junior high, she was always the "heavy jumper" at camp for the Blob activity, internalizing that being smaller would make her belong. She carried this mentality into adulthood, even comparing herself to Heidi Klum who walked the Victoria's Secret runway six weeks after childbirth. Her personal trainer Jeff challenged her with profound wisdom: "Joe didn't marry Heidi Klum. He married you." When she pressed him for a weight loss formula, he responded, "Jessica, I think you know exactly what to do. It is time to trust yourself."
At Noonday Collection, they celebrate being "imperfect by design"-using natural materials like water buffalo horn and goat leather that create one-of-a-kind pieces. What if we turned culture's definition of beauty upside down? Beauty's definition isn't fixed like gravity; it fluctuates through history and across cultures. In Africa, fuller figures signify prosperity; in Latin America, gold front teeth represent wealth and dental hygiene.
During their adoption journey with Jack, Jessica learned from Karyn Purvis's book The Connected Child that our brains can forge new neural connections throughout our lives. If Jack could unlearn harmful patterns, perhaps she could too. This revelation crystallized during a hot yoga class when the instructor asked them to thank their bodies. Jessica realized she could quit rejecting her body and instead receive it gratefully.
第5章
Creating Spaces of Authentic Connection
We don't truly grow until we own and live our stories in the context of other people. As Oprah learned from her thousands of interviews, everyone wants validation-to be seen and heard. This requires both vulnerability (showing up and letting ourselves be seen) and empathy (feeling that we are heard).
Despite her eyelash extensions and spray tans, Jessica describes herself as "pretty crunchy at heart"-she's had home births and enjoys being naked. She intentionally showered with her daughter Amelie when she was younger so she could see a woman comfortable in her own skin, unlike Jessica's own mother who often criticized her body. One evening, Amelie asked about shaving her arms. Rather than launching into a feminist pep talk, Jessica created space for her vulnerability. She shared her own body insecurities, how as a child she believed kids who called her fat. This created space for Amelie to reveal that a classmate had commented on her "hairy arms," which had become her story until that vulnerable moment.
Perhaps the most powerful demonstration of vulnerability Jessica witnessed came from her friend Norbert Munana, who represented them as their attorney during Jack's adoption in Rwanda. During lunch one day, Norbert shared his harrowing story from the 1994 Rwandan genocide. At sixteen, he hid in a forest after losing nearly his entire family-his parents and sisters slaughtered by machete-wielding men while he listened from a nearby hiding spot. He and his two brothers survived by hiding separately and communicating through whistles. Eventually, Norbert made his way to Kigali, worked odd jobs while homeless, and ultimately put himself through university and law school. He chose to volunteer his time helping orphans, having experienced that pain himself.
Jessica had spent tremendous energy playing actor in her own story, showing certain parts of herself to certain people out of fear that if people knew Noonday began with pawned gold and a bathroom office, they'd discount their success. But as she practiced vulnerability-at CEO events introducing herself as a bootstrapped entrepreneur with no executive experience but plenty of hustle, or admitting leadership struggles instead of hiding them-she gained confidence in owning her truth. The formula became clear: vulnerability, when met with empathy, leads to wholeness.
第6章
Building a Community of Belonging
When we embrace vulnerability, we create compassionate spaces of belonging for ourselves and others. This became evident when Norbert, who had shared his genocide survival story with only Jessica and Joe, later volunteered to tell his story to thirty Noonday ambassadors-and brought his wife Florence, who had never heard these details before. Florence later thanked Jessica, explaining that since sharing with them initially, Norbert had begun to heal.
To create these healing spaces of belonging, we must overcome three harmful patterns: comparing instead of collaborating, judging instead of empathizing, and standing by instead of fighting for each other. Comparison is insidious and destructive. From childhood height-weight percentiles to adult social media scrolling, we're constantly asking "Do I measure up?" This thinking leads to a slow death-sulking at another mom's perfect birthday party, envying beach bodies on Instagram, or feeling inadequate when hearing about a friend's marital success.
When we compare ourselves to others, we create a "she versus me" mentality, judging others for our perceived deficiencies rather than celebrating their success. This scarcity thinking makes compassion feel like a finite resource. The antidote is a simple mantra: "Her success does not diminish mine. She is not a threat. She is a sister. I will not feel threatened by her investments, her involvements, her wild accomplishments, or her success. Instead of elbowing, I will reach out my hand."
The bystander effect occurs when we witness someone's need but assume others will help. In everyday interactions, it leads us to inaction when compassion is needed-thinking someone else will check on that stressed mom or compliment that speaker. This happened with Noonday ambassador Erin, who despite being "Noonday famous" found herself without conference roommates for four years because everyone assumed she was already taken care of. When she finally shared her experience, the community was shocked, realizing they'd all made the same assumption.
Jessica's vision for Noonday expanded beyond creating opportunity in developing countries to building spaces where women could come together with purpose, knowing they belonged and had something to offer. Despite her current confidence at trunk shows, she once faced paralyzing fear. At her first gathering to fund Jack's adoption, insecurity nearly overwhelmed her-worried no one would come, empathize, or purchase anything. But her friends showed up, and as she vulnerably shared her truth, she glimpsed the world-changing community forming.
True unity forms when we navigate challenges together. During Noonday's cash crunch, Travis and Jessica embraced transparent leadership with their ambassador community. They held a conference call where they owned their mistakes, clarified their plan forward, and re-recruited their organization to join them in managing supply and demand better. Though truth-telling is easy when things are going well, they discovered that vulnerability during difficult times strengthens community even more.
第7章
The Transformative Power of Sisterhood
When women stand together instead of competing, we create what Jessica calls the Sisterhood Effect-a powerful force of collaboration over comparison. This transformation happened to her at Starbucks when she encountered a super-involved mom from her children's school. Instead of feeling inadequate, she acknowledged the woman's contributions while recognizing her own worth as a mother. Society places impossible expectations on women, creating pressure that drives us to judge each other rather than connect.
The story of Wideleine and Ginny demonstrates true sisterhood. In Haiti, Wideleine made the heart-wrenching decision to place her baby daughter for adoption. Years later, as an assistant manager at Noonday's partner workshop, she expressed her desire to connect with her daughter's adoptive mother. When approached, Ginny responded with grace and openness, writing a beautiful letter acknowledging their shared motherhood. This collaboration over competition shows that we cannot simultaneously be judgmental and empathetic.
Women often judge each other for various reasons-from driving fancy cars to parenting choices to weight management. Jessica once judged people who wrote books, thinking "what could they possibly say that hasn't been said?" before ironically writing her own. Often judgment stems from misunderstanding our differences. When she encountered a struggling Egyptian immigrant mother with unruly children in a shoe store, she chose compassion over judgment, remembering that on any other day, it could have been her struggling.
The Sisterhood Effect says "I'm in. I'm here. I see you," and transforms lives through collective action. In Rwanda, when Jessica needed packaging for Noonday products, her friend Jennifer connected her with twelve genocide survivors who needed work rather than established seamstresses. Despite her fears of failure, she committed to these women, recognizing this was exactly what Noonday was meant to do. Later, Denise DeMarchis of Matilda Jane-a potential competitor-chose collaboration over competition, sending designers to Rwanda to create a co-branded line. This partnership provided immediate substantial work for the newly trained seamstresses.
In Uganda, where gender-based violence is tragically common, Jalia refused to be a silent bystander when her employee Nakato repeatedly came to work with fresh bruises. After one particularly severe beating left Nakato's eyes nearly swollen shut, Jalia marched to the police station demanding justice. Despite Uganda's notoriously corrupt police system and having no bribe money, Jalia's tenacity prevailed. She showed up day after day-even missing a wedding-until finally, Nakato's husband was arrested and jailed. Today, Nakato and her children live free from abuse because Jalia embodied the Sisterhood Effect's core principle.
第8章
Embracing Collaborative Leadership
After weathering Noonday's inventory crisis, Jessica learned that rebuilding trust requires rallying those committed to their mission rather than focusing on critics. This realization led them to create the Noonday Collection Ambassador Manifesto, declaring their identity as "a sisterhood-imperfectly courageous" who believes "her success doesn't diminish mine" and that "we are better together." This collaborative spirit stands in stark contrast to Western individualism.
In Uganda, collaboration isn't just business strategy-it's survival. When Mama Jabal was thrown out by her abusive husband with nothing but the clothes on her back, her workshop family immediately responded. The next day at work, she found spoons, forks, mosquito nets, bedsheets, and rent money appearing at her workstation. Similarly in Ethiopia, when one woman in Cherry's program for former prostitutes died of a heart attack, the entire community stepped in to raise her daughter-"a community of aunties" ensuring all five daughters in their group eventually finished high school and entered university.
True collaboration transforms how we handle conflict. During their inventory crisis, it was actually Jalia-Jessica's closest partner-who had independently shared concerns with ambassadors, creating ripples of uncertainty. Yet their relationship survived because they prioritized resolution over resentment. Meaningful dialogue requires both listening well and making generous assumptions. Instead of approaching conversations like boxing matches, we can create safety through phrases like "Tell me more" or "I would love to understand your perspective."
In truly collaborative communities, anyone's joy becomes everyone's joy. In Uganda, where poverty often means not just lack of food or education but also inability to afford marriage certificates, artisan Bukenya saved for a year from his Noonday earnings to marry his longtime partner Coral. Their church organized a group wedding for nineteen couples who pooled resources to share ceremonial costs. The image of nineteen women in white with their beaming husbands-a celebration born of necessity but resulting in shared joy-perfectly captures the beauty of collaborative living.
第9章
Widening Your Circle of Compassion
Jessica challenges readers to stretch their circle of acceptance and compassion until it covers the whole world. This sounds overwhelming unless anchored in genuine human connection. In her youth, her attempts to help others were often clumsy-handing out lollipops to children who couldn't read English, failing to maintain promised sponsorships. During college, she interned at Samaritan Inns where a resident named Wanda confronted her saying, "I ain't nobody's summer project." Rather than listening, Jessica defensively responded, though she later apologized and learned people are meant to be loved, not fixed.
Through experiences in Bolivia with Food for the Hungry, she witnessed how well-intentioned Western aid often fails when it doesn't consult local communities-like expensive latrines that became potato storage. She discovered that entrepreneurship, "the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled," empowers people more effectively than handouts. At Noonday Collection, they believe in linked prosperity where all stakeholders thrive together, measuring success by opportunities created rather than just profits.
Jessica emphasizes that everyone has power regardless of background or circumstances. There's power in presence-simply showing up at events like MLK celebrations matters. There's power in voice-speaking up for others like Jalia did for her abused friend Nakato. And there's purchasing power-buying fair trade products creates sustainable jobs in vulnerable communities. The key question: Is your power flowing through to others, or stopping abruptly with you and your family?
After she and her husband Joe attended an event about generous living, they shifted from asking "How much do we give away?" to "How much do we keep?"-planning a reasonable budget and giving the rest. By viewing God as CEO rather than financial counselor of their resources, they embraced abundance over scarcity. Jessica also emphasizes creating margin in one's schedule to serve others, referencing the biblical story of Boaz who left the edges of his fields unharvested for widows, orphans, and refugees.
第10章
Sustaining Your Impact for the Long Haul
Jessica compares the permanence of motherhood to the commitment required in scaling a business. She explains that sustainable impact requires taking the long view and valuing long-term effort over short-term results, while pausing for self-care to prevent burnout. She reflects on her partnership with Jalia, which began with no guarantees but grew from employing seven artisans within eight months to supporting one hundred artisans today, plus four hundred trained bead rollers in the broader community.
Jessica advocates for commitment over merely trying. She tells people to quit "trying" and instead fully commit to making impact. Using the analogy of parenting, she explains that you don't just "try" to be there for your child-you're all in. This impact-rich, going-scared life requires long-term investment that won't show immediate profits. The generations-long problems facing vulnerable communities won't be solved instantly but require patience, persistence and grit.
Rebecca, a former high-achieving paralegal who became a Noonday ambassador after adopting a daughter, initially pushed too hard in her business while attaching her worth to success. After four years, she realized her life was out of balance and spent a year recalibrating her priorities. She learned that setting a sustainable pace made her a better ambassador, wife, mother and friend. Jessica responded with pride, recognizing that consistency matters more to artisan partners than sporadic large orders-they prefer reliable, consistent business that allows them to plan for the future.
Jessica confesses her own tendency toward burnout during Noonday's first four years-traveling excessively, sleeping poorly, getting repeatedly sick with strep throat and shingles. Reading Tim Keller's article about Sabbath, she realized she was justifying "too little Sabbath" by claiming to be in a temporary season that never ended. She needed to transition from startup sprint to marathon pace, recognizing that like a Guatemalan backstrap loom that looks messy from behind but creates beautiful patterns, difficult seasons eventually reveal their purpose.
Jessica shares her personal sustainability practices: First, exercise, which helped her through depression in her twenties and creates a "halo effect" improving other areas of life. Second, meditation-repeating phrases to remind herself of her inherent worth. Third, connecting spiritually with her husband through weekly prayer. Fourth, prioritizing friendships by scheduling time with friends after travel. Finally, being present by putting down her phone and allowing her children to hide it if she doesn't comply with her phone-free family time rule.
第11章
Creating a Flourishing World Together
Jessica describes the transformed lives she witnesses in Uganda. She highlights Bukenya, once a street kid who became production manager after Jalia and Daniel gave him an opportunity. Despite Uganda's 80% unemployment rate among young adults, Bukenya found dignity through work, married his fiancee Coral, and named their daughter "Shalom" (peace). She also observes Raeann, an ambassador battling breast cancer who found purpose championing artisans despite her own struggles with infertility, and Latifa, who escaped abuse to become quality control manager while starting her own charcoal business and purchasing land for her mother.
Jessica recalls meeting Caleb years earlier when he showed her his simple list of dreams: a mattress, mosquito net, plate, and fork. She reflects on how her own early prayer list had been different but equally desperate: "Send me an attorney. An angel investor. Send me some help." She also reconnects with Rosetta, who once sought work washing laundry or planting grass before finding dignified employment with Jalia and Daniel.
As the celebration continues, Jalia invites Jessica to speak. Standing with her family, Jessica reflects on the unlikely journey that brought them all together-from her impulsive start to this moment with over a hundred people who've become extended family. She acknowledges Jack, whose adoption sparked Noonday's creation, and celebrates seven years of partnership, noting the biblical significance of the seventh year as a time of completion and rest.
Jalia shows Jessica's family the farm they've gradually purchased, already providing sustainable food for employees. She shares dreams of chicken farms and marriage retreat centers. Together they plant an avocado seed that will bear fruit in seven years-a perfect metaphor for their partnership. Jessica marvels at Jalia's transformation from living day-to-day to planning years ahead.
Jessica reveals Noonday's name originated from Isaiah's verse about light rising in darkness for those who help the hungry and oppressed. While contemplating this verse on a dock after her first trunk show, she received an email from a friend who had coincidentally prayed that exact verse for her-the confirmation she needed to choose the name.
Jessica shares how her friend Wynne, an early Noonday ambassador who photographed Jack's adoption, helped her understand that many women are waiting for an invitation to live courageously. Jessica extends this personal invitation directly to the reader-not a casual digital invite but an intentional, hand-lettered one. She urges readers to accept the invitation to "shine light like it's noonday" and embrace a life of imperfect courage, bringing their unique strengths, weaknesses, and authentic selves to a world waiting for their brightness.
