Heritage Goods and Supply, their brick and mortar store is located in Ashley’s hometown, the funky little surf-town of Carpinteria, California. It offers unique goods from herbal supply, to specialty foods, animal supply, functional clothing, shoes and more! Heritage Goods & Supply brings elements of the homestead into everyday life with a carefully curated selection of goods.
I whole-heartedly believe what we have brought to our community is incredibly valuable from having local artisans’ and creators’ goods in our store to inspiring others through thoughtfully made goods and classes.
— LAUREN MALLOY
Originally from Vermont, Lauren now lives in Ojai, California with her two daughters, Milly (eight) and June (four), another baby on the way and husband, Keith (plus their three horses, four cows, three dogs, one cat, one pig and 20 chickens). Lauren has a degree in animal science and conservation biology, and her work with animals has taken her to the far reaches of China and Africa. Lauren is also the creator of “Worn Wear” a used clothing and repair campaign for the outdoor company, Patagonia. Now at home with her daughters, Lauren enjoys showing her children a way of life around caring for the land and its creatures, community and surfing. Her passion for a simpler lifestyle, friendship and thirst for knowledge inspired her to be a part of the Women’s Heritage. She feels honored to show her daughters how working with women can empower your world!
I grew up the youngest of three girls in Vermont and am not sure if I ever previously realized that I had a passion for being an entrepreneur, though, I always knew I liked to dream big and go for it. I am often driven by strong motivation and from a young age, have liked to see things through to completion. I inherited this quality from my father. Thankfully, in dreaming big, I can typically visualize a step-by-step process on how to achieve the desired goal. I don’t know if being an entrepreneur played apiece in my family life, but my motivation to achieve my dreams sure did!
Growing up, my sisters and I could run wild and free. We had lots of animals. From a very young age, I felt an incredible calling to nature and wanted to care for and learn as much as I could about animals. I began working on a dairy farm at about the age of eight and continued doing so through high school. I then went on to receive a degree in Animal Conservation and Animal Science and have since worked all over the world, as well as, here in California—now just focusing on my family, our animals and of course our business.
My work with Women’s Heritage now makes me feel full on many levels. I treasure the connection and stimulation I get from working with my partners. I also love the team of folks we have built over the years. I am so proud of what we have created. From the beginning, my partners and I have felt strongly about our families coming first and trying to find the aspects of the business where we feel most creative and passionate to all succeed. I hope my daughters become inspired to follow their passions as well!
My husband, Keith, is super creative and has helped me so much along the way. I also am lucky to have so many great friends doing cool stuff, which greatly inspire me. I try to put my anxiousness into my work and channel it to be productive, and I swear this is where a lot of my ideas come from!
With great inspiration and passion, however, it is difficult to avoid getting too sucked in and making yourself realize it all doesn’t have to be done right away—that business needs time and space to grow and develop. Achieving balance at my work is, therefore, my biggest challenge in business. Ironically, my biggest accomplishment is probably also balance, though is the balance between the time spent with my work and my kids. Thanks to my partners and the incredible team we have built, I am there to drop off and pick up my children at school and attend their events.
I don’t have to feel like I am sacrificing one for the other. I feel so lucky I get to be a mom and work too! This allows me in my every day at Women’s Heritage to maintain a very relaxed business style. As a team, we do look at numbers, but it’s not a part of my style to write up a business plan. I often want to make decisions based on gut feeling and logic, which may not always be in the “plan”. As a team, we have said and stuck with, “Let’s follow our hearts, be authentic and not overly competitive, and let’s commit to regularly check the numbers. If we can make all that work, then great let’s keep going!”
Lauren’s Instagram: @Lauren_C_Malloy
Born and raised in Southern California, Ashley has a lifelong passion for plant medicine. She is a mother, artist and herbalist and has studied herbal medicine with Rosemary Gladstar, Susun Weed and The Herbal Academy. She has been making and selling organic, herbal well-being and self-care products since 2013. Ashley loves nothing more than spending time outdoors with her three children and husband, Ryan, foraging, camping and hiking, dancing and playing. She is honored to be a part of Women’s Heritage, doing what she loves, working with her dearest friends and meeting new friends at every workshop.
I was born in San Diego, California and moved up to Carpinteria when I was seven. Growing up, we spent a lot of time outside including exploring the tide pools at the beach and tending the garden at home. I’m the oldest of six, so I also spent a lot of time playing with and caring for my younger siblings.
I first realized I had a passion for becoming an entrepreneur when I was a little girl. My elderly neighbor, Mrs. Aimes, gave me some tomatoes off of her plant to sell on the sidewalk. No one bought any, so Mrs. Aimes bought them all for a dime each. Not only was I moved by her kindness and generosity, I now had a taste for starting a business, and I liked it!
I started my first business at the age of 19. I wanted my dad to buy me a bracelet, but instead, he brought me to a gem fair and bought me all of the supplies to make lots of bracelets. I started by selling my jewelry at local stores along the California coast. Fast forward to after my first child was born, and I started a clothing company. The company combined with a new baby at the same time was a little too much, so I closed that part of the business down after about a year. Soon after, I put my herbalism training to work and started an herbal skincare and wellness business—Celestial Terrestrial. Initially, it was available on a website by that name, and now it is sold exclusively at Heritage Goods & Supply.
When I was 21, I worked for a lovely local woman named Kate McMahon at her store on Coast Village Road in Montecito. I was really impressed by her because not only did she have a great eye for curating clothing and accessories, but she also designed the handmade sweaters for the store—she was an artist! A year later, I found myself working as the buyer for my father-in-law, Matt Moore, at his retail surf shop. Similarly, he created wares he sold in his shop—surfboards!
I love that retail space can also serve as a creative outlet for the artist or craftsperson, and this is what I’ve always hoped to create. At Heritage Goods, I sell my skincare and herbal remedies, along with a Heritage dress I designed with the help of local seamstress and costume designer, Lillian Hannas. Emma sells her bread, jams and other delicacies, and Lauren sells the honey made by her bees. One day, I would love to have a full Heritage Brand clothing line at the store, all fair trade and ethically made.
After my second daughter was born, my husband and I opened a coffee shop called Lucky Llama Coffee House. We’ve been in business for over seven years now! And then, Lauren, Emma and I started Women’s Heritage and Heritage Goods & Supply. Our workshops began over three years ago, and our brick and mortar store has been open for a little over two years. When I write it all down, it sounds like a lot! But, really it’s just different facets of the same stone—different ways to be creative and have fun.
Lauren, Emma and I love to brainstorm together—that’s when some really wonderful ideas are born. I also love finding inspiration just being out in nature or reading poetry. But, like my partners, I am constantly trying to find a balance between work and home. I homeschool my three little ones and that, along with Heritage Goods, keeps me very busy! Fortunately, we now have an incredible team of powerhouse women, and the workload is much more manageable than it was in the beginning.
At Heritage Goods & Supply, we operate under a unique business model for a few reasons. First, we are combining the hobbies and specialties of three women, not just one, so the store is a really interesting mix of a lifestyle store, feed store, garden supply and boutique to serve us all—somehow, it all works together in a really fun way. Our business model is also distinctive because my partners and I are all mothers, and have made it clear since the start that family comes first. It takes a little longer to start making a profit this way, but it allows us to lead more balanced lives that feel rich in every aspect, not just work.
Together, however, we have faced and overcome a series of natural disasters within our community, one after another. Only a few months after opening the doors of Heritage Goods for the first time, fires and floods, mudslides and freeway closures had us closed much of the time. The three of us had invested savings, taken personal loans and stretched as far as we could go to get the store opened, and this was both terrifying and discouraging. Our community saved the day though, which was so beautiful and moving. Although many people had lost their homes, or worse (including my father-in-law and brother-in-law), everyone in my little town came out just as soon as they could to support all of the small businesses in the area. I am so proud to be from this wonderful town! Ultimately, our biggest challenge ended up being the most encouraging and inspiring moment for our business so far.
Having your own business isn’t all about making money. While that’s an important piece, the bigger picture is that owning your own small business provides an opportunity to share your unique gifts and skills with your community, to connect with other people, and to offer something that will hopefully enrich the lives of those around you in some way. Owning and running a small business is hard work. The only way we can make it is if we all support one another. Rather than seeing other small businesses as competition, I see the people who have built the businesses and appreciate that they are hardworking, just like me. I try to look for ways we can collaborate and work together for the good of everyone. This lifts us all up and feels so much better. We’re all on the same team, ultimately—stronger together!
Ashley’s Instagram: @motherhestia
Emma is an educator, home cook, yogi, healthy lifestyle coach and most importantly, a mother who cares about her children and how they are being raised in this world. Growing up on a farm, she gained an appreciation for the earth, local ingredients and home-cooked meals. After her children were born she started fermenting, canning and dabbling in urban homesteading life. Currently, she cooks whole nourishing foods daily, is a co-founder of Women’s Heritage and Heritage Goods and Supply, where she teaches classes on fermentation, food preservation and cooking. Emma enjoys being outside and in nature with her family and is excited to share her passion with others.
I currently reside in Santa Barbara, California where I cook whole nourishing food daily and enjoy the outdoors with my husband, Kevin, and two children, son Liam (eight) and daughter Olivia (ten). If you would have asked me when I was younger what I was going to do when I grew up, I would have answered that I simply didn’t know. Really, I didn’t. I remember, my best friend, Colleen, knew. She would always tell everyone that she was going to be an elementary school teacher, but I didn’t have a clue. However, what I do know now is that each experience in my life has shaped me and allowed me to create what I have co-created and co-founded: Heritage Gatherings, Women’s Heritage and Heritage Goods and Supply.
I grew up in the Central Valley of California on a dairy farm. My father raised Holstein Friesian cows and farmed the land around us to provide food for the herd. At an early age, I naturally found myself outside on the farm doing chores and growing fruits and vegetables in our garden, as well as, in the kitchen cooking with my mother. I learned from my mother the importance of sitting down for a home-cooked meal and gathering together as a family. My father taught me the importance of working hard, giving one hundred percent and believing in myself.
My interest in health and well-being evolved in my young adult years. I became a yoga instructor, and I studied human relationships at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I then went on to get my master’s degree on this topic in Los Angeles. I returned to Santa Barbara and taught different courses centered on healthy relationships for a handful of years at Santa Barbara City College while also teaching a variety of yoga classes within the community.
The birth of our first child in 2008 rekindled my love for nutrition and merged all of my different interests within the fields of food, well-being and human relationships. Having my own family inspired me to connect with the principles I experienced as a child on the dairy farm. The only catch is that we live in the city and not on a farm in the Central Valley. This important factor didn’t stop me from living out a quality of life that I desired; I just adapted and fine-tuned the values and priorities within my passion for a healthy, homegrown lifestyle. To do this, I became obsessed with traditional cooking methods, started gardening again, shopped at the local farmer’s market, began cooking from scratch, baked sourdough bread, started preserving and so on. Mealtime and family dinners became the priority.
When my son Liam was born a couple of years later, I started honing my cooking skills even more. As a self-taught home cook, I studied cookbooks and the different cooking methods plus took online classes here and there. Then, it started. When we would have a family get together, friendship gatherings and/or celebrations, I would often get asked about my sourdough bread, how to make it and how to make some of the other foods from scratch that I was creating.
I became an entrepreneur quite organically. I was chatting with two of my girlfriends, Ashley Moore and Lauren Malloy, while our children were playing, and we hatched a plan. We began talking about how we wanted to learn more from each other. I could teach about sourdough bread baking, fermentation, and other traditional cooking methods. Ashley could teach about herbalism, natural dyeing, etc, and Lauren could teach about animal care and keeping. Women’s Heritage was born.
We held our first class on sourdough bread baking, and it sold out within minutes of its posting! The day was so magical; we knew we were onto something. From there, we began an online journal to share our how-to’s, recipes and inspirations. Based on our specialties, we decided to open up Heritage Goods and Supply, to share all aspects of the modern homestead with others.
Recently, myself and one my business partners, Lauren Malloy, have taken our vision of Women’s Heritage and Heritage Goods and Supply a step further and have created Heritage Gatherings where we offer events and weekend retreats as a way to connect with other likeminded individuals to come together in celebration of connecting back to our roots, and learning how to incorporate skills and traditions of our past into our modern lives. For our first event, held this past October, we partnered with The Farmhouse at the Ojai Valley Inn. This three-day event was filled with local, fresh food and immersive classes ranging from open fire cooking to beekeeping to shibori dyeing, sourdough bread baking, hatchet making and so much more.
All of these endeavors have been hard work and have created self-doubt, happiness, more self-doubt and courage, all at the same time. On my end, after creating Women’s Heritage and trying to balance being a mom, teaching yoga and teaching human relationship classes at Santa Barbara City College, I chose to take the leap and leave my career as an adjunct faculty member at Santa Barbara City College to pursue my deep passion for food, health and well-being when we opened Heritage Goods and Supply. I also chose to step mostly away from teaching yoga by keeping just one group class a week on the books. This was not easy and created anxiety in me. I questioned if I was on the right path. But, sure enough, I was. I learned that I have to take risks and do what I intuitively feel is right.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
— MARY OLIVER
Balancing family and work can be difficult. My husband is my biggest fan and has fully supported my desire to be creative and become an entrepreneur—I think it’s also because he is one himself; he owns an architecture firm in Santa Barbara. Without his support, I don’t think I would have been able to make a shift and create what I have created with Lauren and Ashley. But as I write this, I also think another reason I felt like taking a risk and doing something different and creating a business like Women’s Heritage from the start is that I wasn’t doing it on my own. There was comfort in knowing that I was in it together with my two girlfriends (now business partners). This also feels so empowering to me for my children; they get to see their mama and her two girlfriends in business together, making it work. Yes, we have good times and our struggles too (we are human), but we are in partnership together and willing to work together to create something for our community. What a gift that is to me and our community.
Where do we go from here? Well, as a whole, we are constantly fine-tuning what we are doing at Heritage Goods and Supply and are working hard to create a more successful online presence. When it comes to workshops like we offered via Women’s Heritage and now through Heritage Goods and Supply, I am still actively teaching classes, as well as, securing other passionately inspiring teachers to share their knowledge and skills throughout our community. And now, with the development of Heritage Gatherings, I am looking forward to creating a space of deeper connection for back-to-roots living events. All of this is exciting, but it’s scary for me too. Self doubt can arise. But, I also think that is normal, so I try to meditate and follow my intuition—to really believe in myself and what I can do. I believe anyone can do anything if they set their mind to it and believe in oneself. This is something that my parents instilled within me at a very early age.
Emma’s Instagram: @emmarollinmoore
Emma Moore’s 4 Steps to Slowly Transition from Employee to Entrepreneur
1. DO, Then Delegate:
When we first opened Heritage Goods and Supply, we decided not to get investors. This required the three of us divvying up responsibilities and doing the majority of the work ourselves. It was a lot of work. We did it. But, we soon felt burnt out and needed to chat. We came up with a plan. Essentially, we were all of the belief that our families needed to come first, and we needed to hire help and start delegating. Fast-forward to the end of our second year in business, and I really see the importance of doing first but then delegating. This gave us firsthand experience that was then easier to communicate with our employees. I also see how important it is to make sure—as business partners—we are all on the same page. When we first started, we had a limited budget. We had to decide and set limits on what we could carry for inventory, what was a wish list and so on. In the long run, these baby steps helped us fine-tune our brand and continue to help us assess which products, goods and services we should carry in our store. As a new business, we started small and are still narrowing in focus but growing our inventory.
2. Quadruple your estimated startup costs:
To be honest, we didn’t do so well counting the costs of opening up our retail business. We had various business plans, but all of our plans might have been too conservative because the cost to fix up our space, pay for inventory and so on ended up being more than we had planned. So, my thinking is that if I could do it over, I would come up with the most educated number and then quadruple it to be safe.
3. Create a personal budget:
How much money do you need to live (including rent, food, gas, healthcare and soon)? This can help you determine if it’s going to work for you right now before you set out to start your own business.
4. Build in stages:
We built our businesses gradually, and this was helpful. When it came to starting Women’s Heritage, I didn’t quit my day job.It was only once we had Women’s Heritage going and decided to open up Heritage Goods and Supply that I decided to do so.
Ashley Moore & Lauren Malloy’s 7 Steps to a Successful Team Partnership
1. Write a team business plan.
Make sure all partners involved are on board with every single aspect before you move forward. Try to think about every possible detail, every possible decision. With multiple partners, the clearer everything is, including the roles each of you will have, the better. Do you all have the same vision? Is there an exit plan if one or more of the partners decides it’s not for her?
2. Make sure your business plan makes financial sense for you and will be a viable career before you leap in.
How will you make money? How much will it cost to get started? Where will you get startup funds? Keep in mind that for most businesses, the money you make will be reinvested into the business. If you don’t want to work for free for years before making your first dollar, make sure you figure your salary into your plan. If you have young children or other reasons why you do not want to work50, 60, or possibly more hours per week, understand that the tradeoff for working fewer hours and hiring more help will be that you might not make that first dollar fora good, long while. To build your business, you may need to offer something for free.A good example is a blog or journal that offers recipes, how-to’s, or other articles of interest for free. This is a first step to building your customer base, but equally important, it is your unique contribution to your community.
3. Have partners.
We could never have done what we have
created alone. Though, of course, there are
challenges and different opinions, partners
allow you to be double or triple efficient and
creative.
4. Do the aspects of the business you love, and when you can, hire out for the parts that you don’ t love or aren’ t great at.
There are aspects of the business you have to do that you might not want to until you get to a financial place where you can hire out, but we have found someone who enjoys an aspect of the job that we don’t will be 10x better!
5. Be flexible.
We began just doing classes and when an opportunity for a great retail space came up, though not what we had been picturing, we took it. Now, we have grown into a real brand. We are so thankful we didn’t say, “No, that wasn’t the plan!”
6. Think outside the box and give people what they could be missing.
During all of our events and even in our retail experience, we aim to give people a new experience they might not have had before. When shopping in our store you can find a great dress next to a beehive for sale or a chicken coop. I feel people leave our store or classes thinking, “Maybe I could do that!”
7. Compromise.
There were things we simply had to give up working with partners, and we are grateful in the long run for our multiple opinions and views. Having partners has taught us to hear each other and to respect when someone feels strongly.
8. Just go for it.
Life is too short to wait; if you want to do something, go for it. As long as you aren’t betting the farm, there is no time like the present to get your ideas out in the world.
9. Enjoy the process.
It doesn’t happen overnight, but if you have the vision and determination you can build it. Create a team who is inspired and can grow with the business. Without the strong team we have now, we wouldn’t be sailing off like we are! The crew is the bones—we have grown it over time and try to make sure all employees are doing what they love, too!
Heritage Goods and Supply, their brick and mortar store is located in Ashley’s hometown, the funky little surf-town of Carpinteria, California. It offers unique goods from herbal supply, to specialty foods, animal supply, functional clothing, shoes and more! Heritage Goods & Supply brings elements of the homestead into everyday life with a carefully curated selection of goods.
I whole-heartedly believe what we have brought to our community is incredibly valuable from having local artisans’ and creators’ goods in our store to inspiring others through thoughtfully made goods and classes.
— LAUREN MALLOY
Originally from Vermont, Lauren now lives in Ojai, California with her two daughters, Milly (eight) and June (four), another baby on the way and husband, Keith (plus their three horses, four cows, three dogs, one cat, one pig and 20 chickens). Lauren has a degree in animal science and conservation biology, and her work with animals has taken her to the far reaches of China and Africa. Lauren is also the creator of “Worn Wear” a used clothing and repair campaign for the outdoor company, Patagonia. Now at home with her daughters, Lauren enjoys showing her children a way of life around caring for the land and its creatures, community and surfing. Her passion for a simpler lifestyle, friendship and thirst for knowledge inspired her to be a part of the Women’s Heritage. She feels honored to show her daughters how working with women can empower your world!
I grew up the youngest of three girls in Vermont and am not sure if I ever previously realized that I had a passion for being an entrepreneur, though, I always knew I liked to dream big and go for it. I am often driven by strong motivation and from a young age, have liked to see things through to completion. I inherited this quality from my father. Thankfully, in dreaming big, I can typically visualize a step-by-step process on how to achieve the desired goal. I don’t know if being an entrepreneur played apiece in my family life, but my motivation to achieve my dreams sure did!
Growing up, my sisters and I could run wild and free. We had lots of animals. From a very young age, I felt an incredible calling to nature and wanted to care for and learn as much as I could about animals. I began working on a dairy farm at about the age of eight and continued doing so through high school. I then went on to receive a degree in Animal Conservation and Animal Science and have since worked all over the world, as well as, here in California—now just focusing on my family, our animals and of course our business.
My work with Women’s Heritage now makes me feel full on many levels. I treasure the connection and stimulation I get from working with my partners. I also love the team of folks we have built over the years. I am so proud of what we have created. From the beginning, my partners and I have felt strongly about our families coming first and trying to find the aspects of the business where we feel most creative and passionate to all succeed. I hope my daughters become inspired to follow their passions as well!
My husband, Keith, is super creative and has helped me so much along the way. I also am lucky to have so many great friends doing cool stuff, which greatly inspire me. I try to put my anxiousness into my work and channel it to be productive, and I swear this is where a lot of my ideas come from!
With great inspiration and passion, however, it is difficult to avoid getting too sucked in and making yourself realize it all doesn’t have to be done right away—that business needs time and space to grow and develop. Achieving balance at my work is, therefore, my biggest challenge in business. Ironically, my biggest accomplishment is probably also balance, though is the balance between the time spent with my work and my kids. Thanks to my partners and the incredible team we have built, I am there to drop off and pick up my children at school and attend their events.
I don’t have to feel like I am sacrificing one for the other. I feel so lucky I get to be a mom and work too! This allows me in my every day at Women’s Heritage to maintain a very relaxed business style. As a team, we do look at numbers, but it’s not a part of my style to write up a business plan. I often want to make decisions based on gut feeling and logic, which may not always be in the “plan”. As a team, we have said and stuck with, “Let’s follow our hearts, be authentic and not overly competitive, and let’s commit to regularly check the numbers. If we can make all that work, then great let’s keep going!”
Lauren’s Instagram: @Lauren_C_Malloy
Born and raised in Southern California, Ashley has a lifelong passion for plant medicine. She is a mother, artist and herbalist and has studied herbal medicine with Rosemary Gladstar, Susun Weed and The Herbal Academy. She has been making and selling organic, herbal well-being and self-care products since 2013. Ashley loves nothing more than spending time outdoors with her three children and husband, Ryan, foraging, camping and hiking, dancing and playing. She is honored to be a part of Women’s Heritage, doing what she loves, working with her dearest friends and meeting new friends at every workshop.
I was born in San Diego, California and moved up to Carpinteria when I was seven. Growing up, we spent a lot of time outside including exploring the tide pools at the beach and tending the garden at home. I’m the oldest of six, so I also spent a lot of time playing with and caring for my younger siblings.
I first realized I had a passion for becoming an entrepreneur when I was a little girl. My elderly neighbor, Mrs. Aimes, gave me some tomatoes off of her plant to sell on the sidewalk. No one bought any, so Mrs. Aimes bought them all for a dime each. Not only was I moved by her kindness and generosity, I now had a taste for starting a business, and I liked it!
I started my first business at the age of 19. I wanted my dad to buy me a bracelet, but instead, he brought me to a gem fair and bought me all of the supplies to make lots of bracelets. I started by selling my jewelry at local stores along the California coast. Fast forward to after my first child was born, and I started a clothing company. The company combined with a new baby at the same time was a little too much, so I closed that part of the business down after about a year. Soon after, I put my herbalism training to work and started an herbal skincare and wellness business—Celestial Terrestrial. Initially, it was available on a website by that name, and now it is sold exclusively at Heritage Goods & Supply.
When I was 21, I worked for a lovely local woman named Kate McMahon at her store on Coast Village Road in Montecito. I was really impressed by her because not only did she have a great eye for curating clothing and accessories, but she also designed the handmade sweaters for the store—she was an artist! A year later, I found myself working as the buyer for my father-in-law, Matt Moore, at his retail surf shop. Similarly, he created wares he sold in his shop—surfboards!
I love that retail space can also serve as a creative outlet for the artist or craftsperson, and this is what I’ve always hoped to create. At Heritage Goods, I sell my skincare and herbal remedies, along with a Heritage dress I designed with the help of local seamstress and costume designer, Lillian Hannas. Emma sells her bread, jams and other delicacies, and Lauren sells the honey made by her bees. One day, I would love to have a full Heritage Brand clothing line at the store, all fair trade and ethically made.
After my second daughter was born, my husband and I opened a coffee shop called Lucky Llama Coffee House. We’ve been in business for over seven years now! And then, Lauren, Emma and I started Women’s Heritage and Heritage Goods & Supply. Our workshops began over three years ago, and our brick and mortar store has been open for a little over two years. When I write it all down, it sounds like a lot! But, really it’s just different facets of the same stone—different ways to be creative and have fun.
Lauren, Emma and I love to brainstorm together—that’s when some really wonderful ideas are born. I also love finding inspiration just being out in nature or reading poetry. But, like my partners, I am constantly trying to find a balance between work and home. I homeschool my three little ones and that, along with Heritage Goods, keeps me very busy! Fortunately, we now have an incredible team of powerhouse women, and the workload is much more manageable than it was in the beginning.
At Heritage Goods & Supply, we operate under a unique business model for a few reasons. First, we are combining the hobbies and specialties of three women, not just one, so the store is a really interesting mix of a lifestyle store, feed store, garden supply and boutique to serve us all—somehow, it all works together in a really fun way. Our business model is also distinctive because my partners and I are all mothers, and have made it clear since the start that family comes first. It takes a little longer to start making a profit this way, but it allows us to lead more balanced lives that feel rich in every aspect, not just work.
Together, however, we have faced and overcome a series of natural disasters within our community, one after another. Only a few months after opening the doors of Heritage Goods for the first time, fires and floods, mudslides and freeway closures had us closed much of the time. The three of us had invested savings, taken personal loans and stretched as far as we could go to get the store opened, and this was both terrifying and discouraging. Our community saved the day though, which was so beautiful and moving. Although many people had lost their homes, or worse (including my father-in-law and brother-in-law), everyone in my little town came out just as soon as they could to support all of the small businesses in the area. I am so proud to be from this wonderful town! Ultimately, our biggest challenge ended up being the most encouraging and inspiring moment for our business so far.
Having your own business isn’t all about making money. While that’s an important piece, the bigger picture is that owning your own small business provides an opportunity to share your unique gifts and skills with your community, to connect with other people, and to offer something that will hopefully enrich the lives of those around you in some way. Owning and running a small business is hard work. The only way we can make it is if we all support one another. Rather than seeing other small businesses as competition, I see the people who have built the businesses and appreciate that they are hardworking, just like me. I try to look for ways we can collaborate and work together for the good of everyone. This lifts us all up and feels so much better. We’re all on the same team, ultimately—stronger together!
Ashley’s Instagram: @motherhestia
Emma is an educator, home cook, yogi, healthy lifestyle coach and most importantly, a mother who cares about her children and how they are being raised in this world. Growing up on a farm, she gained an appreciation for the earth, local ingredients and home-cooked meals. After her children were born she started fermenting, canning and dabbling in urban homesteading life. Currently, she cooks whole nourishing foods daily, is a co-founder of Women’s Heritage and Heritage Goods and Supply, where she teaches classes on fermentation, food preservation and cooking. Emma enjoys being outside and in nature with her family and is excited to share her passion with others.
I currently reside in Santa Barbara, California where I cook whole nourishing food daily and enjoy the outdoors with my husband, Kevin, and two children, son Liam (eight) and daughter Olivia (ten). If you would have asked me when I was younger what I was going to do when I grew up, I would have answered that I simply didn’t know. Really, I didn’t. I remember, my best friend, Colleen, knew. She would always tell everyone that she was going to be an elementary school teacher, but I didn’t have a clue. However, what I do know now is that each experience in my life has shaped me and allowed me to create what I have co-created and co-founded: Heritage Gatherings, Women’s Heritage and Heritage Goods and Supply.
I grew up in the Central Valley of California on a dairy farm. My father raised Holstein Friesian cows and farmed the land around us to provide food for the herd. At an early age, I naturally found myself outside on the farm doing chores and growing fruits and vegetables in our garden, as well as, in the kitchen cooking with my mother. I learned from my mother the importance of sitting down for a home-cooked meal and gathering together as a family. My father taught me the importance of working hard, giving one hundred percent and believing in myself.
My interest in health and well-being evolved in my young adult years. I became a yoga instructor, and I studied human relationships at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I then went on to get my master’s degree on this topic in Los Angeles. I returned to Santa Barbara and taught different courses centered on healthy relationships for a handful of years at Santa Barbara City College while also teaching a variety of yoga classes within the community.
The birth of our first child in 2008 rekindled my love for nutrition and merged all of my different interests within the fields of food, well-being and human relationships. Having my own family inspired me to connect with the principles I experienced as a child on the dairy farm. The only catch is that we live in the city and not on a farm in the Central Valley. This important factor didn’t stop me from living out a quality of life that I desired; I just adapted and fine-tuned the values and priorities within my passion for a healthy, homegrown lifestyle. To do this, I became obsessed with traditional cooking methods, started gardening again, shopped at the local farmer’s market, began cooking from scratch, baked sourdough bread, started preserving and so on. Mealtime and family dinners became the priority.
When my son Liam was born a couple of years later, I started honing my cooking skills even more. As a self-taught home cook, I studied cookbooks and the different cooking methods plus took online classes here and there. Then, it started. When we would have a family get together, friendship gatherings and/or celebrations, I would often get asked about my sourdough bread, how to make it and how to make some of the other foods from scratch that I was creating.
I became an entrepreneur quite organically. I was chatting with two of my girlfriends, Ashley Moore and Lauren Malloy, while our children were playing, and we hatched a plan. We began talking about how we wanted to learn more from each other. I could teach about sourdough bread baking, fermentation, and other traditional cooking methods. Ashley could teach about herbalism, natural dyeing, etc, and Lauren could teach about animal care and keeping. Women’s Heritage was born.
We held our first class on sourdough bread baking, and it sold out within minutes of its posting! The day was so magical; we knew we were onto something. From there, we began an online journal to share our how-to’s, recipes and inspirations. Based on our specialties, we decided to open up Heritage Goods and Supply, to share all aspects of the modern homestead with others.
Recently, myself and one my business partners, Lauren Malloy, have taken our vision of Women’s Heritage and Heritage Goods and Supply a step further and have created Heritage Gatherings where we offer events and weekend retreats as a way to connect with other likeminded individuals to come together in celebration of connecting back to our roots, and learning how to incorporate skills and traditions of our past into our modern lives. For our first event, held this past October, we partnered with The Farmhouse at the Ojai Valley Inn. This three-day event was filled with local, fresh food and immersive classes ranging from open fire cooking to beekeeping to shibori dyeing, sourdough bread baking, hatchet making and so much more.
All of these endeavors have been hard work and have created self-doubt, happiness, more self-doubt and courage, all at the same time. On my end, after creating Women’s Heritage and trying to balance being a mom, teaching yoga and teaching human relationship classes at Santa Barbara City College, I chose to take the leap and leave my career as an adjunct faculty member at Santa Barbara City College to pursue my deep passion for food, health and well-being when we opened Heritage Goods and Supply. I also chose to step mostly away from teaching yoga by keeping just one group class a week on the books. This was not easy and created anxiety in me. I questioned if I was on the right path. But, sure enough, I was. I learned that I have to take risks and do what I intuitively feel is right.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
— MARY OLIVER
Balancing family and work can be difficult. My husband is my biggest fan and has fully supported my desire to be creative and become an entrepreneur—I think it’s also because he is one himself; he owns an architecture firm in Santa Barbara. Without his support, I don’t think I would have been able to make a shift and create what I have created with Lauren and Ashley. But as I write this, I also think another reason I felt like taking a risk and doing something different and creating a business like Women’s Heritage from the start is that I wasn’t doing it on my own. There was comfort in knowing that I was in it together with my two girlfriends (now business partners). This also feels so empowering to me for my children; they get to see their mama and her two girlfriends in business together, making it work. Yes, we have good times and our struggles too (we are human), but we are in partnership together and willing to work together to create something for our community. What a gift that is to me and our community.
Where do we go from here? Well, as a whole, we are constantly fine-tuning what we are doing at Heritage Goods and Supply and are working hard to create a more successful online presence. When it comes to workshops like we offered via Women’s Heritage and now through Heritage Goods and Supply, I am still actively teaching classes, as well as, securing other passionately inspiring teachers to share their knowledge and skills throughout our community. And now, with the development of Heritage Gatherings, I am looking forward to creating a space of deeper connection for back-to-roots living events. All of this is exciting, but it’s scary for me too. Self doubt can arise. But, I also think that is normal, so I try to meditate and follow my intuition—to really believe in myself and what I can do. I believe anyone can do anything if they set their mind to it and believe in oneself. This is something that my parents instilled within me at a very early age.
Emma’s Instagram: @emmarollinmoore
Emma Moore’s 4 Steps to Slowly Transition from Employee to Entrepreneur
1. DO, Then Delegate:
When we first opened Heritage Goods and Supply, we decided not to get investors. This required the three of us divvying up responsibilities and doing the majority of the work ourselves. It was a lot of work. We did it. But, we soon felt burnt out and needed to chat. We came up with a plan. Essentially, we were all of the belief that our families needed to come first, and we needed to hire help and start delegating. Fast-forward to the end of our second year in business, and I really see the importance of doing first but then delegating. This gave us firsthand experience that was then easier to communicate with our employees. I also see how important it is to make sure—as business partners—we are all on the same page. When we first started, we had a limited budget. We had to decide and set limits on what we could carry for inventory, what was a wish list and so on. In the long run, these baby steps helped us fine-tune our brand and continue to help us assess which products, goods and services we should carry in our store. As a new business, we started small and are still narrowing in focus but growing our inventory.
2. Quadruple your estimated startup costs:
To be honest, we didn’t do so well counting the costs of opening up our retail business. We had various business plans, but all of our plans might have been too conservative because the cost to fix up our space, pay for inventory and so on ended up being more than we had planned. So, my thinking is that if I could do it over, I would come up with the most educated number and then quadruple it to be safe.
3. Create a personal budget:
How much money do you need to live (including rent, food, gas, healthcare and soon)? This can help you determine if it’s going to work for you right now before you set out to start your own business.
4. Build in stages:
We built our businesses gradually, and this was helpful. When it came to starting Women’s Heritage, I didn’t quit my day job.It was only once we had Women’s Heritage going and decided to open up Heritage Goods and Supply that I decided to do so.
Ashley Moore & Lauren Malloy’s 7 Steps to a Successful Team Partnership
1. Write a team business plan.
Make sure all partners involved are on board with every single aspect before you move forward. Try to think about every possible detail, every possible decision. With multiple partners, the clearer everything is, including the roles each of you will have, the better. Do you all have the same vision? Is there an exit plan if one or more of the partners decides it’s not for her?
2. Make sure your business plan makes financial sense for you and will be a viable career before you leap in.
How will you make money? How much will it cost to get started? Where will you get startup funds? Keep in mind that for most businesses, the money you make will be reinvested into the business. If you don’t want to work for free for years before making your first dollar, make sure you figure your salary into your plan. If you have young children or other reasons why you do not want to work50, 60, or possibly more hours per week, understand that the tradeoff for working fewer hours and hiring more help will be that you might not make that first dollar fora good, long while. To build your business, you may need to offer something for free.A good example is a blog or journal that offers recipes, how-to’s, or other articles of interest for free. This is a first step to building your customer base, but equally important, it is your unique contribution to your community.
3. Have partners.
We could never have done what we have
created alone. Though, of course, there are
challenges and different opinions, partners
allow you to be double or triple efficient and
creative.
4. Do the aspects of the business you love, and when you can, hire out for the parts that you don’ t love or aren’ t great at.
There are aspects of the business you have to do that you might not want to until you get to a financial place where you can hire out, but we have found someone who enjoys an aspect of the job that we don’t will be 10x better!
5. Be flexible.
We began just doing classes and when an opportunity for a great retail space came up, though not what we had been picturing, we took it. Now, we have grown into a real brand. We are so thankful we didn’t say, “No, that wasn’t the plan!”
6. Think outside the box and give people what they could be missing.
During all of our events and even in our retail experience, we aim to give people a new experience they might not have had before. When shopping in our store you can find a great dress next to a beehive for sale or a chicken coop. I feel people leave our store or classes thinking, “Maybe I could do that!”
7. Compromise.
There were things we simply had to give up working with partners, and we are grateful in the long run for our multiple opinions and views. Having partners has taught us to hear each other and to respect when someone feels strongly.
8. Just go for it.
Life is too short to wait; if you want to do something, go for it. As long as you aren’t betting the farm, there is no time like the present to get your ideas out in the world.
9. Enjoy the process.
It doesn’t happen overnight, but if you have the vision and determination you can build it. Create a team who is inspired and can grow with the business. Without the strong team we have now, we wouldn’t be sailing off like we are! The crew is the bones—we have grown it over time and try to make sure all employees are doing what they love, too!
