Meet Jess Connolly
Today on Flourish, we are excited to introduce the Noonday community to Jess Connolly. Jessi lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband Nick and her four children. Jess is the creative inspiration behind Naptime Diaries and one of the leaders of the Influence Network. This week we’re inviting Jess to takeover our Instagram and to show us how she styles her favorite Noonday Collection jewelry. So enjoy this inspiring conversation between Noonday Founder Jessica and Jess and read on to discover how you could win your own Noonday capsule collection…
Jessica Honegger: Tell me a little about your story. How did you end up where you are?
Jess Connolly: Hi ladies! Absolutely. In short, I always tell people my story is that I’m the girl who was voted least likely to succeed and is now swimming in some serious grace. The longer version is that a few years ago I was a young mom with three kids under three, feeling really overwhelmed with life and inadequate. I’d been blogging for a while, just about my kids or things that were on my heart, but slowly things started to shift and change and the Lord used the internet and the community I’d built there to help me build a business and ministry.
What was the inspiration for Naptime Diaries?
Originally, Naptime Diaries was just the name of my blog and it was very simply that. A little spilling out of my heart and life while my kids napped. In 2011, my daughter started struggling with seizures and I wanted to make a print with the verse Psalm 46:5 on it for our home, since it had been super encouraging to us in her struggle. I showed a friend and she suggested I try selling some more prints. I didn’t feel like I knew anything about graphic design or running a business, but I knew I loved scripture and wanted to help paint it creatively on the walls of other women’s homes.
We first met when you invited me to speak about justice at the Influence Conference. Tell me how you decided to launch a conference designed to encourage women to use their influence for good.
The Influence Conference started when Hayley and I had a very dreamy conversation one day. We’d just only met the month before, but we were passionate about a lot of the same things and we felt so connected and encouraged by one another. During that conversation, she mentioned how she’d been to a lot of conferences for online communities and I mentioned I’d been to a lot of church women’s conferences and we really wished there was a blend for the two. We saw a tribe of younger, creative, women who were seeking to use the influence God had given them and we really wanted to rally them together and encourage them. We decided to have a conference that year and a few weeks before that, we realized we wanted those women to have an online community to gather together all yearlong, so we built the The Influence Network out of that!
Your husband Nick is a pastor, but you share a passion for business. Tell me more.
We really do. My husband is a pastor and has been in some form of ministry most of his life. As most people know, ministry and working in the church can really be hard financially on families. As our business grew and some of that stress was relieved for us, we felt a burden to help relieve that stress for others. Now Naptime Diaries is able to help support not just our family and our church, but also church plants in Amsterdam and Pakistan as well as lots of other micro-missions in America and worldwide.
You are a mom, a writer and a successful entrepreneur. How do you carve out time for the things that make you feel whole?
I’m not always awesome at it, but the number one thing I try to do is know what I need and ask for it. I’ve taken time to know what is life giving for me and I try hard not to just assume we don’t have the time for it, but ask people to help me make the time for it. Running and exercise makes me feel refreshed, as well as having a few minutes to myself every day. I always encourage women to find the gateway thing that makes feel alive and then do it consistently. If waking up an hour earlier to be alone will help you to feel refreshed all day, do it. If washing your face will cause you to put on makeup and get dressed, do it. If taking a quick walk helps, do that. Just find the right thing and keep doing it.
If you could tell yourself as a new mom one thing, what would it be?
I think it’s really hard advice to take, but I’d encourage all new moms to let go of trying to BE anything. Don’t try to BE a great mom or be a super mom or a be the mom you think you’re supposed to be. As best you can, soak it up. The good, the bad, the tiring, the scary – take it all in. You absolutely won’t look back on early motherhood and wish you’d be been better or done better. You’re enough! You’re the right mama for that baby.
You are one of the most creative people I know. What inspires you?
Oh man, thank you! Can I answer that question a little strangely? The idea of inspiration is GREATLY inspiring to me. The tagline for my blog is “inspiration in the thick of it” and I love what the word inspiration means – literally, to breathe in or inhale. I love the act of breathing in life and color and all that’s going around me. I love capturing inspiring moments and ideas to share with other women. But simply what really inspires me is: army green and black, the ocean, flowers, swinging at the park with my kids, running over bridges, seeing other women worship, white hotel robes, and cities in the morning when things are still slow and sleepy.
I know you love Noonday Collection. How did you first hear about Noonday?
Yes, cannot get enough Noonday! I heard about the company early, early on when my friend Sara was fundraising for an adoption and the company was just taking on their first Ambassadors. I’ve followed closely since then and I’ve been so inspired watching it grow like wild fire. It’s so crazy to find a company that has a good and virtuous purpose and is also the leader in their field for beautiful + quality products.
I hear you have a book in the works and you are launching some new products on the Naptime Dairies shop. What’s next?
Yes! I’m finishing up my manuscript for my first book that I’m cowriting with Hayley, who I cofounded The Influence Conference and Network with. The book is called Wild and Free and it’s an anthem for women in our generation who are burnt out on living inside the trappings of who they’ve been told they’re supposed to be. On April 15th, we’re launching our spring line of prints AND a brand new product, a Naptime Diary. It’s a journal and devotional for moms to give them a weekly pep talk and a huge dose of hope. It’s our favorite product we’ve ever put together and we can’t wait to share it!
We hope you enjoyed this interview with Jessi. If you want to get to know her a little better, read Jessi’s hilarious and encouraging words on her blog, or follow her on Instagram and Twitter. Now head over to the Noonday Collection Instagram to find out how you can win some gorgeous artisan-made jewels to start your own Noonday Capsule Collection…
Meet Jessica Honegger
Jessica is Noonday Collection’s Founder and Chief Dreamer. Jessica spends her days inspiring others to live lives of purpose—from empowering our Ambassadors to be powerful storytellers and stylists, to visiting and encouraging our Artisans partners across the globe. After hours, Jessica can be found relaxing with her husband, dancing with her three children, and enjoying a good book.
