Elevate: Where Impact is the Bottom Line with Jessica Hotz
//Jess Hotz is the co-founder and Director of ELEVATE, a non-profit social enterprise. ELEVATE exists to lift people up to a higher position through their small businesses development program for people around the world. The first small business initiative was an ethical leather workshop in India, where artisans handcraft full-grain leather goods sold all around the world through the ELEVATE brand. As of now, there have been 150 small businesses started in 10 different countries.
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Transcript
Hey! It’s Andrea, and welcome to the Voice of Influence podcast. Today I have with me Jessica Hotz from Elevate, which is a really cool brand I’m so excited to share with you about.
And so, Jessica, welcome to the Voice of Influence podcast!
Jessica Hotz: Hey, thanks for having me. I’m super glad to be here.
Andrea: So, tell us what is Elevate?
Jessica Hotz: Yeah. So, Elevate, totally this wild adventure that started happening in our world almost seven years ago now.
Andrea: Okay.
Jessica Hotz: Yeah, so my husband and I moved to India to see how we could be a part of making the world a better place, honestly. And so, it evolved into what is now Elevate through meeting people in our local community, in a community we had just moved into. We just started getting to know people, people especially that were just doing incredible things for the community already. And what we did is we just started asking them, “Hey, how can we be a part of the difference you’re making in the world?” And they just asked for an opportunity, really, to birth a dream.
And that dream for them was an ethical leather company that would make high quality goods. And so, we collaborated in this dream and we ended up bringing that to market through a brand called Elevate, lifting people up to a higher position here in the U.S. And so, we are an ethical and eco-friendly leather company, where we empower artisans worldwide through small business development, even beyond the one that we’ve started. So, we’re thankful every purchase is making more small business opportunities possible for more people around the world.
Andrea: Oh, literal goosebumps on my arms right now. I love that, I love that you asked! I love that you didn’t come in with your own ideas about how you were going to save the world. But you were asking them, “You are already doing work. What can we do to support you?” I love that. Why is that so important? Why did you do that?
Jessica Hotz: Well, yeah. That’s a great question. You know, I think I was always a little bit afraid of doing something wrong. You know, you don’t want to be that person that you put on a blog in five years and talk about how you did terrible things for the locals even though you thought you were some hero. And as I got started, maybe from a place of being really conscious that we with good intentions don’t always have and hope with good outcomes.
And so, that was just like a really harsh reality that I’m so glad I learned before we ended up going to India, because it did create a lens for me of “Hey, I don’t want to be that person,” you know, like, we want to actually come and bring something good that will last at the local level. And not trying to just kind of live our dreams through another culture or through something that was my dream. Because Elevate wasn’t my dream and people ask us that all the time: “Hey, did you have this dream to design products and do this thing?” And I was, “No, this wasn’t my dream.”
And I think that’s what makes Elevate what it is, that it really wasn’t our thing. It was us coming to ask the question and to help birth the dreams of people around the world. And that is, actually, maybe one of the most rewarding parts of what makes us who we are. So, having a little bit of knowledge about “Hey, we can really come and not do good when we intend to.”
And that I just read a quote once that said, “Good intentions aren’t good enough.” And so, I was like, “Yep, you’re totally right.” And then I really internalized that, that kind of help, and that really helped to create a posture for us while we were in the country and is still in me when we travel all over the world now. It just gave us a different lens of our role and the posture that we were going to carry that we still wear today.
Andrea: How did you find the people who are already making a difference? How did you decide who to ask?
Jessica Hotz: Yeah. That’s a good question. I mean, we lived in the community so that helped, because we had a little bit more of a raw perspective and a really ground level perspective rather than coming out. And we go on referrals of people. We vet those referrals now that we don’t live in every country that we work within and partner in. And so, that’s kind of our process now. Back then, it was really being on the ground, hearing what people were making a difference in the community and then just living life with them.
So, we got to see [them] day in day out, like we know what most of our partners around the world eat for breakfast. It’s like more like a family. So, we didn’t want to just have this transactional relationship that was built on something empowering and good. But we actually wanted to live life together. And so, that’s what started this first crazy thing called Elevate. And, yeah, it was just really proximity.
Proximity shows you character. It shows you a lot of things that a lot of other approaches maybe don’t show you. And for us, it’s about people. And at the end of the day, we can have a really big impact. But if we didn’t know the people we were working with and just do life with them, you know, we feel like our impact maybe was even more limited. So, we just see people and relationship and proximity as a part of the impact.
Andrea: How long were you in India before you came back to the United States to really get this thing? Or maybe you started there, how did that process work?
Jessica Hotz: Yeah, so we actually ended up moving back to the States. It was like an eight month [journey]; we weren’t intending on it being so short. We actually went in with this lens of “We’re gonna be there, live there, die there,” kind of thought. But after we were there and really excavated that local vision, we realized that we can have a greater role to play by really representing who they were on our side of the world.
And so, that moved us back here about eight months later, and what that’s actually done – a lot of social or ethical companies, which we totally cheer on everyone and from that everyone has a such unique and diverse part to play. But for us, what that did is, it forced us to not be the owners of the factory overseas. It really forced us to empower leadership and develop leaders, and that’s truly empowerment. Like we didn’t want the empowering front in the South Asia context to be us. We wanted people in India representing ethical and ecofriendly manufacturing, like we wanted them to be able to, because, of course, that was their dream, and so it really propelled that vision for us.
So, yeah, it was only an eight-month window, between going with literally no direction. Just got on a plane and landed there. And just we’re kind of discovering how we could best be a part. You know, [some] people come with ideas and I think that’s their personality types. They have to have it all figured out before they go. We were more like, “We’re just gonna push on this and see if it moves. If it moves, we’ll keep pushing.” So, it’s a different personality, I think. But that was kind of how we took that approach and it actually ended up being super rewarding.
Andrea: Oh, yeah. It fascinates me that you’re able to be the voice for like, I guess really more amplify their voice, it sounds like. You’re able to carry their voice on into what you’re doing. So, what would you say that your role is now, and how does that actually play out in amplifying their voice?
Jessica Hotz: Yeah. So, it makes me sad that we even feel like we find ourselves in the position where we have to give people permission that that’s not something that everyone’s born with, is that felt ownership or even permission to go pursue something. There’s a lot of factors that prevent people from feeling that their voice can be heard. And there’s a lot of things in that we probably don’t have time to get into a lot of that, and most of that. So, when we go and travel through our small business development program, we’re looking for people who see it within themselves. And if they don’t by the time we get there, they do by the time we leave, you know.
You know, there’s this toxic kind of poverty mentality. There’s a lot there and there’s a lot of reasons why that is a reality. But we actually believe that people are born with this creative, unique ability to do and contribute well in the world, and that were designed with a real, innate desire to express that and to do that. And so, we go and all we’re doing is we’re establishing teams of people with that same shared belief. Even if, you know, they don’t know, “Okay, how are we gonna do that? Do we have funding for it?” Like we have all this fancy organizational strategy, or maybe not.
But if we can find a group of people that can come together… and really that’s what we’re doing. We’re just saying, “Hey, we believe that you have what it takes to do and contribute and add value to the world.” Really we all want to be value-adders. And so, that’s what it means for us to just go and amplify their voices. My husband and I weren’t necessarily, you know, born with all sorts of privilege. Our parents worked really hard to get us to the point where we could even make our life about lifting others up and kind of out of survival mode almost and into a, “Okay, yeah, how can we extend that out and be a blessing to the world, really?” And that’s kind of what we have set out to do now, too.
But we do see that when it comes. We just represent like a brotherhood, a sisterhood. And there’s something about people from different parts of the world coming into your context to cheer you on and lift you up and make your voice louder, not better or worse. But there’s something about that coming together cross culturally, where we can go, “Hey, look, I see you. Let’s be about something better together than we could apart.”
Andrea: There’s a lot to that. There’s so much power in that. I mean, I think of it, I use the word agency a lot in terms of, you know, people need to believe that their voice, what they do and say, I consider that to be their voice, you were talking about expressing their voice in the world. So, believing that what they do and say matters, that they can carry weight, “If I do this, if I actually have something to say about this, or if I actually create this product, it’s actually going to get someplace, it’s actually going to make a difference of some kind.” And when people feel that and they know that, they are so much more alive and engaged wherever they are. So, it’s beautiful.
Jessica Hotz: Yes, so good. I love that. You’re right. You’re just talking about the voice and, you know, to define like, what’s your voice purpose for and then to just live into that. And so, you know, and then just like, make it authentic, because life’s too short for something kind of made up. And it’s like, make it real to who you are in the core purpose of why you believe that you’re here because we get to live out that voice and that influence every day. And so, let’s make it true to who we are and where we’re going, because then it just makes it fun. You know, we don’t feel like we’re grabbing for something, but we feel like we’re living into something. And that’s just with our team at Elevate. That’s what we believe we’re doing.
Andrea: Hmm. Yeah, I like that, the not grasping for, grabbing at something. There’s more of a flow; it’s less difficult. It’s an easier path, as Greg McKeown would put it. Let me ask a little bit more about the process. So, how does it work that people are actually out there creating products, and then you help them connect those? Do you design them? Do they design them? Do you put them out into the world? How do those connect with the market and whatnot?
Jessica Hotz: Yeah. So, India’s leather industry is primarily an export leather industry. And if you look at it or Google it or search it on YouTube, it’s not a pretty industry. And so, that’s why we’re so picky about our supply chain, but that’s a whole different topic. What we realized right away is that in order to make this really successful as an export entity and because their ability to be successful internally has just some challenges, so, it’s a primary export entity. And so, with that we found the need for this brand that would receive and bring to market these goods and it was just kind of working out the details of how that would go.
And so, one, when we realized that it wasn’t just a far-off dream, it was a talent they already possess. There’s actually a generational skill that was passed down from generation to generation. Like we’re in Nebraska, we “think like” agriculture, and all of that. It’s just kind of passed down. You get integrated to it or introduced to it really young and that just becomes a part of what makes you who you are.
And so, leather is a passed down-trade and so the skill was so high and that is so different from other, maybe other companies where they’re trying to teach vulnerable communities the skill. And for us, we wanted to lift up a community that wasn’t represented well in the global market for what they did. So, mainly other people – there’s not very many private owned or even empowering leather industries, A lot of child labor and forced labor and just the fashion industry is a challenge in and of itself.
And so, there wasn’t much available for what we were doing anywhere out there. And so, they wanted to create that. So that was a part of one, that’s the business management and people and stuff. But then there’s also the design, which is what you’re mentioning. And so, we realized to be successful as an importing kind of relationship that we needed to put our touch on it, too. So, take a traditional craft and intersect it with a need at the market level.
And so, that’s really where I found myself grabbing a piece of paper. This is not glamorous, but it was just like grabbing a piece of paper with a pencil and just sketching something that I thought people might love. And I worked with our master artisan in India, Faruk, tell me “Is it good? Does it make sense?” And he would tell me, “Okay, this is a good idea, but it’s not gonna work and we would have to do it like this.”
So it’s more collaborative, which I really like as well. So, it’s not like me saying, “Oh, I have nothing to give you, you do everything. You know, you’re the artisan.” But it was really me saying like, “No, I think I might have something to give, you know.” So, I would draw, and he would look at it, and then we’d come up with something really unique and beautiful together.
And so, that is how the process actually goes today. I design most of our product lines still. And so, it’s just like I love and people ask me how you’re inspired to design this or that. And it’s like, I love taking what’s unique and beautiful and intersecting it with what’s practical and functional, and specifically really enjoy things that have multiple functions to them. And so, that’s kind of the process.
And then with that combination, we’ve found that we’ve really been able to unlock, you know, a really sweet customer base, people that we love a lot that are just like, “I wonder what the Elevate bag’s gonna do?” Or like, “What’s the secret to this one?” everyone asks us. So, it’s really fun to be able to go, “Hey, these are really dynamic and unique products, but they’re also really raw.” And we call it “Leather that’s as real as you.” I have this freckly situation. We all have these unique things and I’m like, “Okay, I got lots of markings or things that make me who I am.” Our leathers are the same way. It’s not like this perfectly polished, put-together thing. It’s just “Leather that’s as real as you.”
Andrea: Yeah. Oh, like it! So, what has that been like for you then personally to step into this. You weren’t even trying to be a fashion company or anything like that, so you just sort of found this in yourself, or you already knew this about yourself? I don’t know, like, what was the personal growth journey for you?
Jessica Hotz: Yeah, it was, as it pertains to design and stepping into that part of what I do, it was vulnerable. I’m wondering if I had it in me to do something unique. It’s easy to just pull off, or you know, rip off something someone else’s already doing. It’s a different level of something within yourself to bring something to market that you literally are like, “I’ve seen our bags in the airport, and I wanna hide,” because most people are “That’s so cool.” Like that’s our bags, you know, but I’m like, “ah,” because it’s just like something inside of me gets really vulnerable because I actually designed the bag, you know. I actually did prototypes, you know.
I think the whole journey in itself has been vulnerable, to go from the Elevate line itself to our small business development program we’ve launched all over the world. It just this kind of – it’s risky. So, it’s felt risky. Like, “Is it gonna work? Are we gonna actually empower people?” So, I think that’s been maybe one of the more not-talked-about things in this, that it’s beautiful but it’s easy to doubt yourself when you have this many followers instead of that many followers. And when you have, you know, or whatever it is, it’s just easy to maybe second guess or question yourself.
And so, I didn’t realize how vulnerable and scary and risky it was going feel. But also, it’s been rewarding and I always kind of knew within myself that I love to initiate. I love to solve problems and get things done to bring people together and, you know, inspire people to live a really good story. And so, that’s something I always knew about myself.
I didn’t realize how raw it was going to feel. It always looks so good when people have things. They push it out in the world and everyone just looks so good. And I’m like, “Inside is just a real person, a real human, behind each one of those things.” And it helped me to realize that we’re not perfect, but we can always be working toward a better, you know, just something better in ourselves and for the world.
Andrea: So, how have you coped with that, that vulnerability? When you’re feeling particularly down, and maybe you don’t feel this way as much anymore, but those lower points, those more vulnerable points, those difficult moments? What do you, maybe you and your husband do, to get through those? Because a lot of us, I think, we all struggle with down moments and what do we do with those? So, any kind of, I think, experience that you have to share with us would be super valuable.
Jessica Hotz: Yeah. One of the things that Brandon and I do more than anything, is just remember. So, I feel like our culture and our design, or maybe just culturally in the States, but we’re just kind of looking forward a lot. We want to innovate. We want to do the next best thing. We want to have the next best breakthrough. You know, in January everyone gets all pumped because we’re looking at what we’re going to do with the next year that we didn’t get done the year before, where we’re going to be in the next five years.
And something I’ve learned just by being proximate around maybe the older generation, people who have been successful and look back, and there’s a lot more notes to take there than anything. I would have to say about this, is just going like “This is a process, and it’s not about the destination as much as it is the journey.” And yet, you want to live a journey that’s always getting better and creating more solutions and being innovative and being the kind of person you want to be in 20 years, and working toward being that person today.
So, those are all super good. But I feel like we’ve always, when we’re in that low place, we look back. And we look back at what has happened and unfolded in our life to get us here. And we go “Okay, it’s undeniable. This is where we’re supposed to be.” Even if we don’t feel like we’ve arrived, or even if we don’t feel like it’s mattering enough. I know, it’s probably not proper English, but I asked that question a lot – whether it isn’t mattering enough, because I wanted to matter a lot. And it’s just realizing that “No, this is the path and this is where we’ve been on and this is the value we’ve been able to add” and the other, so that looking-back piece has been really good for us.
And then maybe number two [thing] that we do a lot would be, we think about the faces, the people that their voices have been amplified, their stories have been heard, their dreams have come alive. And we think of each one of them and we’re, “It was just one!” and we hope to kickstart actually 165 small businesses around the world.
But really, if it was just one, would it have been enough, you know, and that’s just so encouraging. And it’s not just to make ourselves feel better, but sometimes we do just want to feel better and to go “We’re not gonna not keep pressing on.” But even if it was [only] one, we believe in the value of every single person, that God has designed them and that each one matters a whole lot. And so, if our life could be used to lift one of them up, it would have been enough. And so, those are some of our get-a- pep-in-our-step-again [strategies].
Andrea: I love it! Those are really good! Yeah, it’s almost like calling up that courage again. You have to be able to say it matters in some way. I think sometimes it’s hard to see the little things that matter and really let them count when we’re looking at things like numbers, and statistics or whatever.
But then you think about the interaction that you had with people, or you think about the ripple effects of those interactions, the ripple effect of people hearing that they matter and actually seeing it work out in their lives. I mean, there’s no way of quantifying that, and it’s one of the hardest things when you have a mission-based kind of goal. It’s one of the hardest things to measure, but it’s so important to remember. I like that “remembering” piece.
Jessica Hotz: Yeah, for sure.
Andrea: When you got started, even now maybe, were there any other businesses that you looked at and said, “Okay, I want to take a look at this and see what they’re doing with this so that we maybe want to incorporate that,” or you know, businesses that you looked up to for the way that they interact with their artisans or with the people that they’re working with, you know, anything.
Jessica Hotz: So, I think again, like this is kind of about family to us. And so, like having people in our corner that we can aspire to not just from a distance but also from proximity. And so, I would say just our friends, Abby and Andrew at Pacha I remember, Pacha Soap’s a company we went and just kind of asked Andrew if we could chat with them. Honestly, we were just like, “Hey, we got questions. How do we do this? We get it. We’re kind of on this beginning trajectory of, whatever this is gonna be.”
And I’m just sitting down with Andrew, and it was just massively encouraging to us and then ended up being some of our really close friends. And just realizing that, man, we look up to them, not because they would say they have it all figured out but because they were determined to create a better future. And to know the people on the inside and go, “Hey, it’s not just what they’re projecting on the outside, it’s who they really are.” That was the most encouraging thing to us, because it’s easy to look at someone from a distance and go, “Oh, I wish we were at that level or I wish we were here and there.”
And they’re in a totally different sector of, you know, ethical and fair trade, body / consumer package goods kind of space, and that’s not our space, but we’re just like, “We’re so inspired by you guys, keep going.” And they would encourage us, probably way more than they should have, just buying the products and then, you know, sharing it with everyone and talking to their team and just going, “Hey, we gotta cheer each other on here.” So, we definitely look up to them still in so many ways, about the authentic desire for them.
So that’s kind of our inner circle or maybe some people there. And then, you know, you always have that person that feels a little bit far off, a little bit like I was saying, a little uncomfortable, for me, I guess. I couldn’t say this about our whole team but I’m just super inspired by Yvon Chouinard in Patagonia and their team and the way they’re busting out into categories. And they’re creating things that, you know, we just didn’t know are possible. Like, can you have that much influence in really making ethical and conscious branding cool, again? Can we do that?
Anyway, I just think that has been one for me that I look at them and I’m inspired by them. And even for product development, I don’t typically look at our what we would call our direct competitors as much for inspiration. I look into weird things like Velcro bags that are super non-traditional. They’re definitely not our competitor, but “How can I make that a leather?’ Or “How can we turn that?”
So, I like looking at just innovative cloth, even bag companies or different people doing random things and I just find inspiration from people really kind of trailblazing. And I see Patagonia being really exceptional at that. And so, I definitely keep my ears and eyes perked at all that they do and am just super inspired by who they are as a company and team, what they’re committed to.
Andrea: Hmm. So, culture is such a big piece of what you guys provide. I mean, your mission vision values and all that, I’m sure, are very aligned to who you want to be and what you’re trying to accomplish. How do you make sure that that really filters throughout your team? You mentioned even the people that you’re working with, the artisans and the businesses that they’re starting and whatnot, those even seem to have similar goals that you do. So, can you tell us a little bit more about how you make sure of that or communicate that?
Jessica Hotz: Yeah, so we’ve kind of heard people describe it in a pyramid kind of, like how we think of things through the lens of a pyramid. In a for-profit company, you’re thinking that your base level of your pyramid is kind of like profit and then you go to organization, and they kind of go up from there. And for us, actually, our bottom pyramid tier is impact. So, we gauge everything based upon impact. So that determines who our partners are, what products we make.
So, really, positive impact is our bottom thing. So, we base everything off of that, from team coming in here, to partners that we have around the world. If we don’t have complete and full alignment – that impact is what brings us together – then we really weed out partnership right away. And even just collaboration and different things like that, because for us that’s what we’re motivated by. We’re motivated by making a difference and being able to lift people up to a higher position. And so, for our team here, we have a pretty dynamic, I would say, team “funnel” – what it looks like to really be on our team and work with us.
And so, we design that early to go, “Yeah, this isn’t a short process.” We’re not saying we’re crazy rigorous, but we don’t just jump and put ourselves in position to really need people next week. We said, we don’t need that nearly as bad as, you know, we need the right people. And so, that’s really for us starting with impact and then we kind of filter through a set of values, trajectory. We show where we’re going in 10 years, where we hope to be in three, and what we’re doing this year. We’re held accountable to things on three-month basises.
And so, we’re always pushing the needle forward no matter who we are and where we work within the organization. We know that our things and our trajectories are all pushing this thing together together, and forward together. And we also have a real big and strong commitment to team. So, it’s less about, I honestly don’t really do a lot of “founder” things or didn’t really even want to go that direction with our team just because I was, “This is us.” This has been “us” from the beginning, whether people were committing their time and energy to being volunteers, like coming to ship out products after a 12-hour shift, which was how our product director started serving on our team and just contributing toward this mission.
And so, it was, “This is just so little about me and what was birthed through me and my husband.” It’s more about [all of us] as a team. And so, we’re just way more interested in what we can dynamically get done together than what any of us can isolate and get done apart, and so team is huge for us. And then having those sets of values and that funnel starting on the foundation of impact. And that really does apply, whether we’re here or we’re in, you know, wherever. That’s just kind of the lens and the way that we see things, and not everyone does. And we are, again, cheering people on, and that’s fine. But for us, that’s kind of what makes us who we are. So, it’s really important to align everything to it.
Andrea: So, your husband and you are both involved, completely involved with this. Has that been fun, has it been difficult, has it been everything, what is it like?
Jessica Hotz: It’s always good. No, I’m kidding. Keeping it real, it’s not always great, but it’s so good. Like, we make each other better. We don’t have kiddos. And so, one of the challenges to both of us being a part of this from the beginning and still today, is that we have a hard time shutting it off, if you know what I mean.
And I’ve heard different people of influence just kind of share about how you’re actually way more effective if you have something outside of your something to distract yourself from or to divert your focus and attention to. And, actually, it helps sharpen you when you come back, and so that’s actually been a thing for me where I’m like, “I don’t feel like I have that.” I’m pretty focused all the time on this one thing. And so, we find ourselves at dinner, we find ourselves on date nights, and we find ourselves on walks talking about this, you know, business, all the time. And we – Elevate is actually a nonprofit. So, that’s why I say “organization” or different things like that, but we find ourselves just going on and on all the time.
And so, we have to discipline ourselves sometimes to say, “Okay, how are you?” You know, and we can get like, yeah, there’s a little bit of a hard and blurry line there for us. And so, that’s been a challenge. And also, I’m the director of the organization. And so, the world tells me that’s strange, sometimes without saying it directly, but say “Your husband works for you?” And I’m like, “Well, technically, yeah.” So that’s kind of interesting.
But it’s really cool. Early on, we tried to do this co-lead thing, and we both, and mainly Brandon, just realized that he’s like, “You’re just made for this. You gotta lead out here, and then I can focus over here. And don’t feel like that’s making me look bad or not making me look strong or whatever.” It was just about lifting each other up and really cheering for each other in the areas that we were better suited to be in full time. And so, I think perception is an interesting thing, but that’s been somewhat of a challenge.
But now that we have it a little bit more figured out, it’s been really good. And also, I think the best part about it, about working with Brandon, is that he just understands. He knows and sees me and knows what I go through. And, you know, I feel like other people that maybe go their separate ways and then they come back, and they really can’t get in there as much or understand as much, and by the time you’re home you’re super tired. So, you maybe are engaging on those levels, which again, can probably be really good thing. But he just sees me and knows when I’m struggling, and when I’m doubting myself and questioning whether I’m the right person for this job.
And so just having a constant friend in the midst of something that’s really exciting, but that’s on a foundation of something that’s just not conditional. He’s there for me, whether I totally missed it that day or if I’m doing something that, you know, people would say is really exciting or successful. He’s kind of steadfast. We’re there for each other through it all, whether it’s pretty or it’s not so pretty. That’s a really big pro for us.
Andrea: Yeah. Wow, what a lovely conversation this has been. I’m so excited for you guys and the people that are able to get their products to the world and the impact that you are making. It’s so exciting! I’m truly, truly thrilled for you! And I think that you’re going to be having other businesses, people coming to you and looking for that, or maybe you already have, but looking for that kind of expertise and wisdom that you have to share.
Would you tell us where we can find Elevate and buy your products?
Jessica Hotz: Yeah, so you can find all of our stuff online at elevatepeople.com, and also on Instagram @elevate.people. And those are great platforms to connect with us and our team to see some videos and photos of the product. We have a few different favorites, crowd favorites. The slingback is one of our favorites. We just found out it got totally duped which is like funny, and like not funny.
So, watch out for, you know, but like it was just really cool to see how many people out there love the slingbacks. So, you can wear it as a backpack, you can throw it on as a crossbody or a shoulder bag, and it fits all the things, and it’s super deep and functional and all that kind of stuff. So, we have some great options. We also have a bucket tote which has a hidden zipper underneath that. I went around and around about, “Is it possible? Can we do that? I don’t know.” And so, we did it. We’ve seen it on cloth; we’ve never seen it on leather.
And so, just because it has a hidden zipper underneath outside pocket, so you can slide over your luggage strap. Because I was in the airport, seeing all these men with sleek leather bags that could slide on their thing and I’m like “Oh, the women’s ones are cloth; they’re different.” I don’t know, I didn’t feel like I could pull off and go to a meeting. And it was so cool, because we figured it out and it’s fun to see it kind of going around the airport. So, just look out for some of those neat features when you’re scrolling through the line. And yeah, you can find all of them on elevatepeople.com.
Andrea: Awesome! So, great to visit with you today, Jessica! Thank you for taking time. One more question for you. For people who would like to have a Voice of Influence, what final piece of advice or wisdom would you have to share with them?
Jessica Hotz: Yeah. I think I’d say the same thing I say to our partners around the world. Don’t feel like you have to ask permission to start making a difference in speaking life of the message that you feel it is on your heart to speak. Just start speaking it and fine tuning it and getting clear on it, and then and then do it, you know. Because all of our experiences are, yeah, they’re valuable, they matter. And yet, we also want to get better and fine tune that and yet also display and model to the world that, “I don’t have to have a big platform, I just start speaking about it and sharing it out.” And yeah, just expecting you to believe that it’s going to be used to do something really powerful and good in the world, and interesting in the process.
Andrea: That’s awesome! Thank you so much again! So, we’ll make sure to link to Elevate and your Instagram accounts and all that in in the show notes. And I appreciate you again being here today to be a Voice of Influence for our listeners. Thank you!
Jessica Hotz: Absolutely! Thanks for having me!
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