Bea Dixon (best of)

Summary

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The goop Podcast – Beatrice Dixon (Best Of)

Host: Gwyneth Paltrow
Guest: Beatrice Dixon
Release Date: January 6, 2026

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Episode Overview

This “best of” episode features an intimate, inspiring conversation between Gwyneth Paltrow and Beatrice Dixon, co-founder and CEO of The Honey Pot, a pioneering brand in natural and plant-derived feminine care. The discussion flows through Dixon’s compelling origin story, building her company from a deeply personal health crisis, lessons in entrepreneurship, and the journey toward healing shame and embracing personal power. The episode is a celebration of female innovation, ancestral wisdom, and the courage to turn vulnerability into a thriving, culture-changing business.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origin Story of The Honey Pot

Timestamp: 02:36 – 12:13

• Whole Foods Inspiration: Beatrice worked in the Whole Body section at Whole Foods, where she frequently interacted with founders and brokers of wellness brands, sparking her entrepreneurial ambitions.
  • “I remember being like, damn, that's really cool what they do… I think I want to do something similar.” (Beatrice Dixon, 04:24)
• Personal Health Crisis: She struggled for nearly a year with persistent bacterial vaginosis (BV), cycling through shame, ineffective remedies, and a lack of solutions.
  • “I was in the shame spiral. I was in the depths of that…” (06:31)
• Ancestral Intervention: In a transformative vision, her grandmother (who passed before Beatrice was born) delivered a formula that would ultimately inform The Honey Pot’s first products.
  • “It wasn't a dream… Wherever we were, we were in a place and everything, but she had passed… She essentially gave me a piece of paper, and it had a list of ingredients.” (07:36–09:35)
• Testing the Formula: Encouraged by the miraculous results from her grandmother’s recipe, Beatrice began sharing her homemade wash with women at her work, seeking honest feedback in exchange for free product.
  • “I just made myself something, you know, and the funny thing is, what I made is essentially what our normal wash is today. …It was gone… the shit just vanished.” (11:14)

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2. From Homemade Remedy to Thriving Business

Timestamp: 13:12 – 20:34

• Grassroots Testing: Beatrice distributed her product to other women experiencing similar issues, building credibility one person at a time.

• Hustle and Guerrilla Marketing: With limited resources and the support of her friend Simon, Beatrice bootstrapped initial production, sold at festivals and hair shows, and built demand through sheer grit.

  • “We ended up going to the Bronner Brothers hair show… By Sunday, we had sold out completely.” (18:28–18:47)

• Retail Breakthrough: Eventually, The Honey Pot entered stores like Whole Foods and independent markets, leveraging her role as a broker to get in front of buyers.

• Community Connection: The process fostered intimate conversations about vaginal health, helping women feel seen and supported.

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3. Destigmatizing Women’s Health and Addressing Shame

Timestamp: 22:22 – 24:27

• Open Conversation: Beatrice highlights the universality of vaginal health issues and the power of normalizing these experiences.
  • “The thing that Honey Pot really focuses on is helping people to die to that shame. Helping people to die to that stigma. And helping people to understand that, like, all these things are normal.” (23:10)

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4. Navigating Growth and Major Milestones

Timestamp: 24:40 – 32:28

• Taking on Investment: Beatrice discusses selling a majority stake to Compass Diversified, and the complexities and responsibilities of private equity in business growth.
  • “There is no way in hell that you can do either of them at 100%, but you've got to give this process at least, like, 85%… There isn’t… There is something beautiful about what we do. And that can't just go to anybody.” (29:49–30:34)
• Honoring the Mission: She balances the pressures of business with protecting the spirit and intention of The Honey Pot’s work—rooted in ancestral guidance and community service.

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5. Intuition, Wellness, and Leadership

Timestamp: 32:42 – 44:48

• Maintaining Wellness: Self-care techniques highlighted include eating well, movement, energy healing, and working with an intuitive.
  • “Eating well is extremely important. Drinking water, moving… I work with energy healers… I went and did a mushroom journey with a shaman… it just freed me up, you know.” (32:46–33:36)
• Grounding and Being Present: Acknowledges the impossibility of always being perfectly grounded amid high stakes, but turns to intuition and gut feelings to guide decisions.
• Building the Right Team: Leading from a place of trust, shared equity, and cultural fit.
  • “I CEO from a place of trust because I have to.” (41:34)
• Emotional Vulnerability in Leadership: Beatrice is candid about experiencing stress and the importance of asking for help, rest, and giving herself grace.
  • “You can be grateful and you can feel upset and you can be sad… giving yourself grace is a part of it too…” (37:55–39:23)

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6. Looking Forward: Personal Intentions and Manifestations

Timestamp: 43:17 – 44:48

• Simplicity as a Goal: For the year ahead, Beatrice wants to focus on embodiment, daily wellness routines, possibly starting a family, and seeking simplicity and joy.
  • “I want to connect to my body. I want to connect to my nervous system. I want to feel it… I just want simplicity this year. I just… I just want to fucking chill, you know?” (43:53–44:48)

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7. Body Knowledge, Healing, and Ancestral Guidance

Timestamp: 44:52 – 47:02

• Body Keeps the Score: Drawing from the book's thesis, Beatrice reflects on her BV experience as a message to “sync up”—to recalibrate her life and ancestral connections.

  • “I think it was trying to tell me to sync up… I wasn’t connecting to my ancestors… my vagina having bacterial vaginosis, reoccurring, created an empire. And that is some really dope shit.” (45:23–46:14)

• Transforming Hardship into Purpose: The health crisis became the catalyst for not only The Honey Pot but for Beatrice’s greater mission.

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8. Memorable Quotes & Standout Moments

• “When you are pioneering anything or introducing new ideas to the culture, you get criticized.”
  (Beatrice Dixon, 00:32)
• “She essentially gave me a piece of paper, and it had a list of ingredients.”
  (Beatrice Dixon, 09:35)
• “There is nothing under the sun that any human should be embarrassed about when it comes to their body. If your body is talking to you and telling you that something’s wrong…”
  (Beatrice Dixon, 23:10)
• “My grandmother gifted this business… There isn’t—there is something beautiful about what we do. And that can’t just go to anybody.”
  (Beatrice Dixon, 30:14–30:34)
• “I CEO from a place of trust because I have to.”
  (Beatrice Dixon, 41:34)
• “You can be grateful and you can feel upset and you can be sad… and I think giving yourself grace is a part of it too…”
  (Beatrice Dixon, 37:55–39:23)
• “My vagina having bacterial vaginosis, reoccurring, created an empire. And that is some really dope shit.”
  (Beatrice Dixon, 46:14)

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Additional Highlights

• On Community: Recurring emphasis on the necessity of community—team, family, ancestors, and clients—for personal and professional growth.
• On Product Philosophy: Commitment to shame-free wellness and providing authentic, effective solutions for vaginal health.
• On Honoring Complexity: Honest discussion about the realities of being a woman founder, particularly as a Black woman in wellness, and the emotional labor and resilience required.

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For more:
Learn about Beatrice Dixon and The Honey Pot thehoneypot.co

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This summary provides a comprehensive glimpse into Beatrice Dixon’s entrepreneurial journey, personal healing, and philosophies on leadership, wellness, and living authentically. A highly recommended listen for aspiring entrepreneurs, wellness advocates, or anyone interested in the intersection of personal struggle and cultural change.

Transcript

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[Beatrice Dixon]

When you are pioneering anything or introducing new ideas to the culture, you get criticized.

[Interviewer]

You do?

[Gwyneth Paltrow]

Yeah.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Did you hear about that?

[Unidentified Guest]

I didn't find the one. I found someone I respected and we made it the one.

[Beatrice Dixon]

In the sort of longing kind of view of love, people understand each other as if by magic.

[Unidentified Guest]

Nothing in itself is addictive on the one hand. On the other hand, everything could be addictive if there's an emptiness in that person that needs to be filled.

[Beatrice Dixon]

I now know that nobody changes until.

[Interviewer]

They change their energy.

[Beatrice Dixon]

And when you change your energy, you change your life.

[Gwyneth Paltrow]

I'm Gwyneth Paltrow. This is the Goop Podcast, bringing together thought leaders, culture changers, creatives, founders and CEOs, scientists, doctors, healers and seekers here to start conversations. Because simply asking questions and listening has the power to change the way we see the world. Here we go.

[Kelsey from goop]

Welcome to the GOOP Podcast. I'm Kelsey from goop. If you listen to Gwyneth's recent AMA episode, you know she's taking a little holiday break. But we'll be back in the new year with an incredible lineup of guests. Until then, we'll be revisiting some of your favorite conversations from the archive, along with a few new guest hosted episodes. We're excited to share. Thanks for listening.

[Gwyneth Paltrow]

My guest today is Beatrice Dixon, the awe inspiring co founder and CEO of the Honeypot. If you're not already familiar with it, the Honeypot is a line of beautiful feminine care products. The seed for the Honeypot began with a very unique vision that Beatrice received from her grandmother as a founder and beast friend. It has been fascinating to watch her move from that source of inspiration into tactical strategy and execution. We didn't plan this timing, but Bea recently just took a big investment for the Honeypot and I couldn't be prouder of her. Here's her story, told best by Bea herself.

[Interviewer]

Where are we even going to begin?

[Beatrice Dixon]

I have no idea, but I have a feeling you're going to find a good place.

[Interviewer]

Let's start with It's a story that you've told many times. Yes, it's such an incredibly unique story. Your origin story of the honey pot, and it's such a goopy story.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

It is goopy.

[Interviewer]

So I wonder if we could start with you taking us back to the days that you were working in Whole Foods. You know, very aware of the mind, body, spirit, connection, integration. You know, you've been, even since you were young, had this deeper, broader knowing about everything, really, but how much all of the things impact our health and wellness.

[Gwyneth Paltrow]

So you're.

[Interviewer]

So tell me, you're in Whole Foods. You're 20.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

I am.

[Beatrice Dixon]

What? I'm 41. And I was working in Whole Foods from 2010 to 2012. My public math. I was working in Whole body. My public math is not math. And right now. But that's fine. Yeah. But, yeah, around that time, I mean, I was like, late 20s, early 30s. Yeah.

[Interviewer]

In your 20s.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Being in the body section of Whole Foods.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yep.

[Interviewer]

And how do you start to identify a white space in feminine care?

[Beatrice Dixon]

Well, it's funny. So back in those days, I don't know if it's still the same, you know, you constantly. I mean, because this is when, like, Whole Foods was, like, at its prime. It was like. It was like the grocery store, right?

[Interviewer]

Free Amazon acquisition.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Free Amazon. Amazon, yeah, exactly. And I just remember I would meet with these brands all the time, or I would meet with the broker, I would meet with the founder. Because even if it was a tiny brand and it got into Whole Foods, it was dope, right? And so. And I remember being like, damn, that's really cool what they do. You know what I mean? And I remember meeting with all these people, and I remember being like, I think I want to do something similar, right? Like, I want to go into. I want to create some kind of product. I had no fucking clue of what it was going to be, right? And then.

[Interviewer]

But it planted the seed that it was possible.

[Beatrice Dixon]

A seed was planted that it was possible because I knew service business wasn't going to be the thing that got me to the kind of wealth that I saw for myself, you know? And so. So then you fast forward, right? I'm in the problem. I guess I'm technically in the last year of the last year and a half of me working at Whole Foods, but I get a bacterial vaginosis infection, and it is gnarly. Like, it every month after my period, I get this terrible, horrendous odor that you cannot even believe. And. And discomfort. It's discomfort. It's. It's discharge. It's. It's odor. And you Know, being. Being in your late 20s, you supposed to be out living your life, having fun. Fun and using your body and doing whatever you want to do, right? And. But I wasn't in a place where I could do that, you know, and so it affected my life on so many levels because I felt. I felt like I couldn't get it together. I felt like I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I felt like I just. I just felt like I had nowhere to go.

[Interviewer]

And I just easy to get into a shame spiral about our vaginas.

[Beatrice Dixon]

I was in the shame spiral. I was like in the. I was in the depths of that, you know, because I, you know, I would get in a car and you could smell me, right? Like, like everybody could. It wasn't like, you know, if I went to a public bathroom, you could smell me, and it was just embarrassing. And that went on for like almost a year or maybe like nine or ten months or something like that.

[Interviewer]

And you try everything.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Everything. I went to the doctor. I lived on flagyl and clindamycin. You know, when I would get a yeast infection, then I'd be on diflucan and miconazole. You know, I was using. I was doing hydrogen peroxide douches. I was seeing an herbalist who was. Who was like, get telling me herbal douches to make. I was living on Google and I was, you know, this is kind of like. I don't know if social media had started, but it wasn't what it is today, right? And so, yeah, there were still Google forums that you needed to go on.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

And talk to people. You know, I was living on these.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Google forums and I was, you know, and I was going back and forth with people who had the same thing, who some of those people had bv for eight, nine years. It wasn't like they were. You know what I mean? That's how much of a horror this thing can be. And but one morning, my grandmother, Maferi Foon Egun, she came and she. It wasn't a dream. To call it a dream is just, you know, it's not giving it its full appreciation and respect. Wherever we were, we were in a place and everything, but she had passed. So my. My grandmother transitioned when My mother was 7 years old. And so, you know, I never met my grandmother in my lifetime because clearly my mom wasn't seven and thinking about having a baby, right? And so, you know, for me, obviously, this is. It was a very remarkable moment. Now, that doesn't mean that's the first time that I ever encountered a relative on the other side. But that was the first time and has been the. One of the only times as it relates directly to me, that it was so real. Like, the way I'm sitting here talking to you, you know? Yeah. And so she just came and she told me that she had been walking with me because she's one of my guardians and guides, and that she had essentially been seeing me struggle, you know, and she. She knew what to do, so she had to just tell me, you know? And so, as you can expect, I'm like, holy shit, you're here. What? Like, I want to talk to you. And she's like, girl, no, I'm not here for that. And I can't be here long, right? So, like, we got to do what I came here to do. And she essentially gave me a piece of paper, and it had a list of ingredients. And she told me that this was going to solve my problem, but I needed to remember what was on the paper. And so I just went to repeating. Apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar. Rose lavender, garlic, coconut oil. Like, I remember it, like, water, apple cider vinegar. Like, I just kept repeating, and it felt like I repeated it a hundred times. And then finally she told me to wake up, and I woke up. And as I woke up, I woke up saying, water, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar. Like, I can remember it, you know, it was crazy. And then, you know, and then I, you know, I just. I just got to it. I figured, what the. What the hell? All that can happen is that it.

[Interviewer]

Doesn'T work right like everything else.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

Exactly. So, you know, so I went.

[Beatrice Dixon]

I went to work, and I. You know, my mom was living with me at the time, and, you know, and I went and I told her about what my experience was, and my. All of my family, especially the women from my mother's side, we all have similar faces and the shape, and. And I literally look just like my grandmother. Just like. I look just like my mommy, you know, And I explained, and that's when she told me that that was definitely your grandmother, you know, and so I went to work, I compiled all the ingredients. I got everything, and I went home and I made myself a formula. Had no idea what the hell I was going to put it in. Had no idea what to even do with it.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

But I just made myself something, you.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Know, and the funny thing is, what I made is essentially what our normal wash is today. But I made this for myself, and I started using it right away. And literally within four to five days because I had BV at the time. It was gone. And immediately when I used it, like within the first or second time, the odor was just. It's like the shit just vanished. Like it didn't even. Like it wasn't even there so much that it didn't even. I wasn't even remembering that I had BV because I didn't even think about it for a couple of days. Which was miraculous because every time I went to the bathroom or went pee or went. Did anything, my reaction was always this visceral reaction with myself, you know, and, and so it was, it was crazy. And so when I did realize that it had worked, you know, my, my, my thing was this is what I do now, you know.

[Interviewer]

Isn't it crazy when your body hijacks you in a certain way like that and then it, when it returns to normal? It's, it's always amazing to me how quickly we forget.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

Yeah, it's like, it's like. It's like you're in like the worst city, traffic in the middle of Manhattan and then you just transition over to.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Like the Garden of Eden and there's.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

Like birds and sunny sided and there's, you know, but, but yeah, I mean.

[Interviewer]

That'S something interesting about us, I think as human beings that we like, I think we want our baseline to be high, we want to feel good, we want to feel well and healed and abundant. So you take this formula and I, I want to know a little bit about like the tactical piece. Like, so we knew you were. Had this entrepreneurial spirit and then you had this incredible inspiration from your grandmother.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

How did you. Because I'm always fascinated by how people take inspiration and turn it into tactics and execution. So what was your. Tell me a little bit about that part of the journey.

[Beatrice Dixon]

What was next was I was like. Because I'm a person who definitely believes in testing and learning and I was just naturally born with that. Essentially what I thought was, well, I have to get other people to try this. Right. Because I need to see if it works for more than just me. It could just be me that it worked for.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Beatrice Dixon]

And so what I would do then, because I worked in whole body and because I was so close to my team and they knew what I was going through with my own vagina. And so anytime somebody had a vagina.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

Problem, which was actually quite often, you'd be surprised.

[Interviewer]

I wouldn't. It just. Nobody wants to talk about it.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

You probably wouldn't, but I.

[Beatrice Dixon]

But I was surprised anytime somebody had A vagina problem. My team sent them to me, and I would walk vagina lady, aisle five.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

And so I would literally walk them through the department.

[Beatrice Dixon]

I'd get them their probiotics. I'd get them their, like, you know, their. Their suppositories. I tell them, like, the car. I'd get them all the things that they needed, and then I would walk them to the register, and I'd say, okay, I'm gonna. I'm gonna check out with you. I'm gonna help you bag, and then I'm gonna take. Help you take your stuff to your car, right? Because I, you know, it was already on some wild shit that I was about to try to sell them on my product when I'm working at Whole Foods, but I was like, but let me get out of the building. And then I want to tell you about this thing that I do. And so I would walk them to the car, and I'd say, hey, I have a product that worked for me. You know, you're going through the same thing I went through. Let me just give it to you. I don't even want you to pay me for it. The only thing I need from you is for you to tell me, is it too strong? Is it too weak? How does it feel? Is it soft? Do you feel better? Is it helping to quell your symptoms? You know what I mean? Yeah. And the funny thing is, most of the people that I told was like, yeah, why not? Shit. And so literally, I. I did that for about a year and a half, and then somebody. One of me, because me and Simon had kind of been rocking together, I pulled cyan right away because I was broke. I didn't have any money. Like, I had money to pay my rent and to pay my bills and, like, to try to figure out how I was, what I was going to eat, right? And so I went to psy, and I was like, bro, I need help. Because I. Because I had. I had, like, especially in the beginning, I probably had, like, 10 or 20 women on rotation. I say women because all of those humans consider themselves women, But I had. I had, like, 10 or 20 women on rotation in the beginning of that. And I didn't have the money to be buying this stuff. And so he gave me a $500 credit card. It was like a capital one, had.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

A $500 credit card limit.

[Beatrice Dixon]

And he would just pay it off for me every month, you know, which was so kind. And so then, you know, a year and a half later, we've probably given the Product away to at least 100 women. And again, all those humans consider themselves women. That's why I say that. And somebody came, and one of Cy's friends was like, y' all should go to the Bronner Brothers hair show. And I didn't know anything about the Bronner's Brothers hair show. And so we're like, okay, we figure it out. We go. Cy goes to one of his friends, Troy pulls together some money. Let me back up, though. I got on my hands and knees and begged Simon. I mean, begged him, literally on my hands and knees, because he was like, b, I don't know anything about vaginas more than I know about vaginas. You know what I'm saying? Like.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

Like, what am I going to do with the vagina business?

[Beatrice Dixon]

He was running his own accountant firm. He was. He was in the. He was in music management. Like, he wasn't thinking about what I was doing. He was just trying to keep me focus on something that was making me happy, you know? So I get on my hands and knees. I say, bro, please, please, please, If. If this works, if this can work out, I will never bother you again. Right? He's like, cool. So he goes to Troy. Troy puts up $20,000. We take that, we buy. By this time, I had been doing research on, like, wholesale ingredient companies. This shit cost a fortune, but I didn't know any different, you know? And it's the way to start, right? You're just living on Google, trying to figure things out. And I went and I bought up bottles. You know, I went to Uline. I got bottles and caps. I got. I got. You know, I got. Found somebody that was a friend of a friend who made some labels. You know, we were just thugging it, and we. You know, we ended up going to the Bronner Brothers hair show, and we made an assembly line, and I made the products. And then somebody was there to bottle it and cap it, and somebody was there to shrink wrap and use a hairdryer.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

It was crazy, but it was dope. And we did it. We did it. We made 600 bottles, G. We made 600 bottles, man.

[Beatrice Dixon]

And we fucking went to the Bronner Brothers hair show. It started on Thursday. By Sunday, we had sold out completely.

[Interviewer]

Wow.

[Beatrice Dixon]

It was crazy. You know, we bought our little banner, we got our table and all our ingredients. It was cute, you know, amazing. And. And that's when we knew that we had something. Because if you can sell. If you can sell 600 of anything in a weekend, absolutely. You got you got something. And then that became. That actually became our tactic. You know, we. What we did is we would actually go to hair shows and festivals and farmers markets and any place where we could go and give. Get in front of hundreds of people or even thousands of people. You know, you'd be at one hair show and then they. They're marketing the next one. It was just a really interesting time. And, and that was how we reached the people. That was how we really reached our community.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Beatrice Dixon]

And then we. And then I was able to get it into Whole Foods, and then by this time, I had left Whole Foods and I had became a broker. And, you know, and. And the cool thing was, being a broker, all I did every day was go to stores. So I would, I would do the same thing I did with Whole Foods. I would go into the store, I'd sell them the things I was there to sell them. I'd walk out, walk back into my car, grab the honey pot stuff. I'd go in and just be like, hey, look. Because these were like co ops and like natural groceries. They weren't like Whole Food. They weren't like a Whole Foods or a Kroger or anything like that. Right. They were normally like independent markets. And I would literally just go in and be like, yo, I have six bottles. I'm going to give them to you for free. If it, if they don't sell, then I will never talk to you again. But if they do, then I'll see you in a month when I come back to do my run with all the other products I sell, you know, and so that was how. That was.

[Interviewer]

How unbelievable.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

What I love so much about. I mean, there's so much about the story that I love, but so many women founders always say, like, how do you even start? Like, what, what is the way? And obviously there's no clear path or no clear rubric to follow, but like, your story is so applicable, right. It's like to any woman who is feeling like, I have this idea or I have. I have something that will solve a problem. And the kind of like, ingenuity that you had and inspiration and I think you can really kind of make a template out of that story. Like, okay, this is how I do it.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yeah. Yeah. And it was, it was a different time, you know, I mean, it was like. It was, it was just a different time. It was right when, like, direct to consumer was getting really big, you know, everybody was raising shit, tons of money, you know, it was just a different time. Yeah. It so you were able to. To get out in the world. Yeah. And. And. And just meet people and hustle and grind and be on your guerrilla marketing shit, you know, but it. But it worked for us, you know, and it. I think the biggest thing that it did is it gave us the ability to meet our customer one on one. It was very, like, grassroots, you know, And I think with a product like this, that is necessary, you know? Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Because it's. I mean, it's quite intimate. I mean, it's as intimate it is as possible. And I.

[Beatrice Dixon]

It is.

[Interviewer]

You know, as we touched on before, there is so much shame women carry around their vaginas if something's wrong with it or, you know, anything chronic and no one can help you. And, you know, you suffer. You suffer physically and emotionally in this shame. And I also think, you know, it's really hard as a woman when you can't use your vagina.

[Beatrice Dixon]

It is.

[Interviewer]

It disconnects you from such an essential part of our femininity and our power, right?

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

It is. Yeah, it is.

[Beatrice Dixon]

And you suffer in silence.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

And shame.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Because you think that you're the only person going through this shit. When the wild shit is mostly everybody's gonna get some sort of a yeast infection or BV or UTI or something. Right.

[Interviewer]

Something.

[Beatrice Dixon]

But you. But, you know, even STDs, at some point, somebody's gonna get something. It's natural. All this shit is normal. Right. BV has been around since vaginas have been around. Right. Let's call this shit what it is. Maybe they didn't call it that then. Right. But there is nothing under the sun that any human should be embarrassed about when it comes to their body. If your body is talking to you and telling you that something's wrong. And look, I'm not saying this to say that I don't experience shame. Right. Or that I don't experience, you know, embarrassment or to this day, like, of course, if some shit happens, I'm gonna feel something because I live in this world, and I'm human and I've been conditioned. Right. But what we have to do and what. The thing that. The thing that Honey Pot really focuses on is helping people to die to that shame. Helping people to die to that stigma. Yeah. And helping people to understand that, like, all these things are normal. All you got to do is figure out what's going on, get yourself together so that you can get back to homeostasis, you know?

[Interviewer]

And so, yeah, so then you go from that to, you know, now you have a huge wholesale Business. You're everywhere. Target, Walmart, Long. You know, you're a few years later.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Few years later. And I do want to touch on this exciting thing that's just happened because I feel like you achieved such a massive personal goal and mind milestone and you'd been wanting to do for quite a while. Right. You sold well.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Why didn't.

[Interviewer]

No, you didn't. I'm sorry, you took a big investment.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yes. Yes.

[Interviewer]

From Compass.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yes. From Compass Diversified. Yes.

[Interviewer]

Tell me about this process. Tell me about, tell me about why you wanted to sell. Like, why was that a goal for you?

[Beatrice Dixon]

Well, look, here, here's the thing. We. We've raised. We have raised venture capital money and we've raised private equity money. Right. This is our second private equity investor.

[Interviewer]

Right.

[Beatrice Dixon]

When. When you raise that type of cash, that type of money, it comes with rules. Yep. Right. People need their fucking money back. Nobody's just giving you some bread just to give it to you.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Beatrice Dixon]

You know, and there's a period of time, sometimes an investor that invests the earlier stage ones don't have such constraint, but kind of when you, when you're hitting that growth and you're right at the point right before you hit scale, that investor normally wants to see a return on their investment within three to four years. Right. That's just the way that it is being that that was the, the way that we took, the way that we went and the road that we drove down. Like, there really wasn't a choice of if there was going to be a day where we either had to find another private equity sponsor, you know, who, who buys a majority stake in the business and, or which is what our current circumstance is, where they buy a majority stake. But they ask you as the founder, you still have to roll because they want to know that you're invested. They don't want you to just take your bread and just bounce. And so in our scenario, me and Cy had to roll over. Right. And we had to keep pushing it forward. But that's what we want to do, because this is not the final home. Right. But the reason why, there's a lot of reasons. You know, I mean, it's. It's important to do this to, to create your own wealth. It's important to do this to. To find your business a home. You know, some people choose to do it because some people don't choose to do it. Some people are just going to say, I just want to IPO the thing and I want to, you know, continue to run it and keep put it. On the public markets. Like, there's so many routes and roads that you can take, you know, and it's hard for me to just sum up one reason of why this was the right time other than to say that it was just the right time.

[Interviewer]

You know, it happened. So it's.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yeah, right? And. Yeah. And it's almost impossible for it to happen. Sister like it. And it does not fucking matter. I need you to everybody to understand. It does not matter how good your business is. People told me this shit when we got started, and I was like, man, our business is popping. We good. We're not gonna have nothing to worry about. That shit is not true. It is almost impossible to do this.

[Interviewer]

So, like, in what ways? Tell us more.

[Beatrice Dixon]

It's just. I mean. I mean, it needs to. It needs to be the right time, it needs to be the right partner. It needs to be the right amount of money. But it's not really all depending on who you are. And in my. In my circumstance, it's not really just about the money. Right. It's more about what's going to happen after this thing happens. Because when you work with any partner, you want to make sure that they are right for you. Any investor, you need to make sure. In the beginning, you don't really have that luxury. But when you get to the place where your company has grown and it's scaled and it works and it's profitable and it's moving and grooving, and you have a really great business and you have really wonderful customers, like, you can't just put that in anybody's hands.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Beatrice Dixon]

You know, you. You don't want to sell your soul in a scenario like that. You need to do that responsibly. And so, you know, and then. And then anything can happen. Anything can fall out of the sky. They may be the perfect partner, the perfect time, the perfect place, the perfect amount of money, and then, boom, something can just happen. And then. Because they have to get approval, too. Right? So there's just so many levels to this thing, and you just have to ride the wave. It is remarkably hard to do. And then on top of that, G, you have to still be doing your fucking work.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Beatrice Dixon]

You still got to do your job. Right? So you're. So you're running a whole process and you're working at the same time, and there is no way in hell that you can do either of them at 100%, but you've got to give this process at least, like, 85%. And I'm just going to speak for myself as a founder, I'm. It is never just about the bread for me. I cannot sell my soul. My grandmother gifted this business. Like, there is. There isn't. There is something beautiful about what we do. Yeah. And that can't just go to anybody. That can't just partner with anybody, you know.

[Interviewer]

How did you, how did you manage that? I mean, like, what were the things that you did to stay grounded, to stay in your body, come to your house?

[Beatrice Dixon]

I. Honestly, sister, like, there was so much time that I wasn't grounded and so much time that I wasn't in my body. And there. There was moments of me being grounded and in my body. But I'm going to tell you the honest truth. Most of the time, I was living in my gut. My gut has been working so hard for me that I had to put all my energy there because I.

[Interviewer]

In your intuition?

[Beatrice Dixon]

In my into. Yes, in my intuition, in. In my gut, in my sacrum, in my. In my root chakra. Like, I. I needed to, you know, like, I needed to feel that it was right. It wasn't just a. It wasn't just math. It wasn't just data. It wasn't just, like, you know, it wasn't just mechanics of a deal. It wasn't just about, how much money is it going to be. It just. There's. We serve humans in such an intimate way, and the work that we do is so, so important to this planet. It just couldn't be taken lightly. And so the. So a lot of my stuff, which is very esoteric and the shit that nobody can see and touch and feel, I was living in that place. And so, you know, I wasn't always grounded and centered and balanced and shit. Like, you know, there was times that I was. I mean, you. You were here the whole time. So. So you, You. You were able to witness it with me.

[Interviewer]

But you do have, like, you do have certain things you do. Like, you have things you stick to. And I want to know, like, what are those things? How do you. What are your tricks and your tools for your.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Overall wellness?

[Beatrice Dixon]

Eating well is extremely important. Drinking water, moving, which, you know, throughout. Throughout the process, there was a lot of moments where I was kind of sedentary because I was just focused, you know, and so now I'm, like, getting that together where I'm, like, moving at least every day doing something. You know, I, I work with energy healers. I work with into, you know, a really amazing intuitive. You know, prior to the process beginning, I went and did a mushroom Journey with a shaman who's shout out to Kirsty, who's fucking incredible, right? In Mexico. Yeah, it was, it was one of the most craziest, terrifying things that I ever did. But I'm glad that I did it when I did it because it got me ready, you know.

[Interviewer]

Why, what, how, how did it get you ready?

[Beatrice Dixon]

Like, looking back, I think it just freed me up from some things, you know, it freed me up from some things in it and it, and it, and it allowed me to tap into the energy that is me. That has nothing to do with this body, that has nothing to do with this planet. That has everything to do with, with, with wherever the places that my spirit comes from, you know. And it, it just freed me up. It helped me to face some of the things that have been holding me back. It helped me to, to scream and let go of a lot of things. It just helped me to like get some of the film off and some of the gut and the trauma and the stuff that like lives in my traps and I needed to yell and scream and you know, I needed to meet some of my past lives. I needed to understand, you know, about how and what I do. Like from that journey I learned that I've always been destined to do what I do with Honey Pot, right? I've always been destined. Part of the name, why my name is B, right? Why, why am I? Why my saint is Oon? Why? Like there's so many levels to it, you know. And so it just, it just freed me up, you know. And then I have really great friends and family, you know, I've got Sai who holds me down. I've got my mom, I've got my brother Skip. I've got you, I've got, You know, and I. Part of what I did is I just kept it real tight, you know. And I, I just, you know, sometimes it was just fucking sitting down and watching tv.

[Interviewer]

Yeah.

[Beatrice Dixon]

You know. You know, like I remember being. Staying at your house for like a week and I don't even. Like, I, I barely saw you because I was just in the barn chilling by myself. Like, I, you know, I just, I needed that. There was just. There's a lot of ways that I've. That I've tried to go into myself whilst also doing my work and traveling and being on the road and working with my team, you know, it's been.

[Interviewer]

Yeah, you're always on the road. You, you're like the hardest working woman, you know, with. That's why I was like, I was so excited for you to go through this process. But I thought, my God, like, how is she going to do it? And how do you. Like. Something that I'm really trying to work on this year is how to get control of my nervous system, which I think is up from a lot of stuff, you know, whether it's being in the public eye all these years or childhood stuff, like I'm caught in a sort of fight or flight all the time. And so I'm just trying to ask people like, who live these hard charging lives. And I think all, you know, many CEOs that I talk to have the same nervous system issue. Do you feel like you have that? And how, how do you get control of it?

[Beatrice Dixon]

I absolutely feel like I have that. Well, first off, the answer is I don't know how to get control of it. That's just the, the bold face fucking answer. I have no idea. And I think part of it is, I think part of it is really taking a rest when you need to rest. Yeah. I think also making sure what I've, what I've been doing, which is something that I learned from you, is making sure that I have resources around me, you know, just as simple as having somebody make some food for you or making sure that somebody can like, clean your house. I'm not saying that these things aren't luxuries, but I think that when you live the lifestyle that we do, you have to take off the things that you can, even if it, even if it means that you have to be on a serious budget to do. So, like, I've just had to just square up and just get focused and be really regimented with my budgets and do the things. Because I have to have help.

[Interviewer]

Yep.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Right. I have to. I. Like, there is no way for me to do everything that I need to do in a day.

[Interviewer]

And there's nothing wrong with asking for help.

[Beatrice Dixon]

There isn't. And another part of the answer is recognizing when you're not okay or when you're sad or when you're tired or, you know, and, and, and we get in these loops of like, somebody asked how you're doing and you're like, I'm fine, I'm good. You know, and a thing that's been happening with me lately is like, you know, because just some things have happened during the last couple of weeks and even in the moment where things are absolutely incredibly amazing and there's this whole celebratory thing that's happening, there's still some other things that happen that made me upset. It Made me feel away, and then I felt bad that I felt upset in this time where I should be extremely grateful. So also, like, being in a place to be, like, no, all of that shit can happen at the same time. You can be grateful and you can feel upset and you can be sad and you can know not what. And you can not know what you need to do. And, and, and, and, you know, and I think giving yourself grace is a part of it too, because a lot of the things that wreck our nervous system is the way that our mind thinks and the ways that we go back and we're not present. And it's not always just a physical thing.

[Interviewer]

What would you say as CEO, like, what is your specific superpower? Like, how do you. How do you CEO? Because everybody does it differently.

[Beatrice Dixon]

One of my superpowers is I really trust my team and I really.

[Interviewer]

How do you hire the right team.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Spend a lot of time, work with really great. Work with really great headhunters and recruiters and things like that. And also having a team that's really good that can recommend people that they know. Right. I think that that's a, that. I think that that's a really big part of it too. You know, I'm a person. I just believe that I am always going to bring people to me that mean me good, that want the best for me, that think abundantly, you know, for me, you know, it's really important to fail fast. Like, and to understand it has to be a culture fit. Like, to work at Honey Pot. It's not just about you being able to do the job right. It really needs to be a culture fit. It needs to work. You need to be entrepreneurial and entrepreneurial. You, you know, you have to understand that sometimes you might do two or three things. Sometimes it's going to be busy as shit, and other times you're going to be able to like, take your vacation and be fined, you know. But, like, having people who actually treat this like it's theirs is important.

[Interviewer]

Yes.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Which, which is why we've been very conscientious about making sure that everybody has equity or some sort of a phantom equity or something like that, so that when we do have big wins, we can, we can share in those things together because it takes all of us to do this. It's not, you know, it's not just a me thing and a side thing and a Kelly thing and an ally thing. Like, it's a, It's a, It's a us thing. And, you know, and so I'm Very, very, very like pro team. I CEO from a place of trust because I have to.

[Interviewer]

But what do you. But what's your special sauce after?

[Beatrice Dixon]

I have a really good intuition. I think that my. I think I'm very connected to the humans that we serve. I think that I am very connected to my team. I think that I'm very connected to these products. I really work hard to have really great relationships. So it's just important to me to be able to talk to people as people. I think that I treat people like human beings. I want to treat everybody that way because I want to be treated that way. And I think that I'm a giver. I'm very generous. And I think that when, when you can do that from a place of positivity and abundance. Also from a place of, like, I'm not, I'm not in a place where I'm just giving, just to give. Right. Like, obviously, you have to be doing your job. You have to be showing up. You got to give this a thousand percent. Right. But I just believe in, I just believe in people and I, and I believe in humanity and I. And, you know, and I think that I've been burned a lot. But, but, but you do stay optimistic.

[Interviewer]

You know, you always.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

It's funny, like, even when you go up and down or if you're hurt or bruised about something or like, you always return to this place of wholeness and optimism.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yeah, I want to.

[Interviewer]

A gift that you, you're able to do that.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Thank you.

[Interviewer]

What are you looking forward to for 2024? It's only the middle of January. Yeah. That we have the rest of the year. What are you manifesting? What do you want to do?

[Beatrice Dixon]

I, I am manifesting my. The things that I want are so simple. I want to work out every single day. I, I want to eat so beautifully. I want to have a baby. I want.

[Gwyneth Paltrow (alternate label)]

He's like, I want a baby too. She just silently did that.

[Beatrice Dixon]

I, I want to connect to my body. I want to connect to my nervous system. I want to feel it, you know, because I, I feel like I, I, I kind of had to be on my masculine this past year. Right. You're in change. I want to get into my body. I want to get out of my head and into my body and I want to feel it, you know? And honestly, I want to get back to work, man. I just want to do my job. Like, I love this shit, you know? And I, I want to, I want to continue to develop with my team and make really Beautiful, efficacious products. And I just want, you know, the travel and I want to see my friends more, you know, Like, I actually, I. I actually just want simplicity this year. I just. I just want to fucking chill, you know?

[Interviewer]

Bring me. Bring me with you, will you?

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

So circling back to what we started on with bacterial vaginosis, you know that book, of course, the Body Keeps the score.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Keeps the score, yeah.

[Interviewer]

So that, that book theorizes that when our body is expressing a symptom, it's a sign of something else unresolved.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

So if you go back to being in your 20s, when you were dealing with that, like, what's your vagina trying to tell you?

[Beatrice Dixon]

I think it was trying to tell me to sync up, you know, I think, I think it was. I think it was trying to tell me to sync up because the years prior to that, I wasn't synced up. I was on some. Why? I was wild. I was living my life. You know, I was partying Monday through Friday, rested a couple days on the weekend. I was, I was. I had just moved to Atlanta a few years before, and I was like, living the Atlanta lifestyle. And it was fun. I'm not gonna say that it wasn't, but I wasn't connected to me. I wasn't. I wasn't connected to me. And I also definitely wasn't connecting to my ancestors. And I. I cannot live a life that is not connected and synced up to them, you know.

[Interviewer]

That's super interesting.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yeah. And so. And I think too, it was preparing me for my work. If my honey pot. If my vagina, my honey pot didn't do that, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. I wouldn't have even met you. You know what I'm saying? And so, and so all things in order, you know, my, My, my. My vagina having bacterial vaginosis, reoccurring, created an empire. And that is some really dope shit. So I think that it was a lot of things, you know, I think. I think that it was a lot of things, and I just think that. That it was my time. It was. It was the sacrifice that I had to make in order to get to this moment, you know?

[Gwyneth Paltrow]

Gosh, isn't that amazing?

[Interviewer]

And what if we could look at our hardest things that we have to face and be able to connect to the outcome all the time? Right? Like, thank God for this really uncomfortable, difficult, painful thing because it's going to lead me here.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Here. Yeah. It's crazy. It's crazy.

[Interviewer]

I'm so happy for you. There aren't a lot of women founders who have been able to do what you've done with this company.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Thank you.

[Interviewer]

And it's so deeply inspiring and I'm so excited to see what you're going to do with it next, you know.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Thank you. Me too. I'm excited. We got some cool stuff coming. We launched Bodi this year. I know. I use it, which is so dope. I know you do.

[Interviewer]

I love your products. I think they're the best. And it's. It's not because I love you. It's because they're amazing products and. And I love that you've brought wellness and connection and a shame free path to a whole demographic of women.

[Beatrice Dixon]

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I'm grateful.

[Gwyneth Paltrow]

Thanks for listening. Listening to my conversation with Beatrice Dixon. You can learn more about her amazing brand at thehoneypot. Co. Thanks for tuning in. This has been a presentation of Cadence 13 Studios. I hope you'll listen, follow, rate and review all of our episodes, which are available for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Odyssey, or wherever you get your podcasts.