We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessica Thompson and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Jessica, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind my success, and truly what I believe anyone’s success, is following your purpose. When you focus on your purpose over protocol, your passion over people’s opinions, the hard doesn’t feel that hard. Because living out your purpose is what drives you, what fulfills you to the core, because it’s what you were created to do. Your purpose is what brings fulfillment. Your purpose is what keeps you grounded. Your purpose is what will change the world.
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I share hope for others healthy living with our products and hope for others future with our business opportunity. What sets us apart is first and foremost our culture. We are a community of hope dealers that desire to see others, listen well, and empower women to change their world. We are also super proud to be a B Corporation – where corporately we value people and the planet with profit. And finally, the people I work with. We use this business to create the resources of earnings and time to invest in our communities both locally and globally.
Currently in the top 1% of our company, I worked very hard and continue to work hard. Doing this business isn’t easy, but it is simple. Just like anything in life that you want to master, it takes a little bit of work every single day. Consistency is the key. One habit I learned was to do what I didn’t want to do first. I still do that. Sometimes I make doing laundry the reward for doing the hard thing- because it’s so much easier to do the laundry first.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned along this journey is that purpose is not a speed boat. Once you clarify your purpose you don’t speed boat your way as fast as possible to it. Our purpose, our stories, are more like a sail boat. The wind catches the sail and you follow it. You get to point A and then you look around, feel the wind, and tack towards point B. What gets you started – if you keep going, keep doing the next right thing- will only begin to expand and enlarge. You will see your purpose begin to be defined and clarified within you. All this time you have been writing your story. Keep holding the pen, keep looking where the wind is blowing, keep tacking towards the next right thing even though you can’t see exactly where it is going to lead YET.
I was everyone to know that you are already ready and you will never be ready to pursue your purpose, to start that business, to follow your dreams. You are you and you are amazing at it. Own who you are and take the next right step.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I LOVE MY CITY! I am the self proclaimed cheerleader of Colorado Springs! I am SO GLAD you asked!!!
I would start the morning with a walk downtown to Good Neighbors for coffee/breakfast. It’s a sweet little spot nestled in the Old North End with the BEST waffles! We would be enjoying the beautiful sunshine that our city almost always has and the gorgeous old home architecture only this part of the city possesses.
We would then head over for a hike in the Garden of the Gods. It is one of the most famous landmarks in the US for a reason! After our hike we would head back downtown and ride bikes along the Monument Valley Trail to Weidner Field to check out a Switchbacks FC game. The trailhead fans make the game an experience in and of itself!
Finally, we would have dinner downtown at one of the many delicious spots, depending on the appetite and type of food my guest was hungry for. Tacos at Tbyrd’s, Asian American Fusion at Lucky Dumpling, the best pizza in town at White Pie or New American at Odyssey Gastropub.
After dinner, we would grab a drink at Lumen8 to watch the gorgeous sunsets that only Pike’s Peak can create, and then head to salsa dancing or a silent disco at COATI, another drink and fabulous entertainment at Icons, or live music at Jack Quinn’s. If shopping was a desire, there’s always time to check out Yobel, the coolest ethical men and women’s fashion boutique and Mountain Standard Goods, where there’s always a thrift jewel that needs to be found.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Gaudence – A widow from Rwanda, Africa. You may recall the genocide that happened in that country in the early 90s when an entire generation of people were murdered within 90 days. Hundreds of thousands of orphans misplaced. Widows taking in children that were roaming the streets. My husband and I arrived about a decade later to a country still in shambles.
But one woman stood out. Gaudence. I was taken with the fact that she probably only owned the clothes on her back and yet she was content. The kind of contentment that was giving her JOY in every moment, regardless of her circumstances. The kind of contentment I had never seen before in the states- and was definitely struggling to find as a young mom. The kind of contentment I wanted for my life. She had REAL joy. She was always smiling or dancing. I was in love with her.
The last day of our trip we were in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, and we had a tearful goodbye. She walked away from the van we were in, having to walk a day’s journey home. After she had left the van, the translator turned to me and said, “Do you know her story?” I didn’t know her story from the genocide, and it was then that the translator explained to me all that had happened to Gaudence.
10 years earlier, she awoke in the middle of the night during the genocide to armed soldiers in her home. They had already murdered her husband. He lay in bed, dead, next to her. They ransacked her house. They sexually assaulted her. They left her and her children to die. But she didn’t die. In fact, when I met her she was taking care of 2 of her own children and 2 other orphans that had lost their parents and herself- all on less than $.75 a day.
This wrecked my soul. I was already overwhelmed with her contentment and that’s when I thought her only challenge was poverty. But now THIS is what she had survived?
It was on the plane back home that I realized I was going back to a pantry filled with food and a closet filled with clothes and I knew I had to DO something. But what could I DO? My husband said we couldn’t move there. My 2 children at the time were young and at home. We didn’t have any extra money. I didn’t have any extra time. But I still had a dream and wondered if someday I could help Gaudence,
After the plane moment, life happened. I got pregnant with our third, had a baby, time went by and I remember the day I literally threw away the dream. Gaudence had given me the phone number of the only person her village that had a phone- the only way I thought I would ever be able to connect with her again- and I threw it away. I wasn’t mad about my dream not becoming a reality, it was a pretty big dream anyway, I just thought- nah, that will never happen, who am I kidding? I’ll keep maintaining the mundane, that’s what life is after all, anyway, and it’s not THAT BAD. I put the pen down of my purpose.
A couple of years later I heard about Arbonne. It was NEVER something I could see myself doing until I took the time to get educated, get familiar with the stats and realized this could be a way I could make my dream of helping Gaudence become a reality. It would give me the coveted resources of earnings and time. I jumped in with both feet giving some of the income to the organization I had first met Gaudence through, hoping it would trickle down to her. At my first annual convention with the company they had gotten wind of Gaudence’s story and recognized me on stage for sharing it. It was a humbling moment in my Old Navy outfit, having rolled my 2 month old in his stroller to the base of the arena stage stairs, and walking up that stage with HER picture, sharing with thousands HER story of overcoming incredible hardship, assault, and poverty. And yet she had protected her joy and her contentment. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the entire arena! It is possible to make a living and make a difference.
I walked off the stage and fell to my knees because I thought this woman’s story is impacting the world and she has no clue! She doesn’t even know that I know her whole story, much less all of Arbonne! I HAVE to find her. I HAVE to share with her that her life IS making a difference.
So, several months later I was on my way back to Rwanda. AND I had come up with this incredibly effective plan of finding Gaudence- I was going to take the picture I had of the two of us, get off the plane in Kigali, which was for sure NOT where she lived- because remember, she lives a days walk from Kigali- and I was gonna start asking people if they knew her. Full proof, right? Be a flawed world changer, and watch your world change.
My friend dropped me off at the Dallas/Ft Worth airport, I was armed with my luggage and Gaudence’s picture, I hadn’t even left TX soil yet, and I SEE the RWANDAN TRANSLATOR who was with me the last time I saw Gaudence- the one who relayed Gaudence’s story to me after she left our van- standing not 20 feet from me in the DFW airport.
I immediately started bawling. I still cry over this miracle that I got to be a part of. The translator remembered me, remembered Gaudence, and gave me information on how to find her once I got to Rwanda.
We had a miraculous reuniting, to say the least. Gaudence had a newborn with her that I found out was also a product of sexual assault. I got to share with her the impact her life, her contentment, had made in my life and every life I could share her story with. The translator turned to her and said, “Gaudence, you are not well known in Rwanda. But in America, you are FAMOUS!”
That began a journey of leadership development and micro-enterprise training with Gaudence. A mentor of mine who was with me on the trip when I was miraculously reunited with Gaudence saw my heart for women globally and helped me get involved with Tirzah International.
Years later Gaudence is thriving. The mud shack she used to live in is now a stable for her cattle and her home has cement walls and electricity. And that little baby I met when we reunited is now about 16 years old and is named Jessica. And now I get to be on the board of Tirzah International empowering all the Gaudences of the world. Gaudence’s life has changed mine.
Website: www.jessicathompson.arbonne.com
Instagram: jessicabenderthompson
Facebook: Jessica Bender
Other: www.tirzah.org