Everyone’s introduction our program is little different. For 2024 Full Circle Thrive Award Winner Jacqueline, it was through volunteering on her brother’s Habitat build.
At the time, Jackie didn’t know much about our program, but after finding out that she qualified; it was a done deal.
For Jackie, building her home was only the beginning.
Coming from the Midwest, community was something that she had missed in her initial move to the city. As one of the unofficial leaders in her neighborhood, as more Habitat homes were built around her, she made a dedicated effort to get to know her neighbors by hosting neighborhood events and entertaining the children with movie nights in the summers.
“I love children, so that was my first love. My first line of work was working with children. So when I see the children, and that’s another fun thing, they are outside!” Jackie exclaimed. “I like to encourage them to stay outside and just let them know if you ever see me outside, come over, ask me if I need some help.”
Jackie has been in her home for 17 years now. She originally moved into her home with her boys.
Jackie’s youngest son dealt with eczema and dry skin. After trying many premade products that did little to help, Jackie began to research a more natural solution. This was when she developed her body butter.
It was just hobby while her children were in the house but when her own boys grew up and began to move out of the house, Jackie needed another way to fill her time.
“It started out with just one product, which was the body butter, to now having at least about ten products, from body butter to sugar scrub and bath salts and lip balms and shower gels and all the goodness,” Jackie explained.
After testing the demand for her business at a few vendor events around the city, Jackie decided to enter the Vision. Goals. Action. (VGA) Launch! Entrepreneurial series.
The series kicks off with Boss Talk, a panel discussion of business owners in Atlanta for homeowners to become inspired in entrepreneurship. After the panel, program participants take a series of classes that teach the important, often overlooked skills, that goes into starting your own business.
“I was glad for the classes,” Jackie said. “We had these classes to kind of help us understand the things, about business in itself, because I was new to this, and learning how to pitch the business and what things are important to talk about and how to capture somebody’s attention right away.”
The courses conclude with a Shark Tank style business pitch competition. Jackie entered Butter Me Up by JRena and won a cash prize to invest back into her business.
“Winning the competition was helpful because I was funding it on my own, and that win helped me to get so many more products to kind of help me build the business, because before it was just a little bit at a time. But that’s when was huge.”
You can find her products at www.buttermeupbyjrena.com.
“You buy the home, and now you have a new family, an extension of community through (Atlanta) Habitat and so it’s always a pleasure for me to tell people about it,” Jackie said. “Whenever I meet people, they’re not a homeowner. If you’re looking, let me just tell you, think about Habitat because I didn’t. And when I finally got the information, I’m like, ‘oh, I can sing the praises all the time to anybody who’s not a homeowner.’”
