Meet Anna Hackman

We were lucky to catch up with Anna Hackman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Anna , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

It took years to find my purpose, but there were glimmers of it early on in my career as a lawyer. My firm gave me a few pro bono cases for seniors or people who needed help. I found immense joy in helping them, as they truly needed my assistance, unlike my clients, who were often builders or developers with different needs.

But at the time, I had no idea why I liked it, so I continued with my career until I had children. At that time, law became so litigious that I no longer felt the joy of practicing.

After I left practicing law full-time, I volunteered for organizations and seemed to solve their problems. I didn’t realize that I was helping them in the same ways I helped my senior citizen clients; I was making them more profitable, better organized, and in better shape than before.

After we had built an eco-friendly house before it became fashionable, I started a small garden. I was hooked and expanded that little garden several times. Fast-forward ten years, and I had this huge garden with berries, fruit trees, vegetables, and many herbs. So, I decided to start selling my herbs.

I quickly learned I couldn’t compete with foreign suppliers since growing herbs in the US was much more expensive. So, seven years ago, I started making herbal tea blends.

I started selling them at the farmer’s markets, and they were a big hit. I knew I was on to something. I was genuinely helping people, and it filled me with such joy.

Then, I expanded the garden to create herbal salt blends, flower essences, salves, elderberry tonics, simple syrups, ginger turmeric shots, and hydrosols to help more people.

Whenever a person thanked me for helping them, I would swell with emotion and realize I had found my calling.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am, for the most part, a farmer. I love growing and tending to plants. Before creating The Naked Botanical, I was a blogger and blogged about gardening on my website, Green Talk. I loved teaching people through my own experience how to grow and preserve food.

I have carried that love of teaching into my social media posts and want people to see and hear about what is growing on my farm. I want them to know the ingredients that go into my products and feel a part of the farm.

Many of my customers are also avid growers, and I teach them about the nuisances of growing certain plants.

Lastly, people think I create products with them in mind, but I swear the farm has its own journey. Many times, it produces an abundant amount of herbs or fruit. For example, I have nine apple trees that have created a few apples for over 10 years. One year, they went crazy, and I made 75 gallons of apple cider from those trees! I had to figure out what to do with the cider, and I created the simple syrups and the ginger turmeric shots in response to the apple production.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

ntegrity in business is of utmost importance to me. I believe that every day, I have to face myself in the mirror, and that reflection should be one of pride. I treat my customers with the same respect and care that I would like to receive, and I never let a product leave my farm that I wouldn’t use myself.

My customers are my conduit to what I create. I listen to their feedback and always appreciate their notes and comments about my products. As I mentioned above, we are on this journey together when they tell me how my product improves their life if they only know how their reaction makes me so happy. My customers are my joy.

I am an avid learner and never just wing anything. I learn as much as possible before taking on any task. That is the lawyer in me.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Being a US-grown product comes with its own set of issues. Usually, one would think it is cheaper to source your ingredients from your farm, but labor costs, workers’ compensation, and other fees are much higher than simply buying the ingredients and making products. Plus, the small herb industry needs access to equipment that large herb companies have. Lack of equipment drives up our costs.

Most health stores will not buy my products since they are more expensive than established large brands. So, it is more challenging to get the word out about the quality and taste of our products. One of the tea just won a 2024 Gold Sofi Summer Food Fancy Fest award in the tea category.

My wish is that more consumers support US-grown products. If there was more demand, more retail and restaurant locations would start carrying products like mine. Ways to support us are sharing on social media and word of mouth. From a sustainability perspective, US-grown products have a smaller “boot” print. (Hello, university food services!)

Food entrepreneurs can also help support our farmers by buying ingredients from local farms. I make delicious spices that could be the “secret sauce” in their products.

My wish list:

Collaborate with other brands via social media. Collaboration is critical in helping each other out.
Partnering with sustainability ethos-minded company for client appreciation giving
Partnering with hotels and spas who are looking for sustainable, organic products for their businesses
I am interested in partnering with sustainability-minded food companies that would like to add my products to their ingredients, gift boxes, or offerings. It takes a village.

Thank you to Bold Journey for featuring me and helping others to discover my products.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Shilpa Iyer Photography

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