Hello, this is Leslie and I am the host of the Why Not Today podcast.
This is a podcast to celebrate people who have been courageous and said, why not today?
I started this podcast in honor of my father, Patrick Hayne, who often did say why not today.
I'm based in Reston, Virginia, playing in the community right outside of Washington,
D.C. and thanks for joining us today.
So I'm excited today.
My guest is Jennifer, I can talk, Stansbury and I met Jennifer recently and I always
talk about how we connect, how we meet.
Before we do that, I wanted to just share one thing about the podcast.
So the podcast name is Why Not Today and it really talks about doing courageous things
and just doing it, just starting.
So if you've listened to many of the podcasts, I don't edit them.
They are as they are.
So Jennifer and I were just talking about dogs at my bar and you know what, that's life.
And I think that's one of the beauties of this podcast is it's not perfect.
And we're figuring it out as we go.
And you know what, sometimes you just need to get started and say why not today.
So a little side now.
So Jennifer and I met, gosh, just a little over a month ago.
As most of you know and listen to the podcast that I am a sales director with Mary Kay.
And I was in D.C. on Capitol Hill for Mary Kay's 60th anniversary and they had a reception
at this organization sponsored and I met Jennifer there and started talking and we're like,
well, we live right near each other and had lots of connections of course.
I love to make people sweet coffee and she got lots of cool things going on.
So I couldn't wait to share her story here and what she's got going on, not only with
her business, her courage, but also giving back.
This episode is coming out in the fall of 2023.
And as we approach the holiday season, you know, people always ask, how can you give
back?
How can you, how can I help?
And I think that's such an important thing and a gift and Jennifer, you're doing it right
and passing it on to your kids.
So I don't want to take away your thunder from the podcast episode, but why don't you
introduce yourself, put facts about you and then share something, a fun fact.
All right.
My name is Jennifer Sandsbury.
I've lived in Virginia for 31 years when my dad literally put me on a plane and said,
you're leaving California and you're going to school back east.
No, you live in California.
I grew up in California in San Diego, which I've been trying to get back to ever since,
but I married a Texan.
So this is our compromise.
Okay.
I have three kids and in 2014, a long-term colleague of mine and I bought a friend's
company and started the benchmarking company.
So we're a market research firm for the beauty and personal care industries.
Yeah.
And a fun fact about me, given that I'm from California, my husband is from Texas.
We got married on a golf course, him and cowboy boots and me and foot flops.
Oh, fun.
Love that.
So yeah, I love that your business ties into the Mary Kay and does these panels of products,
which is really kind of cool.
It's great.
I mean, people get to try new products and be the first to try them before brands put
them out to market.
So it's really fun and it's very female focused and it's about beauty and empowerment.
So I love what I do every day.
Yeah, that's awesome.
And you can tell.
So let's talk about courage.
What does courage mean to you?
To me, courage and character go hand in hand.
And this is what we always tell our kids.
Character is always doing what's right, even when it's not popular or doing what's right
when people aren't looking and sometimes that takes, you know, an amazing amount of courage,
especially when everybody else around you is doing it differently.
But courage is really taking risks and being comfortable taking risks being comfortable
failing and being comfortable with the success that comes with it.
Yeah, love that.
It's just, yeah, we got to start and do it do it the right way.
So let's talk about your journey with getting your business started.
And I know it has an interesting little beginning and then a little bit about the business and
the courage there.
And then let's talk about getting that and how you've gotten involved and gotten your
kids involved, which I love that.
And how old are your kids?
So I have a 16 year old junior, a 14 year old freshman and an 11 year old who's in sixth
grade.
Okay.
So build a molding agent.
Interesting.
My dad always told us as kids, get involved, get involved.
And, you know, when we were younger, you were much better at portraying that than my dad
was because we didn't really have any interest.
But now interesting, my sister and I are all into nonprofits and events and giving back
and volunteering and all those things.
I mean, and I think that that's you learn that from your parents, right?
So, you know, my father passed away after a 14 year battle with cancer.
And it was standing room only at his funeral.
And every person that got up to speak talked about his generosity.
So he was an entrepreneur and not always a successful one, but it didn't matter if he
had money or didn't have money.
If there was somebody that was more in need, my dad always wanted to give back and to help
people.
And so I think a lot of that was something I just grew up with.
And in terms of courage, both my parents had an extreme amount of courage.
My dad started this business would never give up on it.
And it's hard running a business is hard.
And after my parents split up, my mom, who hadn't had stayed home to raise us went back
to school and got her doctorate and became a practicing psychologist.
And that was, you know, that was risky.
That was hard.
So I always saw my parents taking risks and some of them worked and some of them didn't.
But they approached everything with a positive outlook.
And that's what my husband and I try to give our kids is, you know, you're not always going
to be perfect.
Things aren't always going to work out the way you want them to, but there are so many
ways to solve a problem.
And so you can't look at life linearly.
You have to look at it from different angles and you really have to find what works for
you.
Yeah.
And so, yeah, so starting our business, my business partner and I had worked together
in several previous jobs.
And we had a mentor who was the founder of a public relations firm.
And that's where my business partner Denise and I met.
Our mentor went on to buy and sell a business and then she started another business, which
was previously called the beauty company.
She had an opportunity to move to Germany with her husband and she was going to sunset
the business.
And so literally at my dad's funeral, she was telling Denise and I that she was going
to sunset the business or sell the business.
And at that point right there, we decided that we would buy the business and I kind of
felt like it was divine, you know, divine intervention.
What a godwin.
I was like, do it.
What a godwin from your dad.
Yeah.
And at that point, I was pretty risk adverse.
But I was like, you know, I kind of feel like this is a sign and we should jump in with
two feet and we did.
And the first couple of years were hard because, you know, you're literally building something
from scratch in a lot of ways.
And we figured out how to do it and it's, you know, it's been a great business.
We now have employees.
We've had no attrition and we go to work every day loving what we do.
But, you know, it's kind of hard in the beginning, you know, we kind of have to fake it till
you make it.
Yeah.
Yep.
I was talking to one of my team members this week and, you know, she's trying to figure
out the Mary Kay thing.
She's like, I've been in education for 30 years and my brain doesn't think this way.
And like fighting a lot of the ideas and things like I just don't know if I can do it.
And I'm like, what would you tell your kids?
She goes, you have to learn and figure it out.
And I'm like, exactly.
And it's not going to be perfect.
And I think that's the big message of this podcast and the message of why not today is
you just got to start.
It's not perfect.
Yeah.
And I think a lot of people are crippled by the fear of failure or the fear of judgment
or the fear of making a fool of yourself.
And you know, what I have learned in the course of building this business with my business
partner is people are genuinely kind, right?
There's nobody really out there to get you.
People like to see other people be successful and to help them in their journey.
And so, you know, as long as you're really open and honest about, okay, this is outside
my wheelhouse or I don't know how to do it, but I want to help you solve this problem,
but I have a little more forgiveness there.
And it allows you to be much more collaborative, whether it's with a client or somebody else.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, people are kind and they want to help.
And I think all the stories we make up in our head about what people are thinking are
so untrue and they're just stories in our head.
Yeah.
I think it comes from our own insecurities, right?
So, absolutely.
So tell us what, and I love the concept of the pink panel and what you guys do and how
that works and the people want to get involved.
Yeah, so the pink panel is our testing panel.
These are women who sign up to test beauty products and they usually get paid for it.
It's an extremely active community.
We have an active community on Facebook, on Instagram.
So it goes just beyond that beauty.
You know, we talk about empowerment and positivity and loving you for yourself and feeling beautiful.
And that doesn't mean necessarily always wearing makeup.
You know, it's being comfortable in your own skin.
You know, we, every year around, you know, it's kind of a nice segue, every year around
Thanksgiving, my business partner and I do a campaign.
It's called Click for a Cause.
And so you can either visit our Instagram page, read an article that we've written.
And for these clicks, we will donate to a charity that is often selected in a poll by
our panel.
And so it's a nice way to give back.
It's a nice way for our panel to feel like they're contributing even, you know, even
without having to outlay cash.
Because both my business partner and I feel very strongly about giving back to our communities.
We both, you know, she has a foundation.
My kids are very involved with St. Jude Children's Hospital as are my husband and I.
And then my kids have worked with Yellow Ribbon Foundation as founding members of a kids initiative
to get back to know them.
So let's talk about that.
You know, I'm so impressed that your 16 year old son said, who's started a nonprofit, working
with a nonprofit.
So talk about, talk about what you and your husband are involved in and then how your
kids got involved and how you're passing it along and what they're doing.
Sure.
So my husband and I have always been very interested in St. Jude Children's Hospital.
It's a great organization.
I think the majority of people know what it is.
To help kids and families who are battling cancer.
The hospital will pay for all of the parents to be at the hospital and all healthcare is
complimentary to these kids who are struggling through cancer.
I love that.
And the question I asked you when we met when you told me that is, did you get involved
because you had to because you had an incident?
You said no, which most people get involved or a lot of people get involved with nonprofit
charities after something happened.
And I was thinking after my dad passed away starting a nonprofit, I'm like, why don't
we start and I just did a guy with somebody whose son passed away.
I'm like, why aren't we doing things for people that are alive?
And like doing like you're getting involved.
You didn't need it, but yeah.
And the reason we got involved was literally every day we look at our kids and we say we
are so blessed to have healthy kids.
Right.
We're very fortunate.
And not everybody is as fortunate.
And so, you know, we kind of feel like that's our, we need to give back to a cause that
will help somebody else because I can't imagine any worse pain than seeing your child being
sick.
And so that's one of the reasons that we got involved.
And so by virtue, we pulled our kids into some of the initiatives that they can participate
in for St. Jude's.
So our kids decided to be a team lead for the St. Jude's walk and run, which will occur
next weekend.
And they were charged to raise money, get team members to sign up.
And so they out of 1300 teams, I think they ranked number 13 in signing kids up and soliciting
for funds for the charity.
You know, they've also participated in the St. Jude's golf tournaments where they donate
their time to help set up or work with the participants.
And you know, that's a big national organization.
You know, in terms of a local organization, my friend started Yellow Ribbon Foundation.
Her dad.
And what is that?
I know you explained this to me the other day.
So it's an organization that supports military families, specifically that either have members
that are on high deployment cycles or who have lost a military family member, either
as a result of war or issues that occur after they come back from deployment.
And so she had started that foundation and she and her family said, you know, we really
need a kids initiative.
We need kids to be able to get involved in this initiative.
And so there were a group of local high school kids, including my children, her children,
some kids from Ashburn, who started this initiative called Mission to Unite.
And the kids get together several times a year and then work throughout the year.
But the purpose is to increase literacy and to support children whose parents are on high
deployment cycles or who have lost a parent in their military service.
And so the first year we built fewer than 300 backpacks.
So we raised money, we bought backpacks, we bought all of the materials to fill the backpacks.
The kids got together, filled all these backpacks and then delivered them to a military base
to be distributed to the kids prior to school starting.
This year they are able to raise more money and build more backpacks, which has been really
fun to watch.
And then around Christmas they do a large scale Christmas party for the military families
and the children.
And then the Mission to Unite initiative at that event is a reading corner.
So they do book drives at their schools.
And then they sit and read to the kids at the event as well as hand out books.
We also solicit local celebrities to be a part of this event to help raise awareness.
That's awesome.
Where is the event?
It's usually downtown.
DC.
Last year I believe it was at the Ritz in Arlington.
But yeah, it's organized through Yellow Ribbon and the military bases.
That's awesome.
Yeah, side note remind me to mention somebody that might be a good guest for you.
Yeah, that would be great.
I've got someone to be a great guest.
So yeah, I love how your kids just get involved and do things.
And I think the kids these days, I don't know if you've noticed this, do want to get involved.
And the younger generation starting working, they're looking for companies that give back
and have a hard time and not just chasing a paycheck, which a lot of us were grown up.
You got to have that steady job.
I was not because my dad owned his own business, but that steady job and the insurance and
work for the government, which is so stable, which really isn't.
Not right now.
No.
Yeah.
I mean, I think it's also really important, at least it was for us to get your kids involved
early.
And parents are like, Oh, I have to get my kids into community service to get them into
college.
And it shouldn't be about that.
It really should be about this instilling this is the value in your kids from a very
early age.
I think my son was maybe in sixth grade and we had the opportunity to get involved in
an organization called touching heart.
And it's really cool because again, it's another kid initiative where you have a kind of a
guidance host and they work with the kids at the local school to say, okay, you guys
pick the charity, you guys host an event and you decide where this money is going to go.
So yeah, when they were in six, when my son was in sixth grade, he participated in touching
heart and him and five of his classmates did an event called graffiti for good.
And so they were in charge of raising all the money, getting sponsors, putting together
an auction and selecting the charity.
And so they chose to take all that money and donate it to an organization that helps
kids who are aging out of foster care and providing them with basic needs as they go
into apartments or college.
And so these six kids single handedly raised over $13,000.
Wow.
And you know, as a sixth grader, understanding your impact in your community is huge, right?
That makes an impression.
And I think that that just kind of sets you on a path to say, you know, I always want
to give back.
This is just part of who I am.
This is part of my life ethos.
And you know, and it brings up awareness too.
I can't tell you how many adults I've met and living in Reston and Fairfax County right
outside of Washington, T.C.
It's a very fluent area.
Absolutely.
It is me.
Like there's section eight housing in Reston and people have no idea.
There is food insecurity issue in Reston.
People have no idea.
Like when I share that with people, they're like, not here in Reston.
I'm like, seriously?
Like what rock do you live under?
You know?
Yeah.
And especially, like you said, especially where we live, like, you know, I drive through
the kids' school parking lots and there's not a car in there that, you know, isn't close
to $100,000.
So, you know, this becomes their every day.
And this is what they see.
And so, you know, some of these kids have, like you said, have no idea that there are
people less advantaged than they are.
Yeah.
And they do the backpacks.
My mom helped with the filling backpacks for kids.
And one of the most affluent areas in Reston had the highest percentage of backpacks for
kids being packed for weekends.
So they have food on weekends when they're not getting fed at school.
Yeah.
And I think a lot of communities were really hard hit with COVID.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
With the school shut down.
Yeah.
So that's awesome.
I love how much you give back and teaching the kids and getting involved.
And, you know, people are always asking, how do you get involved?
You know, just started asking people.
Yeah.
I know some years ago I was honored with the Best of Reston Award because of all the things
I've done.
And people stopped me all over all the time.
They're like, well, how do I get involved?
And just ask somebody and somebody, and once you get involved in kind of that world of
giving back somebody else will direct you to somebody else.
And then, you know, find the cause, Google it, look up, you know, what are you passionate
about?
What do you want to get?
And bringing the kids along.
We did, I was working with a nonprofit and we did, this was a ton of fun, but for the
Thanksgiving parade, Christmas parade at Reston Town Center, we were the balloon handlers.
You know, those big huge balloons like Macy's Day parade balloons, we had to hold those going
through the parade.
That's great.
It was such a cold day, but I have so many grandmothers.
I think I remember that parade.
Yeah.
Like, I think I remember how cold it was.
Oh, it was so cold.
Like, we were freezing.
But we had our, you know, kids there, my friends' kids helping and just the fun.
And, you know, they'll remember that.
And so, you know, doing it as a family activity.
Right.
And that's the thing.
It is fun, right?
When it's different than just writing a check, you're involved, you see how your hours make
a difference in somebody's lives.
These events are fun.
It's fun to be a part of a community of people who are giving back that do come from different
walks of life, who are there, you know, for not selfish means.
They're there to help others.
And so it gives you and other people exposure to the why, the how, the how can we make a
difference with the team.
And us owning businesses, you never know who you're going to meet that can connect to help
you this.
Not that I can do those things saying, I'm going to go to this event to meet somebody
in my next customer.
But it always happens without even trying.
And it's like, okay, God's going to bless you and put the right people in your path.
And, you know, even I feel blessed that I met you.
And you were literally, I was walking out the door.
Yeah.
I think Uber had just shown up.
Yeah.
I exchanged cards and connected.
And I'm so glad we did because there's lots of things I think we can do together and
giving back and helping.
So one of the things I do through the Mary Kay world is an adopt a mom program.
And I spun, I partner with fish, which is in Reston and Herndon.
And it's called friend stands for friendly instance, synthetic health.
And they have a thrift shop.
It's called bargain law.
But also they offer assistance to people and they all doing for Christmas and Thanksgiving,
they do food baskets.
Now they're going to give cards.
And then for Mother's Day, I partner with the subsidized daycare facility and customers,
friends, family and anybody listen, you want to adopt a mom, it's $15 to adopt a mom.
I say, mom's not coming to clean your house.
But you make that donation.
I provide some kind of a Mary Kay product, pampering gift for a mom.
It's not makeup, but it's something and wrapped beautifully.
And they tell me when the moms pick up the gifts, they're like, can I wait till Christmas
morning?
This is probably the only gift I would.
So that is an organization.
We'd be happy to donate.
And okay.
So you partner with them and you know, it's just, and then I've pulled the kids in and
gotten them that need service hours to come wrap gifts with me.
For Mother's Day, I should provide the gifts to the daycare with the wrapping and each
kid gets to pick a gift and the wrapping to wrap them on skit.
Well my kids are also involved with Saxon service at Langley High School.
So one Thursday a month, the kids are looking for community service activities and hours.
So I'm sure you and I could partner and maybe use a whole army of high schoolers to help
you out.
Okay.
We'll take you up on that.
So yeah, lots of ways to give back.
Just get involved and start.
And you know what?
You'll make friends.
You'll feel good.
I know somebody's going through a yucky divorce and just lonely and sad.
I'm like, what can you do to give back?
You know, I know when I had a bad day, it's like, what can I do for somebody else?
You don't realize how your bad day is not so bad.
Right.
So how would you encourage or what would you share to encourage somebody else to be courageous?
Say why not today?
Why not now?
Just do it.
I mean, I think you just have to jump in.
You know, I was terrified to start this business and it has given me so many blessings.
It's, you know, allowed me to use my brain in ways I hadn't used in a long time.
I've met incredible clients and people along the way.
And you know, the worst thing that's going to happen is you fail and you're no worse
off than you were before you tried.
So yeah, just jump in.
Why not today?
Why not now?
Yeah, so tomorrow, that's the other thing, you know, you'll find that it, you know, anything
that's worth it takes work, but you know, as soon as you get started, you build this
momentum and you know, before you know it, you're having a great time.
And you know, we find the time.
We say I don't have time, but we waste time doing so many other things.
Very true.
Yeah.
Very true.
So I always try to connect the discussion back to my dad, how you can connect to my
dad.
And I took tons of notes because I think your dad and my dad are hanging out in heaven.
I didn't know they were eating hognos, but that was my dad never wanted ice cream.
He just took our ice cream and he smoked a pipe for a lot of his life and ice cream
and enjoying.
He'd take a bite.
I'm like, no, it's like I eat my dad.
I mean, we could literally have no food in the house.
And the one thing he would treat himself to once a month was Hagi Doss vanilla Swiss
almond ice cream.
So when we go to visit his grave site, we always bring a pint of Hagi Doss vanilla Swiss almond
ice cream and leave it for him.
Yeah, my dad was famous for his martini.
And so when my brother and his wife were moving out west, they went to see my dad and brought
martinis and sat and hung out there with martini.
So my dad was from California, moved to the East Coast after an accident in high school
and went to Notre Dame.
So moved out east.
His funeral was absolutely standing room only.
He touched so many lives, very much like your dad.
He was an entrepreneur owned his own business.
And yeah, they were ups and downs.
My mom's told me recently that it seemed like whenever it was one of our birthdays that
it was a downtime and she had to scramble.
And also just like your dad, I've heard stories of my dad giving back to people that were
having a hard time.
He didn't, you know, his was up and down business just like I'm saying.
And you know, was always, I've heard so many stories of him doing things.
What else did you share?
Oh, solve a problem.
Like that's my dad's, you know, there was no solve problem that was not solvable.
You'll figure it out.
You know, he never said no to anything.
And just, you know, giving back.
So yeah, so many similarities.
So love this.
And I love how, you know, God just puts these people on our path and connects.
And as I said, I was literally walking out the door and grabbing my friend and started
a conversation.
Yeah, I completely agree.
I believe in that wholeheartedly.
Yeah.
So if people want to find you and be part of the pink panel or want to get involved and
give back or help have kids that want to get involved.
I'm going to share your contact information on the show notes, but how do you get involved
with the panel?
That's kind of a cool thing.
It's super easy.
You just join at pinkpanel.com on that webpage.
There's an FAQ so you can understand a little bit about what we do and who we are and the
brands that we work with.
You click the join here button and you fill out some information.
We're going to ask you questions about, you know, your name, your address, your age, your
skin type, your hair type, some questions that relate to beauty products.
And then we will send out testing opportunities as they come up and people can apply.
And then if selected, they'll be given sent an email with all the instructions as to how
to test your beauty products and get paid.
Okay.
And do you do everything like they send them to you when you do them or is there any live
events?
So most of what we do is in-home use testing so people can actually use the products at
home as they would normally use beauty and personal care products.
We also test supplements and wellness products.
From time to time we do user groups and focus groups which are in-person opportunities.
And some brands would like for us to do before and after photography so that would be in-person
as well.
Okay.
Sounds good.
So, all right.
Well, I'll share your show night info.
Right.
In the meantime, if you like to podcast share with a friend, like it, review it.
We have Why Not Today swag.
I actually have my Why Not Today t-shirt on.
I love it.
And we have cups and we're doing some fun different things, gathering community.
I know we have listeners all over the country.
Actually I've had, I think, 26 countries.
But locally.
That's great.
And we have some community events and gathering women and doing some fun things around that.
So be on the lookout for new things around that coming forward.
So Jennifer, thank you so much.
Love talking to you.
Thank you for having me.
We could talk forever.
But remember everybody, say why not today?
Just never know where it can go and just be courageous.
So thanks again, Jennifer.
My pleasure.
Bye.