Q: Who in the business world do you admire most or strive to emulate?
Jen Beldam: Sophia Amoruso, founder and CEO of professional networking organization Girlboss – she’s experienced business successes and failures on a public stage, has handled it all with character and grace, and keeps pushing forward.

Q: If Hollywood made a movie about your life, what would it be about and what actor would play you?
JB: It would be a comedy about balancing life and business while living in rural wine country. I hope Jennifer Lawrence would play me!

Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
JB: You don’t need to take on every project, especially if they don’t align with your core values.

Q: What’s one thing you’d do to improve the industry?
JB: Steer clients toward high-quality, sustainable items so that suppliers keep innovating.

Q: What’s on your business and personal bucket list?
JB: Business: Build a team of like-minded individuals at Northern Craft so we can continue to deliver on our mission of high-quality merchandise. Personal: to build out our little hobby farm.

Q: What’s one sentence you’d like to hear from your boss?
JB: I’m my own boss, so I’d love to tell myself how proud I am of everything we’ve accomplished. Also, “You can take a vacation, because everything will be taken care of while you’re gone.”

Q: If you could choose an age to remain forever, which age would you choose? Why?
JB: My current age. I feel like I still have a lot in front of me, and it took a while (and a lot of hard lessons) to get here.

Q: What would you do with your 15 minutes of fame?
JB: Encourage more people to incorporate sustainability into their custom merch programs. Items that are reusable, higher-quality and responsibly produced aren’t just better for the environment — they’re good for business.

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