6 inspiring business owners who are redefining success—on their own terms
This year, we launched our first-ever HoneyBook Awards—our tribute to the resilience, creativity, and impact of our HoneyBook members.
We received over 1,600 applications, and our team loved reading all of your stories about how you took your businesses to incredible heights, overcame hurdles, and grew in new and exciting ways—not only in your professional life, but in your personal life as well.
In the end, six winners stood out for their commitment to their craft, innovation, and community impact. Meet the winners of the inaugural HoneyBook Awards:
- Liz Gonzalez-Lara, Beauty on Location Studios
- Troy Barnes & Orlando Whigham, Mirror Image Photo Booths
- Tiffany Tate, Career Maven Consulting
- Henry Tiêu, Henry Tiêu Photography
- Jordan Basham, WheretoGeaux225
To mark their achievements, we hosted these six winners at HoneyBook HQ in San Francisco. Alongside group dinners and sightseeing, the winners participated in a photo and video shoot at a local studio, a full-day hackathon with our product team to help build upcoming features, and an awards ceremony where we celebrated their accomplishments as business owners.
Here’s a closer look at their Member Awards trip.
Day 1: Welcome to San Francisco!
To kick off the week, our award winners (and their guests) were greeted at San Francisco International Airport by HoneyBook Team members—and each other. Even after hours of travel, their energy was contagious, and we knew we were in for an incredible week.
HoneyBook swag awaited them in their hotel rooms alongside some of the HoneyBook team’s favorite local Bay Area treats like Blue Bottle Coffee, Nana Joes Granola, and Thatcher’s Popcorn.
After a quick rest in the hotel, the winners and their guests joined the HoneyBook team for an excursion to the Palace of Fine Arts.
It was very special for our team to share the local San Francisco landmarks that are near and dear to our hearts.
While there, the team took our award winners to EmotionAir—a balloon exhibition that reflects human emotion through inflatable art.
What better way to break the ice and get to know each other than with ball pits and giant inflatable balloon installations?
Finally, to cap off a busy first day, the group headed over to Colibri in the Presidio to connect, enjoy each other’s company, and eat great food.
Dinner revealed even deeper connections when we discovered that Henry had been referring clients to Liz without either of them knowing they were each HoneyBook members and award winners. It was exciting for our team to see them make that connection in person!
Day 2: Capturing our winners and their stories
Our award winners’ second day started bright and early at CAPITOL ART studio in the Mission. The theme of this day was all about content—capturing their stories on video and in sit-down interviews, and getting professional photos taken.
Being the center of attention on a set can be overwhelming, and it was a delight to see the group hype each other up when it was their time to shoot.
Day two revealed even more connections. Between takes, Tiffany and Henry discovered they were each building courses as a new business revenue stream. They found common ground in the shared value they’re aiming to bring to their peers and clients.
The day also offered the winners some time to catch up on work—because clients come first, even in the hair and makeup chair.
The set was alive with energy and music all day long as each HoneyBook member selected their playlist to set the mood for their photoshoot. For Troy and Orlando, songs like Nissan Altima by Doechii, Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar, and I’m That Girl by Beyonce got everyone up and dancing.
What better way to wrap the day than with a group photo of the on-set HoneyBook team and our award winners? Everyone agreed, “it was the best day ever!”
Day 3: Building new features and honoring our winners
Day 3 was all about our award winners and HoneyBook. The group spent the day at the HoneyBook office, where they met with the broader HoneyBook team and participated in a product hackathon.
Our engineering team came into town specifically to meet and learn from the HoneyBook Awards winners, and together they all collaborated on a new batch of features.
The group broke out into small teams, and every winner had the chance to contribute their feedback and insights on the features being built.
Considering our members’ perspective and unique needs is at the heart of every feature we launch, but having our teams face-to-face with these business owners made the experience all the more productive and rewarding. The new features will go live on June 10, giving all HoneyBook members access to game-changing tools built by small business owners, for small business owners.
Finally, we capped off the day with our awards ceremony and cocktail hour—a formal event at HoneyBook HQ that honored the work, passion, and grit of all of our award winners.
After opening remarks from the HoneyBook community team, the internal selection committee introduced each of the award winners and honored their business journey.
Each winner was presented with their HoneyBook Award and shared an acceptance speech.
By the end of the presentations, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The night continued with small bites, beverages, and photos with the HoneyBook team, followed by a rooftop dinner at Cavaña in Mission Bay.
For our winners—this trip was more than just a work trip. It became a time to reflect on their accomplishments as small business owners, celebrate alongside our team, and most importantly, make lifelong friends.
But we’re not done yet! There’s even more to discover about our Member Awards winners. We’ll be sharing their business stories, favorite HoneyBook features, and special moments from this memorable trip in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned and watch this space!
