A Self Care Solution Written in The Stars
By Chelsey Horn & Carlie Horn
The Problem: The current self care market lacks personalized product recommendations. After all, personalization is imperative for building a successful self care ritual to elevate your wellness.
The Solution: So, we decided to do something about it and create The Bonnie Heretics, a first-of-its-kind immersive ecommerce experience that uses star-powered data to develop uniquely curated wellness rituals for each customer based on their Astrological profile!
Founded by two sisters who were dissatisfied with current shopping trends, The Bonnie Heretics channels the insights of the celestial to support your terrestrial wellness journey. Inspired by a dream in which their grandmother visited them from the Great Beyond, the sisters set out to design an online shopping experience that uses star-powered data to design uniquely curated product recommendations and self-care rituals based on users Astrological birth charts.
Astrology is an illuminating vehicle for self awareness but it is woefully underutilized by modern retailers to amplify the customer experience journey. The Astrological birth chart goes beyond an individual’s sun sign to unlock the deep secrets of a person’s inner workings. These secrets can inspire shopper’s purchasing decisions, if they have the guidance of a supportive community ushering them towards higher understanding.
My sister, Carlie, and I founded The Bonnie Heretics with guidance and supportive community in mind. Our website, app, and subscription box service offer users an immersive ecommerce experience which celebrates uniqueness and encourage wellness through self care rituals to spark self love.
Bore out of the desire for divinely personalized shopping, the company’s app allows users to calculate their birth chart, shop an array of self-care supplies like bath bombs, CBD tinctures, candles, supplements and more!
The subscription box service takes the guesswork out of building your seasonal self care ritual thanks to our star-powered data insights! We deliver quarterly boxes tailored to each subscribers Astrological needs with prompts for how and when to use products like restorative retrograde kits, new moon bath rituals, and affirmation candles or seasonal supplements and adaptogenic herbal remedies to support your immune system and reduce stress.
Users can turn on push notifications for a fully tailored in-app experience catered to the topics they want updates they desire. They can also enter any allergies or product preferences in our search filters and quickly find items aligned to their needs and lifestyles. Through the app, customers can connect with other members, reveal their customized horoscopes and unlock product usage suggestions.
We take great pride in carefully curating our products and recommendations to deliver optimal self care rituals to our customers that encourage their wellness and self love journeys.
Keep scrolling to learn more about The Bonnie Heretics’ mission and see what the stars have in store for you!
The Bonnie Heretics Story
In the winter of 2020, my grandmother’s spirit visited me and delivered a vision of me and my sister getting into UGA. We were both Dawgs in our undergrads, so we were a bit confused by this at first. Then, a few months later, Covid-19 hit and we knew we wanted to use this time to better ourselves and pursue a long standing business idea but we didn’t know exactly what to do or how to do it.
How We Got Here
We found the Emerging Media Masters program and knew it was meant to be. After we were both accepted into the program, we searched for a Capstone project to develop over the next year. My grandmother’s spirit visited yet again in early spring of last year. She said the words “bonnie heretic” and, from those two visions, The Bonnie Heretics was born. We knew we wanted to honor our grandmother who was a loving and trailblazing business owner, so we developed a business model focused on building community and supporting self care while celebrating each customer’s uniqueness!
The Bonnie Heretics is a magical manifesto, a love letter to anyone who has ever felt left out. After all, The Bonnie Heretics believe heretics aren’t heathens; they’re thought-leaders and trailblazers who are ahead of their time and that kind of beauty deserves to be celebrated!
We’re Here for You, Heretic
A self care ritual and supportive community are essential for facing life’s hurdles. My sister, Carlie, and I have each overcome significant health challenges. I am sure anyone who, like ourselves, battles chronic illness can relate to relentlessly feeling at war with your own body. Feeling different can be isolating, scary. Thankfully, we had the support of one another on our journey to better health. Whatever battle you are facing, we don’t want you to go through it alone.
We want to remind you of your warrior’s spirit, encourage you to practice self care, trust your intuition, and find a supportive community. We hope you find a home here.
Who Are The Bonnie Heretics?
The Bonnie Heretics celebrate witchy wellness and star-powered spirituality.
If you enjoy self care, healthy living, mysticism, and building a forward thinking community in the spirit of self love, then there’s a place for you here!
Target Market
While anyone is welcome to join our movement, research suggests the majority of our consumer base will have similar interests, income, tech habits, and shopping goals to these two personas:
The Bonnie Heretics Difference
You can find The Bonnie Heretics at the intersection of Astrology and self-care. While companies like Cosmic RX offer self-care advice for Astrology enthusiasts, no company has combined self-care and Astrology into one simplified shopping experience.
Subscription based e-commerce accounts for upwards of 15% of online retail sales. However, many subscription box services are plagued by high customer turnover. Customers desire surprise and convenience but aren’t shackled by brand loyalty.
Currently, no business on the market has a business model in the self-care space that addresses these issues. Sure, there are astrology apps and subscription boxes one can use, but no one has fused these services into one dynamic shopping experience-until now!
We have a unique Emerging Media solution for this dilemma — The Bonnie Heretics offers customers a substantive relationship with the brand and products through our Astrology-inspired self-care app. Each customer has the option to calculate their birth chart, set product and push notification preferences, and create a profile to connect with others in our community.
We study Astrological occurrences and offer guidance to our customers so they can incorporate the wisdom of the stars into their self care rituals. Whether a customer is seeking refuge during Mercury retrograde or studying their Birth Chart placements for self improvement, The Bonnie Heretics mobile app is here to support them through whatever they’re going through.
We got your back, heretic!
Our extensive array of products offer celestial solutions for your health and wellness needs. Customers can visit our website to purchase moon milk, bath ritual kits, candles, teas, CBD health and beauty products, home goods, apparel, and more!
See the Difference for Yourself
The Bonnie Heretics understands that, in today’s busy world, self care can often feel like a daunting task. That’s why we’ve taken the guess work out of building your self care ritual! Take a look at these exclusive features we offer each customer:
- Curated product selections
- Customizable search filters for: price, birth chart placement specific products, ingredients, allergens, and vendor profile
- Corresponding self care instructions for our online customers and app users
- Tailored push notification settings so customers can control their user experience
- Subscription box service based on ALL 12 of your Astrological birth chart placements
- A community of like-minded mystics who uplift and encourage each other
- Accessible price points so every customer has the opportunity to practice self care
What We’ve Learned Along The Way
Inspiration & Ideation :
Our business has evolved over the course of our Emerging Media Capstone Journey. We knew we wanted our app and website to be accessible, educational, and personable but we needed direction to turn these dreams into tangible outcomes. This program has given us the focus to build upon our initial idea and expand the business to include an interactive mobile application.
However, having an idea is easier than implementing one. We have had to roll up our sleeves and dig in to coding intensive research to ensure we can create what we ideate. The support from the program has been a crucial element of our success in executing the technical aspects of our vision.
Some hurdles we faced along the way:
- Inventory delays due to COVID-19
- Coding complexities with building the birth chart due to longitudinal and latitudinal considerations
- Design dilemmas regarding how best to include a social component for the in app experience
Additionally, we received amazing feedback from our user testing interviews. Here are some of the key takeaways:
- “It would be really cool if there was a way to connect with others who had similar placements”-Alex, 28
- Many users felt this prototype was “too busy” and on even remarked that the font choices reminded them of Harry Potter, so we knew we needed to get back to the drawing board!
- Per user testing feedback, we have evolved our style guide. The photo on the left shows our initial aesthetic.
- The photo below is our aesthetic after applying user feedback.
- We fine-tuned every detail of the app prototype, creating a seamless and social user experience.
Let’s Talk Tech
While the ease of online retail cannot be overstated, this modern method lacks the personal touch of traditional shopping. When you checkout online, there is no “thank you for your business” or “come back soon”, instead you get a confirmation number that looks something like #98hgstv66#opz000 and an expected shipping date that most likely ends up buried in your inbox. With fluctuating inventory, high return rates, impossibly long hold times, and dismissive customer service you have to ask yourself, at what point does the “easiest” option become the hardest?
The Bonnie Heretics is a dual Emerging Media Solution that intertwines the ease of modern technology with the nostalgic comforts of brick and mortar retail — all within our app.
In addition to the Birth Chart Calculator and Astrological insights, the mobile application has several key features reminiscent of traditional shopping. These features include:
- Specialty products
- Personalized product recommendations
- How to guide for product usage
- User-to-User Connections
- Conversational tone for product descriptions and push notifications
From the start, we knew developing a retail website and interactive mobile app was ambitious. We had limited coding experience coming into this program, so we sought the guidance of the amazing New Media Institute faculty. With the help of our professors, we created a strategy for app development.
The Bonnie Heretics mobile application is built using Xcode and SwiftUI. We chose to build a native Apple app because SwiftUi is user friendly and Xcode allowed us to develop key functionality and interface elements with ease. We have streamlined our checkout process and developed customizable push notifications. Creating empowered retail experiences with code will yield a positive result for the customer journey.
We are working around the clock to weave our product inventory, planetary research, and tech solutions into one seamless service.
Current State of Our App
Sources of Inspiration That Helped Us On This Journey
- The Spanx Story -Sara Blakely is an amazing entrepreneur and she built her empire by believing in herself, surrounding herself with inspiring women, and giving back. She is someone we look up to.
- Becoming-Michelle Obama is an inspiring human! Her confidence, congeniality, and eloquence inspire us. She is fully herself and we celebrate that! We want the members of our community to feel uplifted and believe her message is one that many can lean on for inspiration.
- This Ted Talk playlist on Innovation-we don’t want to be complacent. We want to humbly and passionately advance our vision and believe this Ted Talk offers the insights for how to do just that!
- We find a lot of aesthetic inspiration from compiling a shared folder of images, recipes, and music we found helpful for our creative process.
- Lifestyle brands, like the delightful DeliciouslyElla are a testament to where you can take a wellness brand with the right user experience and product offerings! She is an entrepreneur we really look up to!
What We Learned Along the Way
Pursuing this degree at UGA has been a profoundly empowering experience for us both! We have learned so many new skills, which we continually apply to The Bonnie Heretics website, app, and social media platforms.
Learning different coding languages, graphic design principles, and ideation techniques has made a massive impact on our business growth and development!
If you are considering this program, please know that it will be one of the most challenging yet rewarding things you can do for your creativity and career. Don’t be afraid to try new things and enjoy the amazing process that is the Emerging Media Masters Program. The stars are your limit!
Chelsey
For me, this program was all about stepping outside of my comfort zone. Oftentimes, I find when I am super uncomfortable is actually when I do my best creative work. True to that spirit, I found myself inundated with new concepts and applying those concepts to this project was waaaaayyyyy outside of my wheelhouse.
As someone recovering from severe brain injury, learning new things can be intimidating, but I didn’t allow myself to give up on this amazing opportunity. I learned that with a lot of focus and dedication, I could use emerging media and software platforms to ideate the business of my dreams.
Time blocking has become a valuable strategy I adopted during this program that I will take with me in my future academic and professional endeavors. I also learned there are abundant resources to help us learn independently and, for virtual students, these sources can oftentimes be the key to accessible information-don’t be afraid to consult Youtube or LinkedIn Learning! Truly every minute is a learning opportunity!
Carlie
Over my year in the Emerging Media Masters program, I have learned numerous valuable skills and lessons. First, I learned the importance of teamwork. Your Capstone journey is a huge undertaking — one that should not be underestimated. Your team will become your family — lucky for me, my team was literally my family. Establishing a support system is vital for your sustained success in this program.
Secondly, I learned that nobody learns a skill after one go. It takes practice, dedication, perseverance, and caffeine to craft the skills needed to complete this program. I have experienced a vast evolution of my own design and coding skills over the past year. As my time with the NMI comes to a close, I plan to continually evolve my skills and apply them to developing the Capstone into a viable business while growing as a professional. Lastly, strive to be kind to yourself and others.
Our Wish for Future EM Students
If you are embarking on your Emerging Media journey, give yourself a giant pat on the back! Deciding to continue your education is a big decision and doing it in these trying times is no small feat. Know that the challenges you are about to face will test you, but if you allow them, they will refine you and push you to give your all and build something truly rewarding.
We encourage you to use this time wisely-take advantage of all the resources UGA and the NMI have to offer. Be open to opportunity and offer insightful feedback to your peers, walk humbly in your journey and participate as much as possible! Even if you complete this program remotely, the University of Georgia offers many virtual ways to get involved!
These next several months will bring many trials and tribulations your way. It is crucial that you do not let your mental and physical health suffer at the expense of your academic pursuits. Instead, find ways to simplify your routine and amplify your body’s needs. Don’t wait until the last minute, time block to work ahead. Allow your body rest when you need it and, when the semester gets overwhelming, carve out time to prioritize your self care. If you wish to explore a self care ritual, please reach out to Carlie and I (Chelsey). We would love to design a wellness ritual for our fellow Dawgs!
If you want help designing your wellness ritual, follow us and DM us on Instagram to connect: @thebonnieheretics
Looking to the Stars
Now its time to fully embrace our post-graduation journey, go out into the real world, and grow this beautiful vision into a viable business! We have our sights set on launching The Bonnie Heretics mobile app, website, and subscription service by October 2021. Graduation is fast approaching and, with it, a refreshing sense of purpose and a creative confidence. Our journey to this point has been nothing short of divinely inspired. It is our sincere wish that you allow yourself to experience the magic of trusting your instinct, opening yourself to planetary possibilities, and celebrate your uniqueness. Oh! And, if you feel so compelled, visit The Bonnie Heretics to see what the stars have in store for you!
