To honor Women’s History Month, we’ve decided to feature a few of our favorite woman-owned brands throughout the month of March in the hopes of putting a well-deserved spotlight on some amazing products and amazing women. We're proud to be a woman-owned business ourselves and love any opportunity to help support other woman-owned businesses.
Onesto Foods’ gluten-free but flavorful crackers – your choice of Sea Salt, Rosemary, and Everything – are a mainstay on our shelves here at Formaggio Kitchen. We even made sure to include them in the gift bundles on our online shop that we send all over the country because we believe they represent the high quality of Formaggio Kitchen’s offerings.
Below are five questions we asked Onesto Foods’ creator and co-owner, Jane Ciccone, and her thoughtful responses.
- Did you always want to create a product?
- I've always been a creator and tinkerer. I can get lost for hours in the kitchen or in front of a blank canvas and my paints. The kitchen is a place where I can be creative, have fun and nourish my family. I love spending hours creating new recipes, or taking existing recipes and putting my twist on them.The kitchen is the place I love to be the most, so it's not surprising to me that I developed a business idea in my home kitchen.
- What inspired you to create your food products?
- When my daughter, Josie, was around 3, she developed an allergy to gluten. But, crackers were one of her favorite foods on the antipasto platters that my husband and I would create when friends and family came over. I tried a few gluten-free cracker brands, but their ingredients list were full of things that I didn't recognize and couldn't pronounce! So, I started playing around with a few cracker recipes in our kitchen. After a lot of trial and error and taste tests from my husband, I landed on a recipe that everyone loved and didn't even know was gluten-free!
- Did you have any women-owned business role models to help you on your brand’s journey?
- I am inspired almost daily by Maureen Kelly, owner of Tarte Cosmetics. She started her business with practically nothing and through hard work, determination, creativity and a couple of lucky breaks, she has built a brand that isn't just about profit. I am also in awe of what Jennifer Desrosiers has created with her restaurants and brand LANEY AND LU. It is a local company and they not only create amazing, healthy and delicious food, they also give back to their communities in very meaningful ways.
- What has owning a business taught you?
- Owning a business has taught me that the combination of confidence and creativity will open doors for me. I have also learned that I am a lot smarter than I thought I was, that I have some really good, natural instincts in the business arena. I love that I have learned that I don't have to know all the answers, that it's okay to ask for help and there is courage in admitting you don't have it all figured out. But perhaps the best lesson that I have learned is that I am at my best when I am confident, authentic, kind and thankful.
- What woman inspires you and why?
- I am so inspired by Brene Brown. I am in awe of her research, her way of relating to people and her ability to affect change in this world. She is funny, poignant, smart and willing to ruffle some feathers in order to be heard. She is bad-ass and is unapologetically herself.
Women Owned, a non-profit dedicated to advancing the success of certified women-owned businesses in the United States and across the globe, posits that “when you support Women Owned businesses, you are investing in women’s economic empowerment, gender parity in commerce, vibrant communities, and the growth of the economy overall.”