from The Press Democrat
Friday, March 11, 2005

Leap of faith led to Internet shop
After life crisis, entrepreneur left successful career to sell products made by monks

By SHELLEY SHEPHERD KLANER

Jeanne Cole, with Balinese yogis that are believed to spread joy and lessen sorrow, sells items made by monks around the world on the Internet.

 
Often when someone enters the ministry, they speak about a calling or being chosen. Jeanne Cole' s destiny led her to open Holy Orders, an online shopping service that offers a variety of products made at monasteries around the world.

It is a career the 52-year-old Cole never would have guessed she'd be pursuing.

A onetime Lucasfilm publicist and assistant to Michael Eisner when he headed Paramount Pictures, Cole had a prolific career in the entertainment industry. She never imagined she would be hobnobbing with nuns and monks or packing containers of goods to be shipped to discerning purchasers.

Cole remembers her humble beginnings as a weathercaster on a Reno TV station. She remembers the thrill of getting Yoda from "Star Wars" on the cover of Time magazine and pushing Indiana Jones to the top of the box office. But her work at Skywalker Ranch seems distant now, as she faces the challenge of building a business.

Holy Orders offers items such as beeswax candles, bubble bath, soap, body creams, creamed honey, gift cards, caramels and hand-carved grieving yogi.

Cole explains the items, which range in price from $8 to $60, are all made at monasteries where monks and nuns devote their daily lives to manual labor and prayer.

Starting Holy Orders wasn' t Cole's destiny; it happened by accident.

In 1997 one of her three sons died. After years of climbing the corporate ladder, she was burned out and bereaved. Although she was born and raised Catholic, it wasn' t religion that took her to Our Lady of the Redwoods Monastery in Whitehorn. It was the need for peace.

At the hideaway, she found a group of women who divided their days into prayer, sacred study and physical labor. Her cell phone didn't work.

She also discovered that the sisters supported themselves by making the best honey she had ever tasted.

She brought home many jars of the honey and used them in gift baskets for her coworkers during the holidays.

She added some candles she found made by monks from Point Reyes. A trip to Europe brought her into contact with a group of monks in Italy who were known as healers from the Middle Ages. The monks had passed down herbal recipes used for a line of skin and beauty products.

Cole purchased many of the items. She was impressed and added them to her gift line the next holiday season.

Soon she was besieged by calls from family and friends asking where they could get more of that fantastic honey or that delightful hand cream.

"Something happened," Cole said. "I was 50 and I had learned a great lesson of how precious life is and I took a leap of faith to start Holy Orders."

Cole began her business in early 2004. She developed a trademark of a nun driving a tractor and knew somehow the venture was blessed.

She doesn't want Holy Orders to only provide products made by Catholics but wants to reach out to all religions. Her grieving yogi already are a big seller.

The yogi, part of the Hindu tradition in Bali, are to be held tightly while being sad.

"I want to grow slowly and carefully," she said. " I want to do more travels and find more things."

She utilized her creativity in everything from her Web site and product line to homespun packaging with burlap bags tied with string reminiscent of the belts monks where around their robes.

In her marketing, Cole realized she was promising "a little blessing" with each purchase. She began to wonder if customers would ask what their blessing was, so she developed a product tag made of round metal with her trademark and imprinted it with: "A little blessing."

The tags can be collected by repeat clientele and redeemed for a bar of soap.

Her biggest seller is a 12-ounce bag of monastery ground coffee that sells for $12.95.

It can be found with other items at www.holyorders.biz.

The classic gift box also is popular. It contains the original items Cole packaged for her friends during the holidays: candles, honey, soap and caramels.

Besides beginning her e-business, Cole also became an on-call chaplain for Petaluma Valley Hospital, which helps her aid others experiencing the pain she felt when she lost her son.