January 31, 2023 - Rochella Jones hails from Deer River, in the northern areas of Minnesota. She grew up in Faribault and currently lives in Faribault. She comes from a deaf family. “I am fortunate to have had 100% communication accessibility at home and at school all my life. I never struggled with my deaf identity; I am always proud to be a deaf person.” Rochella and her siblings attended the Minnesota Academy for the Deaf (MSAD). Their parents had a passion for farming, so the family-owned land up North, and would head there for the summers. In the fall, the family came back to the Faribault area so the children could attend school. That led to seventeen years of moving back and forth between their two homes. “That was my life back then.” After attending MSAD, Rochella moved to the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD) which is situated on the Gallaudet University campus, for a year before enrolling at Gallaudet University. She graduated from Gallaudet with a degree in Communication Studies. Rochella also holds a certification in holistic nutrition consulting from an accredited college.
Upon graduation from Gallaudet, Rochella headed back to Minnesota to join her parents in the family business, Living Farm Foods. Both Rochella and her husband worked there for two years before relocating to Faribault in 2010.
She works from home, where she operates her own business online. She is the owner of Blue Organic Kitchen, which she established. Blue Organic Kitchen, LLC, was established in 2014. Through her business, Rochella sells holistic vitamins, provides consulting through a holistic approach, and offers webinars via the Internet. She shares an example: “I would sit with a consumer who is experiencing frustration relating to access to information about how the body functions, so I would work through it with them by offering alternate approaches, including natural remedies.”
As a business owner, Rochella wears multiple hats and balances a workload of different responsibilities to run the business effectively. Those tasks include website design, film and multimedia editing to use in promotional materials, including adding captions to the videos, putting together newsletters to send out to subscribers, and managing the social media platforms by creating posts to share via Instagram and others. When not on the computer, Rochella can be found packing up orders to send out to clients. “I pretty much do everything, really.” There’s also managing the budget, creating spreadsheets, filling out web orders for products, and so on. “It’s so much for just one person to do!”
Rochella enjoys the work she does, as it is a passion of hers. “I’m fortunate to work with what I'm passionate about - not everyone is able to do the same.” She loves what she does, especially providing an accessible means through ASL for clients who are interested in holistic products, wellness, natural remedies, ways to stay healthy, and practicing a healthy lifestyle. “What I see out there is mostly through spoken English and is inaccessible, so it’s important for me to make sure access is there for Deaf people who are interested in these things.”
Donning many hats daily is a challenge that Rochella faces while balancing the multiple roles she has, including being a wife, a mother, and a mother to the animals they own, including furry ones. “To address that, I practice good time management skills, splitting my time among all these activities and roles to make sure I have it balanced out.” On the business side, as a business owner, Rochella shares that the journey to becoming a self-business owner has been challenging, as she needed to learn skills that she did not have starting out, such as the technology side of sales and organization - she had to learn the ropes of film editing, website design basics, the works. “I knew none of that, so I had to start from the ground and work my way up!” The hours of studying and researching paid off, and Rochella is now a successful business owner. “I pretty much self-taught those skills that I needed to be successful." "I'm proud of myself.”
Rochella shares the following advice: “Just do it." Follow your passion. It’s important. - a quote comes to mind - if you do something that you don't care for - that’s stress." If you do something that you love, that’s called passion. So chase your passion and do what makes you happy. "Just go for it!”
Outside work, Rochella loves doing home improvement projects around the house with her husband. She also loves to read, travel, craft, and work on projects. She also enjoys hitting the local trails to hike and can be found camping around to appreciate what nature has to offer.
She follows with a few parting words: “Don’t let fear stop you from pursuing something that you love doing.”
