The Story

The mission of Jeanne Beatrice, LLC, is to replace paper and plastic bags in the U.S. with handmade market baskets, one basket at a time. Laura Benson, the owner of Jeanne Beatrice, graduated from law school in 1993, clerked for a Federal District Court Judge for two years, and then worked full-time at West Publishing for about 5 years. She chose to stay home with her daughter, Ella B., when she was born in 2001. When her daughter started school full time, Laura had no idea what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. Then, on a family trip to France in 2006, she was inspired by how the French rarely use paper or plastic, relying instead on fabulous market baskets or reusable bags for shopping. At that moment, the seeds of her basket business were planted. Believing others in the U.S. would love the baskets as much as she did, and that people genuinely want to make earth friendly choices, she took a leap of faith and Jeanne Beatrice was eventually born. Jeanne is her middle name and Beatrice is her daughter's.

When she learned that the French import their baskets from all over the world, Laura decided to focus on Moroccan baskets, which she loved for their durability and natural beauty. She and her family went to Morocco in 2007 to learn more about the baskets and the weaving process. Her passion immediately grew to include Morocco itself - the land and the people. She formed partnerships with the High Atlas Foundation and Lift Kids, both of which focus on global sustainable development (for example, planting orange trees and building an irrigation system provides local people with income from selling the oranges for years to come).

For the past few years, Laura has been busy getting Jeanne Beatrice up and running in order to bring her favorite market basket styles to the U.S. Many of the styles are named after close friends, or the daughters of close friends, who have been enormously helpful with Jeanne Beatrice. She dreams of becoming fluent in French and of the day when people routinely reach for a basket on their way out the back door to do some shopping. She is passionate about market baskets, the environment, gourds, travel, Morocco, her friends, her family, and about providing exceptional service to her customers. She is also passionate about giving back - locally, nationally and globally - to which she commits her time, resources, energy, and baskets on a regular basis.