Start up in the Blue Ocean June 2023 Vol. 19 No. 1 | Page 5

Petos Journey Celebrating Black History Month

Featuring Petos Journey , LLC . – Owned by Jarneec Halsey
By Faith Antol PISBDCN Network Program Associate

In celebration of Black History Month , we peek into a Guam small business owner ’ s success story – Ms . Jarneec Halsey .

Ms . Halsey was born and raised in Columbia , South Carolina . She is the daughter of Tonia Johnson and Calvin Hall . She has a twin sister and four younger brothers . She is the proud wife to Joseph Halsey , Jr ., whom she described as “ a dashing military serviceman who I adore more than words can express ” and a beautiful mother to Nat , a “ loving , smart , and animated ” young man .
Ms . Halsey shares a great love with cultures , people , and language . On her days off , she enjoys watching K-dramas with her fur baby named Snow .
In 2017 , Ms . Halsey found herself in the hospital room watching her brother take his last breath . She said , “ I remember the thinness of his hands and the bones seen in his face that his death was God ’ s grace . My faith in Jesus Christ allowed me to turn the grief of losing my younger brother into a story that would inspire hope .”
She wrote a note in her phone as a story document and drew a watercolor drawing on printer paper . After writing Peto ’ s story , she placed the photo on a shelf . She said , “ A year later , I was sitting in my living room . I noticed the photo still sitting there and I felt like God was telling me it cannot do anything sitting on a shelf . That ’ s when I decided to take a leap of faith . If Peto ’ s story could inspire one person with hope , laughter , love and joy , then it ’ s worth it . Sharing his story is worth it .”
Ms . Halsey is the publisher of a children ’ s book titled Petos Journey . The book is about her brother , Peto , who died from sickle cell anemia . It was created to tell his story and educate kids about the disease . She has been successful in selling these books on her website , and a portion of her sales goes to non-profits for youth and other medical related organizations . As part of her outreach , she contacts hospitals across the U . S . to get her book in gift shops or to share a portion of the funds with .
Ms . Halsey has been able to overcome some challenges throughout her start-up process to which included her gaining knowledge of writing and publishing a book , building a strong trust and foundation by herself and with the support from her family , and being resourceful whenever experiencing a steady stream of dead ends . She was able to celebrate memorable triumphs along the way .
During the interview , Ms . Halsey said , “ I had a lot of “ YES ” moments , but I believe finally figuring out how to work InDesign to format my book was a moment that I remember crying about . This challenge frustrated me for days because I had a mind frame that it would be easy but it was such a hard battle . I had to remind myself that I never did anything like this before and I can ’ t expect perfection from the lack of knowledge . You can imagine my enjoyment when I was able to send my 1st book to our printer ( Trevett ’ s Printing in Columbia , South Carolina ). Once the books were printed and sent to us , I cried . All the tears , grief , and hardship were worth it .”
From no experience in starting up a business to being a successful owner of a self-publishing book that
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5 PACIFIC BUSINESS PARTNERS JUNE 2023