Shop Penn

SHOP PENN is more than a destination for an eclectic mix of shops and restaurants set in a uniquely beautiful university setting, it also includes a dynamic group of owners and operators who pour their heart and soul into these businesses. In this new series, we will be introducing you to an active member of the SHOP PENN family through our Q&A spotlight.

Ever wonder who oversees all those mouthwatering honeygrow advertisements? Penn Grad Eric Henry took a winding road through the music industry before returning home and joining the honeygrow family. We talked about his journey and his love for all things Philadelphia in our latest edition of SHOP PENN Get to Know.

Q) How did you get started and what led you to where you are now?

EH) My journey to honeygrow has been long and winding but calculated.  After graduating from UPenn, all I wanted to do was work in the music industry.  I had a knack for marketing and an interest in international, so my first job was on the Global Marketing team at Sony Music in NYC. Digital Marketing was my forte.  After a few years, I moved to London to run Digital Marketing for the European Region.  After that, I moved back to NYC to run Marketing for Rostrum Records, a hip-hop focused label and management company with artists like Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller.  At Rostrum, I got a lot of great experience working hands on in the tech space with some new startups, and I got the tech bug.  I strategically moved over to Spotify where I ran the US Artist & Label Services team.  From here, I wanted to get a better balance of marketing and tech, and ultimately landed at Apple, where I looked after consumer and brand marketing projects for the Apple Music platform.  After moving from NYC to LA to NYC and back to LA one more time, I began to long for home.  I had never worked professionally in Philadelphia and wanted to lay some roots closer to my family, my 6 nieces and nephews, and my friends. As I researched businesses in Philadelphia, there was only one company that kept coming up: honeygrow.  It was a brand that I loved and one I truly believed could do big things.  I wanted to be a part of something small(er than Apple), and Justin Rosenberg, the CEO and Founder, was so inspiring to talk to and learn from in my interview.  Before I was ever offered the job, I decided to move back to Philadelphia anyway, and test my luck.  It thankfully worked out, and I am so proud to be where I am.

Q) What motivates you to do what you do?
EH) Passion and challenge.  I need to be passionate about what I do in order to wake up in the morning.  I also need to be challenged.  A job that you know backwards and forwards in boring. I always want to learn and the only way to do that is to challenge myself in a role just slightly outside of my wheelhouse.  This is my first job in the restaurant industry, so I have been learning a ton.

Q) What do you find to be the most rewarding part of your job? The most challenging?
EH) Managing. I love my team and I absolutely love helping them navigate their roles and responsibilities and getting them to the next stage of their career, whether it’s at honeygrow or not (hopefully it’s at honeygrow).  The most challenging is the industry. Having only been in the restaurant space for less than a year, there is a lot of information I am trying to soak up each and every day.

Q) Do you have any key mentors or people who have deeply influenced you?
EH) Yes.  My first boss from Sony Music is my mentor. He has taught me so much about passion, about marketing and about relationships.  I wouldn’t be where I am now without that guidance.

Q) How would people in your life describe you?
EH) Introverted and a picky eater (luckily honeygrow allows you to create your own with whatever ingredients you want!)

Q) What is your proudest accomplishment?  
EH) Running marketing for Mac Miller’s first album that went to #1 in 2011.

Q) What is your favorite thing about Philadelphia? 
EH) The food and the sports. Easy.

Lightning Round
Favorite Day of the Week: Sundays in the Fall. Go Birds!
Place You Most Want To Travel: Japan. I lived there on an abroad program while I was at Penn undergrad. I loved it so much that I would take that over a new country I haven’t been to yet.
Go To Guilty Pleasure Food: Pizza.  Any kind.  Pizzeria Beddia, Tacconelli’s, Circles and Squares.
What Is The Best Age: 18-22.
SHOP PENN Business You Frequent (Besides Your Own): UPenn Bookstore. I can’t stop myself from wanting to check out all the new apparel.
Something You Can’t Live Without: My mini poodle, Morty.
Last Book Read: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Hot Drink or Cold: Unsweetened green tea. Hot or cold.
Music or Podcast: Depends.  Music when I have emotions (happy or sad) and Podcasts when I have a lot of time (long drives, etc…)