Palisades Mom Jordan Moore Transforms Gift Giving into an Art Form with
Palisades Canyon
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
Sometimes trying times can inspire creative ways of thinking.
That is what happened to Jordan Moore, who has started a new online business called Palisades Canyon that she shared is prospering beyond her wildest dreams.
Through Palisades Canyon, Moore creates meaningful gift boxes with products that fall into at least one of five categories: locally made, artisan made, ethically sourced, woman owned and/or BIPOC owned. Many items are made in Los Angeles, and 5% of sales are donated to Southern Poverty Law Center.
“I got the idea for this business at the beginning of the pandemic as I watched small business after small business close,” Moore shared. “The idea for Palisades Canyon came when I was working for a CEO and I found bag after bag of unused corporate gifts shoved into a cabinet in her office.”
Moore explained that she noticed the bags often contained mass-produced items with no story behind them and that recipients, like the CEO she was working with, have a tendency to just push them aside.
“It struck me as not only an environmental waste, but also a wasted opportunity for the gift-giver,” Moore said. “The marketer in me began imagining interesting ways to brand gifts that go beyond knick-knacks. I get a thrill out of creating gifts that help companies tell a story and contain items that people are sure to use and enjoy. At the same time, I thought I could help my community. I’m really proud of the results.”
The concept is simple: less swag, more value.
Moore set up the Palisades Canyon website herself and it went live in September. She told friends and sent cold emails, and before long, her phone was ringing and her inbox was filling.
“The first rule is that it’s not just a gift,” she said. “Just think of us as an extension of your marketing team. We pride ourselves on being able to create engaging experiences for your recipients and can create custom packages to meet your specific goals.”
Key ingredients that Moore said set Palisades Canyon apart are “upscale packaging and curation, customizable branding, premium goods from the best local makers and brands, and next-level customer service.”
The name for the online shop came to her by chance.
“I was trying to come up with something that sounded elegant, but also ties in to the Palisades,” she confessed. “I was shocked when I Googled the words and nothing came up. It’s hard to find a catchy business name that isn’t already taken.”
Raised 45 miles up the coast in Santa Barbara (she served on the yearbook staff at Santa Barbara High), Moore is a Southern California girl through and through. She majored in sociology at University of California, San Diego, where she met her future husband, Eli, now a video editor.
They married in 2003 and moved from West Hollywood to the Palisades nine years ago. Their two songs, Asher and Max, attend local schools.
“Outside of work you can usually find me at the beach in Santa Monica, watching my husband and two boys surf while I listen to a podcast on the sand,” she said. “I’m a creative person. Always have been. This is my hobby, it’s what I love to do. My grandma used to say that a busy lady is a happy lady, so the busier I am the better.”
Palisades Canyon is hardly Moore’s first venture into the world of entrepreneurship. For five years she had a cookie company called Call Me Cookie, and for the last two and a half years, she has run The Happy Space, a house-organizing company she founded with her best friend Courtney Lewis.
“We met through our kids at Palisades Presbyterian preschool, and we live a few blocks from each other in the Alphabets Streets,” Moore said of her neighbor and business partner. “We do a lot of homes and garages, we have celebrity clients and it’s been really successful. I love interior design. Business slowed down for a while because of the pandemic, but now it’s starting to pick up again.”
In the summer, Moore sought a healthy way to stay engaged, despite the isolation and decrease in work resulting from COVID-19—and she found it in Palisades Canyon.
“Creativity is the best medicine,” she said. “I put all my energy into this project and it helped me to feel better. It’s a way to help other people too. Creative people fit into more than one box. I’ve been an entrepreneur for many years, I wear a million different hats. I’ve learned a lot about copyrighting, building websites, making connections, and this is the culmination of many years of trial and error.”
One of Moore’s priorities, she explained, is to support local companies and promote their brands, like granola from Sommer House. In her mind, beautiful gifts that are meaningful and support small businesses that create jobs in the community is a win-win scenario.
“I’ve met new local brands through clients,” she said. “I have inventories and pre-made designs. You can go straight on site and shop, you can request custom orders, and we’ll hand deliver locally or ship out the same day or the next day anywhere in the country. It’s exciting and we’re off to a good start.”
Moore shared that she’s received great feedback and has plans to grow Palisades Canyon.
“Human resources gifting programs, for example, is something I want to target in the future,” Moore shared. “Right now it’s all day every day, which is a little crazy, but I’m sure it’ll be more of a seasonal thing. This is a great way to connect with loved ones near and far.”
Products include client gifts, employee gifts, congratulatory gifts, housewarming gifts, thank you gifts, self-care gifts, get well gifts, food and drink, holiday gifts, quarantine gifts, and gifts for virtual events.
Moore encouraged people to order early for the holidays, as she takes her entrepreneurial skills to a whole new level.
For more information, call 310-910-1042, follow on Instagram at @palisadescanyon, email info@palisadescanyon.com or visit the website: palisadescanyon.com.
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