At 25 years old, Brynley Joyner has traveled around the world — Egypt and Thailand are among the highlights — creating content for her social media brand and various products. Two years ago, freshly married, she decided to bring her husband back to settle where she grew up, roaming the beaches of Northwest Florida. It wasn't long before they found inspiration for her latest venture, Honey Swim, a line of comfortable bikinis made for both movement and style.
Joyner lives in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, with her husband, Lukas, and their dog, Ziggy. "It's such a gem of a place to live," she said. "The beach lifestyle brings us so much joy and peace just by doing a quick ocean dunk every day and constantly being in the sunshine."
What made you decide to start your latest venture, Honey Swim?
I love anything outdoors, around the ocean, and I spend the majority of my time in a swimsuit. As a content creator and influencer, I've worked with a ton of bikini brands, but I've never had a suit that I thought was 100% perfect in the way that it fit me, felt, and stayed on during underwater adventures. One night over dinner, just dreaming and talking through ideas with my best friend, Mary Margaret, and our husbands, we got to thinking about what it would look like if we created our own bikini brand.
Why did you decide to go into business together?
The company consists of four owners: myself, my husband, Lukas, and our best friends, Mary Margaret and Noah Custer. We met through Instagram connections a little over a year ago and have been having beach days and fun travels together ever since. We wanted to go into business together because we all are at the beach or on the water nonstop, and we love creating content.
What makes Honey Swim unique?
Honey Swim is designed to be your go-to bikini for any occasion: laying out and tanning, swimming in the ocean, surfing, jumping off a boat, you name it. Comfort, quality, and versatility are our priorities in every style we create. We want your swimsuit to help you make fun memories and feel comfortable and confident while doing it.
How did you come up with the brand's name?
The name Honey came as an idea from a sign on the road we saw in Blue Mountain Beach near where we live. It said Tupelo Honey. When we were thinking of a name, my husband, Lukas, said it out loud, and it just seemed to click. We love the idea that honey makes everything sweeter, and it's just a fun, lighthearted word that feels like summertime and sweet memories to us.
How is business going?
It's going great. The community we've built around it has been incredible, and we love seeing everyone's adventures in their Honey Swim kinis. We've been traveling and coming up with creative ideas for content for the past few months.
What challenges have you run up against?
There are definitely some challenges and roadblocks that come with starting your own brand. We are still in the beginning stages and are learning new things daily, such as quantity, effective marketing, handling customer service, and separating work and friendship. But we focus on communication, staying open-minded, and understanding that every step of the way will be a learning and growing experience with much trial and error.
What is it like working with your husband?
It's awesome. We make a great team because I am on the creative side, dealing with all the photos, videos, and social media. Lukas does all the back-end: website design, email, and SMS marketing. We balance each other well with a good mix of creativity and logic. We do have to make sure we separate work from our relationship, take time to go on dates regularly, have "no-business talk" times, and make time for fun.
What was your childhood like?
I grew up traveling almost every two years until my dad retired from the Air Force in Destin, Florida. So I went to middle school and high school here. I've always been in love with the beach and can spend all day, every day there. I love any activity that has to do with the water: swimming, boating, diving, surfing.
What was it like spending your early childhood moving around so often and being part of a military family?
It was challenging at the time, always moving schools, leaving friends, and never being close to other relatives, but I am so thankful for the worldview, work ethic, and independence it has given me now. It has made me so passionate about traveling, and although my kids won't be in a military family someday, I am excited to travel with them.
How did you get into fitness and then decide to create your fitness app, PWR By BRYN?
After traveling to Thailand, Cambodia, Ecuador, and Colombia on a gap year when I was 19, I got really sick with multiple parasites. When I came back to America, I went on a full wellness journey to heal myself naturally, including nutrition and workouts to rebuild muscle and strength.
I was always an active kid growing up, but I started learning more about strength training, high-intensity interval training workouts, and proper nutrition. It's been a journey since then. I've learned so much and have fallen in love with an overall healthy lifestyle.
In 2021, I created an app for my workouts to help people who needed some guidance in their own fitness journey. I wish I had someone to follow when I was learning all on my own, but a personal trainer was very out-of-budget for me at the time. My app allows people to have guidance and a plan to follow without the cost of one-on-one sessions.
How did you become an entrepreneur?
I had multiple small jobs growing up that I learned a lot from, and I really appreciate that part of my journey, but I always knew deep down that I wanted to work for myself and have the freedom of my own schedule. I love to travel, and I love spontaneity, so I wanted to create my own work that would give me the freedom of those things. For a while, I worked other jobs. Meanwhile, on the side, I was creating my own brands on social media with physical products to sell. Eventually, my own jobs started to earn enough to support me fully.
Having my own businesses brings me joy, fills me with purpose, keeps me busy and on my toes, fulfills my creative side, challenges me, helps me grow daily, and helps me connect with so many incredible people and opportunities. I also love knowing that the harder I work will directly impact the success of the company, and that keeps me motivated to go above and beyond.
What do you enjoy about being an influencer?
I love it. I think "influencer" has gotten a bad reputation in some people's eyes. I have to constantly remind myself that an influencer is someone who simply influences others. With my content, I try to influence others to live a healthy lifestyle, take care of themselves and the world around them, and spread love wherever they go, rather than just influencing them to constantly buy a product. I use YouTube videos, podcast episodes, pictures, captions, and TikTok as my tools to keep spreading those messages.
The best part about my job is connecting with people in person that have been impacted positively by my content. It fills me with so much purpose and love. I feel forever grateful to have a platform that gives me that opportunity.
What are some of your favorite places you have traveled to?
Thailand. The people are so sweet and hospitable, the adventures are awesome, and the street food is so yummy. Oahu will always have a huge place in my heart. Egypt was one of the craziest experiences, seeing the pyramids in real life. And Mallorca, an island in Spain, is one of my recent favorites.
Besides travel, what do you like to do in your spare time?
I don't remember the last time I had spare time, to be honest. With doing social media full-time, running a few companies, and having a needy dog, I find myself busy 24/7. However, I love it this way. We're in a busy, fun, and energetic season of our lives right now, and I feel like it won't always be this way, so I'm trying to really soak in the fun and chaos of our lives right now.
Interview by Lauren Sage Reinlie. Photos by Noah Custer.
Connect with Brynley on Instagram at @brynley.joyner, and find her swimwear brand at @thehoneyswim.
Originally published in Beach Happy Magazine, Issue 14 — Fall 2023.
