Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Daneille Moss. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Daneille, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

We make pure, soy wax candles. We’re not the first nor the last, but what makes ours unique is the way they came to be. My husband and I decied to make candles at home one night for fun. We were getting really creative with the fragrance notes but, once we finished making the candle, he mentioned that it looked a little plain. We’d been so thoughtful with the fragrance blend but the there was nothing on the candle jar. It was just a single, milky white candle that smelled amazing but nothing on it really reflected us or the things we cared about. After a few minutes, we simply wrote a message in sharpie on our candle and then posted it on instagram. So many people reached out to us asking where we got the candle because they loved the message on it. We realized that we could use the candles as a vessel to share the things we cared about. We now have two collections that have allowed us to find a way to combine scent, music and message. I am an artist and my husband is a music lover, so it was honestly a cool way to bring our interests together. The people who know us personally understand the pieces of us within our candles. The people who don’t know us personally are still able to feel connected to our candles, which is when I knew it was something special!

To be honest, we didn’t go into this thinking why it would work or with any real plan. We simply responded to people asking us to make more. I always tell people that I did not start my business with a plan or a vision. I do not recommend this necessarily, because since then of course we have created business plans and embraced organization, but sometimes the encouragement will come before you even know what you are capable of. We used Google ( a lot, a lot, a lot!) and decided to put ourselves out there.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Daneille (da-neale). I was born in Jamaica, grew up in Florida and now I call Houston home! I’ve always considered myself a multi-passionate person, before I even knew what that word was. Growing up, I often felt that I had to choose one interest over the other. Growing up, I ultimately chose one interest over the other. I’m an artist at heart and always struggled with people often telling me that I was talented while also telling me that I could never make a living with a creative endeavor. There was this [percieved] pressure of choice when I’ve always felt passionate about multiple things. Most of my career has been in mental health, which has been extremely fulfilling, and I also started a business in 2017 alongside my husband.

I’ve created many opportunities throughout my life to share my work with others but on previous journeys, I would talk myself out of it and stop executing. I would always tell myself that I wasn’t good enough or felt like I needed to do something more…”worthy”. Lonéz has been such an incredible road thus far. There have been many times I’ve cried to myself in the shower because I didn’t know how I was going to make something happen or because I struggle to find balance. I still struggle to find balance, but I cry less, and I’ve learned to better embrace all the rolling tides that come with running a business. I’m truly proud of all the people that Lonéz has allowed me to meet. My community here in Houston is incredibly inspiring and whenever I start to tell myself that I’m not good enough to share space with them, they pull me in a little more.

In 2020, Lonéz created a candle in partnership with Project Row Houses, and in 2021 we were featured by Google Shopping in a shoppable artwork by Amani Lewis. I’m so grateful that somehow we came across the radar to be part of such amazing opportunities. Although I am not creating art in the way I used to, these experiences prove to me that my creativity is aligning Lonéz with the spaces I love the most.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I’ll share the story of how our feature by Google almost didn’t happen.

When we received the email and attended a zoom presentation with Google, we were over the moon! How did they come across our small business? There are so many amazing candle brands that we look up to. I was flatteredd that we stood out enough to be selected. Google was still figuring out some logistics on their end, but when we finally received the order AND the timeline they needed it by, we knew we had a lot to figure out. We did not have the opportunity to figure out these logistics when they made the order. The answer was yes or no on a Thursday night.

This was in February of 2021. Covid was a major concern, the supply chain was in shambles, and at the time, I was suffering from a mysterious and unresolved spine/hardware infection… In February of 2021, we were still making candles in our 2 bedroom apartment and we were using a 10-pound wax melter – which was not efficient at all for the size of the order we agreed to fulfill. (I do want to note that we kindly say no when things aren’t aligned but this was not one of those times. We decided that we had to make it happen.)

Friday looked like:
desperate calls to suppliers of our raw materials
overnight shipping considerations
expedited processing fees (so not happening in Feb. 2021)
bribing friends in other states to get supplies
Task Rabbit
consideration of round trip flights ourselves to pick up raw materials from another state
a missed dentist appointment lol

We made what we could with all of the raw materials we had on hand and waited anxiously to receive the rest a few days later. Candles filled our little apartment. We pushed our furniture up against the walls and set up tables throughout the entire apartment so that the candles could cure. It took us four hours to pack this order once it was finished. We entered the shipping carrier when it was sunny and just a bit chilly outside. Our order was part of the last pickup that day. When we left, outside was bitterly cold and rainy. The next day most of Texas was without power as the freeze settled in overnight. By chance we got our order out before that, and emptying all of the candles from our apartment gave us the space to have a friend stay with us to keep warm.

At the time it didn’t feel like I was being resilient. My business was a good distraction from my health issues and it made me feel happy to know that, in the midst of everything happening around us, people wanted to burn our candles.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When we first started I used my 9-5 salary for the business. Lonéz funds itself now but I do believe there is power in using your full time job to fund your side hustle. I still work a 9-5 and also manage Lonéz. This will not work for everyone or every type of business, but for our handmade product/low startup costs it worked for us in the beginning. There’s more than one way to fund your business and benefits/drawbacks to them all.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lonezscents.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/LONEZSCENTS/
• Facebook: facebook.com/lonezscents
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/74136337/admin/

Image Credits
Brandi Ali Photography Amani Lewis shoppable artwork