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

Hi Sukie, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

In many ways I’m not a good business woman. ⁣”Best practices” of the industry say I should be emailing customers weekly, posting daily, running Facebook ads, Tik Tok-ing and even SMS messaging customers with new product & promos. But the truth is, none of that noise feels authentic to my personal belief values. ⁣
I don’t want customers to buy because they were hit with back to back ads. Or because they were enticed by clever & constant marketing campaigns. ⁣I want them to engage because they are investing in their own self care journey or because our product will enhance the beauty of their space. Reducing stress levels and “unplugging” from the world is a constant goal we seek to balance both personally and as a brand.

There is a considerable amount of capital and opportunity that may not be realized for our brand as a result of this approach. Yet, our ethos of relaxation and serenity must be represented in all aspects of our work. Prioritizing a human-centric approach to business means that we seek first to be well-balanced, rested and fully nourished employees of Sukie’s Candle Co. before we seek to create our products for the world.

From this place of wellness, we can produce candles of a higher vibrational frequency because as creators we are not operating from a place of exhaustion and mental fatigue. By allowing our brand not to be driven merely by profit, we invest in measures that allow for us to be a sustainable, high functioning brand for many years to come.

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

Born late nights in my kitchen, my passion as a self-taught candlemaker came to me during a challenging chapter of professional burnout and exhaustion. Feeling underrepresented and deeply uninspired in a 9-5 corporate life, I began out of desperation carving out a few moments each day for a restorative self-care practice which I hoped would bring me back to life.

During one of my morning meditations, I received a clear and powerful message that instructed me to “use my hands to make things.” Uncertain of what specifically this meant, I began experimenting in my kitchen in the evenings, teaching myself how to make (from scratch) everything from body scrubs and lip balms to facial cleansers and deodorant. My kitchen became an experimental DIY cave of trial, error and luckily also inspiration!

Feeling up for a greater challenge, one day I attempted the much more scientific process of making candles. Candles for me had always been an essential tool for relaxation and self-care, which I was in real need of during that time in life. The success of my first 3 kitchen-made candles gave me a remarkable boost of confidence such that I became tunnel vision for the next 2 years on perfecting this craft.

I studied a variety of techniques, played around with different waxes, colors, essential oils and varieties of wicks. I failed countless times but kept going. Candlemaking ironically became a much needed light at the end of the tunnel in my life.

Over the years, my business continues to shift more towards being a purpose-driven company. The unique origin story of the brand means that Sukie’s Candle Co. will always return to its roots of being primarily about self-care, self-love and wellness. Having had such a personal connection to the challenges of work-life imbalance and anxiety, I have a close relationship to my customers who also are seeking respite from life’s challenges in their own ways.

As woven throughout our messaging, candles for me are far more than home décor accents. They represent an opportunity for us to love ourselves in acts of self-devotion. They give us room to create sacred space and decompress from the stressors of the world.

Due to my small batch production style, we are able to craft and pour each candle with a meditative mindfulness. We are conscious of each person and hold them in our thoughts as we create and fill their orders. In a way I cannot quite quantify, my customers are able to feel this intentionality. Hope, inspiration and love are not tangible ingredients we can add to our candles, and yet our customers express feeling incredible amounts of it!

This journey and our products are deeply personal for me. I offer full transparency to my customers about my history with self-care and hear countless stories from clients about how they resonate deeply with having felt stuck, unfulfilled and hopeless. Our impact thus will continue to be that someone feels seen, supported and encouraged.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

For many years, I perceived entrepreneurship as an elusive field reserved only for the brave who had considerable amounts of capital and an air-tight business model. What became clear to me however when entering this field was that most founders had no idea what they were doing, just like me! The notion that entrepreneurship has to look, be, or feel a particular way to be valid is a falsehood that became incredibly valuable for me to unlearn. The emergence of Etsy and other related platforms gave space for micro-brands to connect directly with consumers in ways that began to shift the industry and purchasing habits. There is value in brands of all sizes, particularly those that allow founders to live a more authentic life they can be proud of and celebrate. Not all businesses need to be showcased on Shark Tank. Not all brands need VC funding or angel investors. There is an incredible amount of beauty in the maker who diligently focuses on their craft purely for the love of it. The conversation that needs to continue being had is around the celebration of brands with an array of business models and structures. My hope is that this shift and conversation will encourage people from all backgrounds and with all levels of financial and social influence to break in to the industry of entrepreneurship and feel that they too have a place.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

People enjoy doing business with someone they like and trust. This baseline principle has been a leading determinant in the success of our brand. Sukie’s Candle Co. is now a 6-figure business that has scaled almost exclusively from word-of-mouth and user generated content. The alignment our customers feel with our product is in the authenticity of our story. With full transparency about our clean ingredients, production process and path to scale, our shoppers feel invested in our growth and emotionally tied to our wins.

As a local and active member of my community, I am reminded often that my hometown is proud of the work I’m doing. My business is 100% self-funded, independently owned & operated. As I have poured the last 5 years in to growing my business, I have had the good fortune to be able to bring in 6 high school women of color to begin learning the trade and entrepreneurship first hand. It is important to me, particularly in the wake of a tumultuous pandemic for so many, to uplift other women of color with this work. Through our partnership with local non-profit Community Passageways and World Relief Seattle, we are able to provide workforce opportunities to risk-youth and refugees. These mission-driven partnerships allow for our brand to develop deep ties and a strong reputation in the community.

We’re also distinguished by our commitment to locally hand-pour our products, to source sustainable materials and to engage women of color throughout all aspects of our business. Women of color stand at the forefront of our mission and ethos, thereby encouraging retailers to shop small, local, sustainable & from a trusted independent brand. Without outsourcing, and by maintaining all aspects of procurement, production and fulfillment, we can proudly own our role of breaking barriers in this industry. We have proven our ability in the last 5 years to run a nationally recognized operation that has garnered recognition from Black Enterprise Magazine, Vogue, GQ and Komo 4 News to name a few.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sukiescandleco.com/
• Instagram: @sukiescandleco
• Facebook: facebook.com/Sukie’sCandleCo

Image Credits
Heart Take The Wheel