We were lucky to catch up with Jessica Piper recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I was diagnosed with autoimmune hypothyroid disease 10 years ago. My immediate response was research in order to eliminate any environmental triggers that contributed to endocrine disruption including and not limited to processed food, household cleaners, body products, and my favorite, candles. Four years passed and I missed the ambiance a candle could create in the home so I began researching wax mediums, fragrance oils, and wick composition. I found a company, Candle Science, that was on a mission to recreate all of their oils under The Clean Scent Seal program. In addition to the oils, the origin of soy wax was important to me as well so we chose Eco Soya for that medium. It is a soy wax manufactured in the United Kingdom and superior in the market. We began blending oils to create unique scents, reminiscent of our travels here, there, and all over as an active duty military family. I knew I wanted my product to be extraordinarily unique in a market saturated with the next best candle so I set out to design my own craft packaging, hand tying my wicks using a figure eight knot and bamboo wick stabilizing stick, and pouring in a genuine Libbey Rocks glass. Having traveled all over, my family and I have are dedicated to reduce, reuse, and recycle so the vessel was perfect because it can be cleaned and used as a cocktail glass or if it is purchased from us at our local Farmer’s Markets, we will gladly take it back and offer a 2.00 discount on the next candle. We then clean it ourselves and pour in it again. Since the creation of our candles, we have added wax melts sans plastic packaging, Castile hand soaps, and room sprays and we continue to research in hopes of growing our offerings of clean products created for my family with everyone else’s in mind.

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?

I entered this industry without the intention of my product becoming widely distributed and more so to create something beautiful, high quality, and safe for my family. As I began sharing with friends and family as gifts, word of mouth became a powerful tool and asset and my hobby turned into a flourishing business that continues to see growth month after month. I am so proud of myself in this journey as I started very organically without the financial backing of an investor with zero debt and it remains that way. My industrious research and extensive product testing beforehand, eliminated costly mistakes that many who enter this business experience. My vision for my business is to continue to produce high quality products while maintaining the nostalgia of only being able to purchase them directly from me whether that be at a Farmer’s Market or via our website and the customer know that my hands crafted each candle. I think there is something very special about that. My long term goal is a lifestyle brand and perhaps a brick and mortar store front. I’m crafty and artsy. I love creating and making things. I have many irons in the fire metaphorically speaking to make this dream a reality for my family and myself. I want to preserve history through my creations too, so I’d love to take my great grandmother’s and grandmother’s canning skills and be able to offer jams and jellies through my brand as well as a cookbook that honors a somewhat lost art of preparing meals from scratch as we call them. Maybe you could say I want to be my generations Martha.

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

In my introduction question, I revealed that we are an active duty military family. My husband has dutifully served our nation for twenty years now. While I’m so grateful for his service and immensely proud of him and his sacrifices, I am not without my own. When I knew this hobby was blossoming into a business, I was ready to grow but the military had other plans for our family. On a deployment to Afghanistan, my husband received orders for a remote tour to South Korea immediately following, which would have left our family split for a year and a half. I neatly packed my dreams and research for my business into a Rubbermaid container and we decided to accompany him overseas. We spent two years in South Korea, where I continued to research and master the art of social media and photography, which would become an asset to me and my business. As soon as we landed in the United States, I hit the ground running ready to rebirth Tide & Till and my dream of turning my business into a household name.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

The initial capital for my business came from a savings account we had. I had 2,000 dollars and no desire to acquire debt to do this so I started with candles. I saved everything I made until I could buy product in larger quantities to reduce cost and grow my profit margins continuing to save every penny and reinvesting it into my business for more market research on new products, each time repeating this process to include wax melts, hand soaps, and room sprays. We continue to repeat this process to grow our brand, only now I allow myself a small paycheck.

Contact Info:

• Website: tideandtill.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/tideandtill
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/tideandtill