We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mayra Tellez Diaz a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mayra, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

The idea of me making candles started in the beginning of 2020. I had been laid off work November of 2019 after dealing with injuries I sustained from a car accident and not being able to perform my desk job at the district attorney’s office I worked for. I was diagnosed with post concussive syndrome and I fell within the small percentage of people who don’t fully recover to have potential permanent damage. It was tough to accept that my life wasn’t the same anymore. I had an invisible disability that I didn’t accept for a couple more years. I am the oldest daughter of Mexican immigrant parents and I felt a huge responsibility to succeed and make my parents proud. And now with no job and I myself being a mom to two kids, the depression and anxiety I had just started working on 2 years prior, had worsened.

I began to look into ways of being more conscious of products I would bring into my home that were toxic because I had gone down a rabbit hole of ways certain things were affecting my progress, neurologically. I spent a lot of time researching a variety of ways to heal and cope with my disability.
During that time, I found information on toxic scents and how many products in our homes have harmful chemicals that we breathe and wear. From the fabuloso we use to clean, to the suavítel we use to wash our clothes. It was all mind blowing to me because there are many products I saw my mom use and we didn’t talk about or learn about how these products could be harmful to us. We don’t grow up having these types of conversations with our families. That is when I came across making my own hand soap, laundry detergent, and room sprays. I came across many diy articles on Pinterest and the idea of searching for candles popped in my head because I love candles. I love the scents and how there is so much intention when a candle is lit. Growing up, seeing my mom light a candle as an honor to my grandparents and family who had passed. The saint candles with the prayers on them to give her a moment of peace. It all was intentional and something I subconsciously did as well, as a way to relax at home after a long day.
Seeing how toxic these candles found at the retail stores are, I wanted to find a way to still be able to enjoy lighting them, without all the toxic and harmful chemicals being spread in my home and inhaled by my family and me.
I had no intention of making them to sell. I wanted to make them for myself and potentially gift them to my family and friends, if I was successful at making them. This idea of researching how to make them and the supplies I would need started in the summer of 2020. In the middle of the pandemic of all places.
Once I made my first order of supplies, I started to get imposter syndrome. “You don’t know what you’re doing” “You’re just wasting time and money”
Around this time, our family went through one of the toughest times we’ve had. We lost a young family member unexpectedly and it affected my sisters and I because we were super close to my little cousin. Nothing was going to be the same anymore. Everything was put to the back and my main focus during this time was to be there for my family and let myself grieve.

I didn’t touch anything that I had purchased for a couple months. I let the supplies sit in my dining area.

I got the courage to start making candles October of 2020. It was not as easy as I thought. I felt like a chemist weighing and measuring the appropriate ingredients to make sure they were safe. But it was so therapeutic and fun!
After testing them I thought to myself, “Why not sell them. You could use some money.”
I had no idea where to start but I knew I needed to have a name and a logo of some sort. After almost two months of thinking and processing everything, I decided on Raíces Morenas; an ode to my brown roots that represented familia, cultura and nostalgia. I created an Instagram page and posted about it on my main page. I was terrified! The thoughts of “who’s going to buy my candles? Everyone is making candles. How are mine any different? Why are mine better?”
I knew I had more thinking to do. I had to find a way to connect my future target customers with my candles. And the only way I knew how to do that was to be me and to reflect what is important to me through scent and candles. That is where nostalgia and cultura tie together. I knew that I wanted to make candles that would remind my customers of those nights they would get ready to go to a family party (Noche de Fiesta) or the times they would sit and watch Primer Impacto and see the segment of Walter Mercado on (Mucho mucho…amor).
The foundation of my candles has been set. I just needed to work on my marketing skills and make sure I spread my products through word of mouth and posting about them whenever I could.

Mayra, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

¡Hola! My name is Mayra Tellez Díaz and I am a chicana who lives in Portland, Oregon. I was born and raised here. My parents are both immigrants from Mexico. My dad is from Puebla and my mom is from Michoacán. I grew up in a household as the oldest of 5 girls. Being the oldest daughter to Mexican immigrant parents is a core piece of my life that has shaped me into who I am today. I am also a mom to two beautiful kids; my son Aidan who’s 11 and my daughter Mikayla who’s 8 (mom loves you both!)

Growing up we would always be with family. Not just our immediate family, but our extended family too. And we have a big family on both of my parents side so our get togethers were always fun and full of music, food, and kids running around everywhere.

When I started my candle business, I knew that I wanted family and cultura to be at the core of its existence. That is something that was instilled in us by not only my parents, but also the way I saw life and how the opportunities available weren’t the same for people who looked like my family and me.

I wanted to marry the idea of nostalgia and cultura into storytelling. Raíces Morenas was born through the idea of connecting with our roots and bringing our memories to the surface by using natural, non-toxic products along with herbs and plants, like our ancestors did. I make candles that represent and bring nostalgia to the Mexican/Latinx/Latine/Hispanic communities, through the sense of smell. From the nostalgic fragrance, to the story behind the name of the candle, there is a personal story or a general memory behind each candle that a lot of us can relate to. We will begin to think about a certain memory we have engraved that is being brought up to our surface that we possibly forgot about. All through our olfactory receptors. Scents are a powerful force that can trigger our memory to remember something that has been hidden or not thought about and it’s a beautiful experience to go through. We smell different things every day, every second. I wanted to make our culture feel represented in a place where we may not always get to talk openly about these memories and to also let others, who may not be familiar with these stories, into our space. Like the saying of “a picture can say a thousand words”, a scent can tell a story too.

I am proud to represent not only who I am and what memories I carry to be represented in the form of a candle or spray, but to also see peoples faces when they smile and tell me that the name or the scent makes them think about a time in their life. Opening up a conversation that they comfortable sharing with me and being allowed to give them that space. It’s such a beautiful experience to share with people, that even if only one person shares a personal story with me, it lets me know that I am on the path I want to be in to give them a safe space to share something so intimate that could possibly be uncomfortable in other situations.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The hardest part about building an audience on social media is being patient. On one hand, you know it’s going to take some time to get followers and active engagement on your page, but at the same time, when you don’t see it happening quick enough, it almost makes you doubt that you’re going to get to a place of being known.

It took me some time to not feel the pressure of always looking at my Instagram and thinking if I would get new followers or new messages asking me about my products. I didn’t have a website (and I still don’t actually) so for me it was important to figure out how I was going engage with and attract potential customers. It started by attending local markets and figuring out how to display my culture and my values as a daughter of immigrant parents in spaces that were targeted towards White people.

And one of the key things is to be yourself. Yes, I know, it sounds cliche and you’ve probably heard many others say that but truly, that is the key to what will separate you from anyone else. One of the best advice I received from a loved one was that there are thousands of candles out there, but no one can make the products like me. Not just the product itself, but the story, the passion…the process. That is what will separate me and my brand from everyone else.

So don’t focus on the numbers. You’ll want to, but don’t. Make content when it feels right. When you feel good to do so. Engage with people when you have time. Don’t stress or overwhelm yourself thinking you have to. Take breaks when your mind and body are telling you to slow down. Because ultimately, if you are not ok and burn yourself out, you will not focus on the intention and passion that started this journey for you in the first place and you’ll only do it to fulfill some algorithm. And that isn’t worth it. I’ve been there and it almost made me give up on everything I had worked towards within the past year and a half (at the time of me feeling this). But having the internal conversation and asking yourself what your purpose is and talking to people who you trust and support you can also help guide you to the path you were on.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source of new clients for me are attending local markets. It took me a couple months after officially launching in December of 2020 to sign up as a vendor for a makers market. I was so nervous and scared. I kept thinking if I would even sell any candles. If anyone would think my setup was “too Mexican”. It’s these thoughts and insecurities that have been engraved in us by society when we want to go out of our way to take up space and show the world who we are that can hold us back from doing amazing things.

I currently don’t have a website so I use these markets as a way to interact with customers and share a bit of my story with them. And although my target audience isn’t the Portland hipster who went to Mexico City that one summer, it is nice to have their support and recollect a memory of them having an Agua Fresca on a hot day.

It has opened up conversations about signing up for other markets and aside from new and returning customers, I’ve also met a lot of vendors who are now really good friends of mine.

Networking with them and talking about our struggles as new business owners has given me a new community. Especially the Latine/x/o community here in Portland. We are spread out throughout the city, along with neighboring cities, but I have found what feels like a second family. And I love that for us in a place that is predominantly white.

So if you’ve thought about signing up for a market or are for some reason talking yourself out of doing it, don’t. Go for it. Sign up. Go to the market. It helps to attend a market as a customer to get a feel for it, if you can. If you can’t, sign up for it anyway. It’s scary and vulnerable but you won’t lose anything in trying it out.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @raicesmorenas
• Twitter: @raicesmorenas
• Other: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzGuMvMrNGkwKUVW6kC_pjXQGCHHZcEe8bC8A9ewMlCKEMuQ/viewform https://msha.ke/raicesmorenas

Image Credits
The two product photos with the white background were taken by my dear friend @deemataphoto