We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kaylee Castleberry . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kaylee below.
Kaylee , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
I lost my job in 2021 and had no choice but to make it work. Had I not lost my job I don’t know if I ever would have took that leap of faith and dedicated myself 100% to my business. I probably would have been making candles/wax melts as a hobby for the rest of my life, afraid to leave the security of a stable job and income to taking a bet on myself. God pulled my feet from under me and I felt defeated and like a failure but not only did I stand back up and walk again but I’m soaring now. Working with wax, as dramatic as it sounds, is so liberating. I have creative freedom to make something beautiful out of practically nothing. It’s gives me a sense of accomplishment and pride that brings me happiness. I learned some losses are actually blessing. Sometimes we need to be knocked on our face if that’s what it takes to be who we’re ment to be in life.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m Kaylee. My business is Cravings for Candles (@cravings4candles). I make realistic pieces of art out of wax. My specialty is food realism but I make a variety of other categories as well. I’ve been making candles and wax melts off and on as a hobby for 8 years. I was a criminal justice major and correctional officer. I was in a sense forced into working on my little side candle business full time. So I started trying out all these original food themed ideas I had been wanting to try but never had the time. After I began posting on my TikTok on instagram, to my surprise some of my videos went viral and I started receiving so much love and support. And before I knew it orders started to roll in. I gained over 150k followers in less than 6 months. (Definitely not bragging! Just to show how it’s possible to grow in a short period of time if your dedicated and determined) I believe what sets my apart from other wax artists/ candle makers is my free hand approach. I typically don’t use molds to make most of my wax melts.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
From the beginning I would see other makers and compare my self and think I’ll never be as good. It’s very discouraging no matter what your doing if you’re constantly comparing yourself to others. I took so many breaks in my journey because I would get in my own head and put my self down and be too critical on myself. If I could go back I would be my own biggest supporter. You don’t make progress by giving up. You make progress through trial and error and practice and persistence.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I built my audience by being original. There are other makers in the game but I’ve always tried to stand out by doing different things that no one else was doing. For example, a lot of makers were making wax looking foods. Well I took it a step further and made wax looking foods with realistic texture as well. Showing people something they’ve never seen before will definitely get attention. Especially when it can fool them into believing something is real right before it melts always. Advice I can give to other makers who are just starting to build a social media presence is not to be afraid to show the process! I use to be scared of that cause I didn’t want what I considered my self taught strategies taken and used without credit. But I’ve gotten over that mind set. I know we won’t always get the credit we deserve but that’s life. I still enjoy sharing my progress with my followers and I love that my art inspirers others and ignites their creativity as well. It also helps others to see how much time and effort real goes into the craft and they can appreciate it that much more.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linkr.bio/CravingsForCandles
- Instagram: @cravings4candles