We recently connected with Aliece Brown and have shared our conversation below.

Aliece, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

If I could go back in time, man would I have started my business sooner.

I first launched Cozy Universe Studio in the summer of 2020. This was such a wild time for me. I was finishing up my final year of college at Florida Atlantic University and I had recently moved back to Tampa since classes were online due to the pandemic.

All of my closest friends were back in south Florida and I wanted a way to connect with so many of the wonderful creative people I had met during my time on campus in Boca Raton pre-pandemic. I would always host paint & sips in my dorm room but obviously we couldn’t have them any more due to social distancing and quarantining measures. For my sanity’s sake and to help make a bit of pocket change, I got the idea and eventually the confidence to start working up to selling my art online.

I was unemployed at that time, but very close to obtaining my bachelors when I bit the bullet and set up shop on Etsy. I started with a small inventory of paintings, prints commission-based custom artwork, and tarot reading bookings. Cozy Universe Studio used to exclusively sell my original artwork. It took me a good few months afterward to become curious about creating my own line of wax melts.

That’s definitely one thing I would’ve changed- I wish I could’ve discovered my love for candle making sooner. I have always loved candles but was afraid that no one would love them if I had made them. There was no way I could’ve predicted the outpouring support from the people of Tampa Bay and beyond when I released my first ever batch of candles in November 2022.

Believe me, I 100 percent think that everything happens when the universe opens up opportunities for you, but if I had started my candle collection sooner, I would’ve become better at hand pouring the wax a lot faster.

Aliece, 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?

For those of you who haven’t met me yet- Hi!

My name is Aliece Brown and I’m the founder and sole proprietor of Cozy Universe Studio. I was born in Hays, Kansas but moved to Tampa, Florida with my family when I was 6-7 years old, so I do consider myself a local at this point.

I’ve always had an entrepreneurial drive, so I knew at some point I’d start my own business after my experience working with local South Florida businesses as a blogger and/or brand ambassador during my time at Florida Atlantic University.

What started out as an Etsy shop selling art and tarot readings expanded into an ever growing candle empire centered around community building and fostering creativity in the people around us. While our hand poured soy wax candles are the big ticket item, we’ve paved the way for our other creative endeavors via our podcast and upcoming candle making workshops.

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

I think about this all the time- to answer the question: I’d definitely say I had to unlearn taking client feedback personally. Now more than ever, I appreciate listening to what the people who have supported Cozy Universe have to say. Not all feedback is positive, and it’s seldom an attack on both you and your business. As a recovering people pleaser, this was such a challenge for me and I’d like to think that I’m still learning from that.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

You can set up all the online marketing campaigns in the world, but having that face to face interaction with customers and fellow business owners has been by far the most effective for growing clientele for Cozy Universe Studio. Between vending at markets in the Bay Area and attending networking events, I’ve had the opportunity to personally connect with so many amazing, supportive and loyal people and really grow my brand.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cozyuniversestudio.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/cozyuniversestudio
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/shopcozyuniverse
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliece-brown-72a506155/
• Other: TikTok: www.TikTok.com/@shopcozyuniverse