We were lucky to catch up with Alyssa Rose recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Alyssa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

When my partner and I began selling candles we wanted to create a business that would allow us to be our authentic selves. Candle-making had become a much needed outlet for us after our suffocating and often unsupportive day jobs and we wanted our brand to represent the freedom that starting the business was affording us! Calling ourselves Queer Candle Company puts it all out there up front. We are able to reach our target demographic with just a name and there is a ton of power in that.

As a queer-owned business, it’s important to us that the platform we build is reflective of our community. We love making candles, but it’s not the only important part of QCC. Our whole business, starting from the name and permeating through the rest of our work is formed around a focus on queerness. We are proud to hire other queer folks and to make an effort to build community with and elevate other LGBTQ+ businesses. Through the donations we make to SRLP, we are also allowing our customers to vote with their dollar and not only support our queer business, but also support the larger LGBTQ+ community. Since we began QCC we have felt strongly that by using the word “queer” in our name we needed to hold ourselves to giving back to, and growing with, our community.

Alyssa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Queer Candle Co. was born in 2018 when my partner and I decided to take our candle-making hobby to the next level! We started out pouring a few candles every night in the kitchen of our one bedroom apartment after work – fast forward a few years, QCC has become a full time job for both of us and our candles can be found in small businesses all across the US as well as at markets in NYC and Philadelphia.

All of our products are made in refillable glass vessels, and each candle is topped with a visual representation of the scent – usually pressed flowers and herbs, homegrown or foraged! We have a wide range of scents and always something new to smell. We also offer discovery kits with a selection of mini candles to help you find your signature scent!

We are a proudly queer and trans owned company and love the community we’ve met through QCC. In 2022 we began running Philly Queer Flea, a market that features LGBTQ+ makers and artists, and through that have made incredibly genuine connections and friendships!

QCC donates 10% of our monthly profits to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a NYC based org providing legal services and advocacy for trans and gender non conforming folks.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When Queer Candle Co. started we had no experience growing a social media following, but knew we wanted it to build organically. Our initial followers were friends and family who showed up in incredible numbers for us and helped to spread the word. Beyond that, our business name was a great draw! We have found success with having a business name that says exactly who we are and what we do. Candle lovers, LGBTQ+ folks, and allies see our name and know right off the bat what we’re about.

Once we had a base group of followers and were consistently posting – Instagram being our platform of choice – we found that sharing our personal story and showing potential customers the faces behind the candles gained the best engagement. We have made sure to keep our pages updated with content surrounding our products so that customers are able to see what they can purchase, but sprinkled in with that we add a bit about ourselves. Folks are buying our candles as much as they are buying our story and who we are as people. We always see an uptick in engagement and follows when we post fun candle-making content that shows our personality, or if we post videos with updates from us, the founders.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

We have found great success with reaching folks face to face. We love being able to tell the story of QCC in person and allowing potential customers to get a feel for our products in their hands (and their noses).

We sell every weekend at Artists & Fleas in Brooklyn, and through those interactions have created lasting relationships with consistent customers who return to our booth for more or if they’re just visiting go home and order our candles online. In addition to Artists & Fleas we pop up whenever possible around Philadelphia at makers markets where we can meet other candle lovers and show them what we’re all about.

We’ve also begun to host candle-making workshops and have found that the act of making a candle with us and hearing our story and process first hand leads to great conversion rates for customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: Queercandleco.com
• Instagram: @queercandleco
• Twitter: @queercandleco
• Other: Tiktok: @queercandleco