We were lucky to catch up with Angel Randall recently and have shared our conversation below.

Angel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My story dates back to early 2019 when I was a full time graduate student studying to be a Mental Health Therapist. I was struggling to maintain self-care; I experienced burnout often and was unsure how to help myself. Also, I was balling on a budget haha, and was not able to do self-care in the financial manner I desired. I began to use what I had in my home, candles, to attempt to change the atmosphere to help me feel better. After months of lighting a candle everyday, I began incorporating reading motivation quotes daily. I noticed a change in my mood and attitude. I was slowly starting to feel like myself. Fall 2019, I was inspired to start Zen Essentials and help others improve their self-care by stimulating the senses. Zen Essentials represents resiliency and encourages people to reinvent themselves by committing to improving their self-care using aromatherapy.

I began researching how to make aromatic candles blended with essential oils and dedicated months to perfecting my craft of candle making. With adversity and much distress, I was able to overcome and launch Zen Essentials in May 2020.

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 Angel, owner of Zen Essentials Wellness Collection, a black female owned business based in Baltimore, Md. Zen helps those struggling with self-care by offering all-natural aromatherapy candles to aid with emotional wellness and to empower their self-care journey. I uniquely blend fragrances with essential oils to create aromatic blends known to aid with depression and anxiety. The use of aromatherapy candles may contribute to emotional stability and strength to assist my supporters to live a satisfying and fulfilling lifestyle. As a practicing mental health therapist, I also offer wellness tips and blog posts to spread knowledge about mental health and emotional awareness.

Zen Essentials addresses customers’ challenges, such as, holding themselves accountable and staying committed to their self-care routine, knowing how to do self-care, having lack of knowledge about holistic ways to do self-care, implementing self-care when not in doors, and lack of budget for self-care.

Zen Essentials represents joy, happiness, optimism and resilience. As a business owner, I’m most proud of witnessing my supporters experience joy and happiness as they smell and light their aromatic candles.

Have you ever had to pivot?

During the pandemic, I noticed a shift in revenue and a huge increase in capital to maintain my business. I began to consider rebranding in order to keep Zen afloat. I felt the pressure to pivot and give Zen a fresh, modernized and innovative look. I sacrificed 3 months and took time away from social media to rebrand. I refreshed my knowledge about marketing, candle making and social media trends, and strategic ways to reduce expenses in order to maximize on revenue. I was able to relaunch in March 2022 with new candle labels, signature scents/ products, and began offering candle making classes.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Throughout the journey of being an entrepreneur, I had to unlearn that it’s not what I want but it’s what customers want. In order to nourish my target audience, I had to listen to their needs and wants and often not consider my needs and wants. For example, there were several candle scents I loved but my customers disliked. In order to satisfy my wants, I’d launch the scents but didn’t get many sales. From that moment on, I learned to cater to their scent preferences and strive for consistency.

Contact Info:

• Website: zenessentialswc.com
• Instagram: @zenessentials_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zenessentialswc/

Image Credits
Steven Gayles Photography – for headshot photo only