We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Angela Egley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Angela , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

My business name is a family saying that I would always do when my kids were young. I would always say , is me tired or is me hungry to my kids instead of saying are you tired or are you hungry because I thought it taught them better at recognizing themselves as me and not you .. I know that sounds silly or weird but hey we all learn from our past, right … So, when I was brain storming for a business name I knew I wanted Happy and Soy in the name… Happy, because making Candles is my happy place and Soy, so that customers would know that the candles are made with all natural soy wax , so I came up with Me Soy Happy Candle Co and when I told my daughter Kayla, who is my helper in the candle making process, she immediately laughed and said I know how you came up with that name ..

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 started Me Soy Happy Candle Co in 2019 after being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Osteoarthritis. I have been in the workforce since I was 15 and for the past 20 yrs I’ve had a physically demanding job that required me to lift and carry 30+ lbs boxes, bend and kneel constantly, climb up and down ladders carrying the boxes, and getting in and out of my vehicle up to 15-20 times a day. I am still working my full time job but slowly transitioning into doing my candles and also my woodworking on a full time basis. It takes time and has been a lengthy process. Making Candles and doing woodworking is less stressful on me and gives me more time to concentrate on my health and well-being. I think what sets me apart from others is the wide variety of candles that I offer. I make the standard jar candles, but also make novelty candles, dough bowl candles, wax melts, candles in a mug and I also make cement vessels that I use for my candles. I look for vessels that can be turned into candles but than are able to be repurposed and reused as something else. I am most proud of my determination to get my dream job up off the ground and running, and the help from my daughter, Kayla, and granddaughter, Madi.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process./

I handmake my candles from all natural soy wax. In the beginning I did a tremendous amount of research and read every article I could find about candle making and what wax was the best and what fragrance oil was best. I started a journal and took notes on what I thought was the most important and what made the most sense to me. I kept a log of the supplies that was most talked about and slowly starting buying the supplies I had done my research on. It took me about 8 months to get all the supplies I needed before making my first batch of candles. I feel that in taking my time and doing the research ahead of time and keeping notes and a journal was best for me and helped me from having to many hiccups once I finally got started on making my candles.

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

I got started on social media pretty much the same way I did with making candles. I started out with a personal account first and got to know how everyone was posting and engaging potential customers. I followed quite a few of the same discipline accounts and watched their activity and how they were interacting. I did this for about 6 months before I switched over to a business account. I follow 3x the amount of accounts that follow me. I comment on post’s I see that grab my attention. I look for business’s in my area and follow them. I try to make a post atleast every other day to stay engaged.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mespyhappycandleco.com
• Instagram: @mesoyhappycandleco_
• Facebook: Me Soy Happy Candle Co
• Twitter: @mesoyhappycandl