We recently connected with Camille Todaro and have shared our conversation below.

Camille, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

It was the pandemic. I had just gotten laid off from a long-term copywriting gig and didn’t know what to do. But with more down time, I had more time to observe the things around me: people, places, existential things. COVID was a time where everything that we thought was normal and just suddenly wasn’t.

I come from a print media background and am a writer at heart, so I’ve always had a knack for witty lines. I started compiling lists of funny things I’d see and then with the help of a friend who was killing it in e-commerce, started the hard part, SEO. I knew I wanted to have a remote source of income and not be shackled to some office. So everyday I researched SEO, found out where to source materials, learned the cost of shipping, learned ROAS and more.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Really it just started with me observing comical nuances in my everyday life and marrying that to a eco-friendly product. I took the angst and frustration shared by myself and friends in relationships, jobs, personal development and more and parlayed that into a product.

I’ve always loved candles, but often times, you don’t know what’s burning when you light them. Ours are a vegan coconut-soy blend with a lead-free wick for a clean burn.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

Everything is in-house at Angsty Addie. Starting out, you want to try and keep as much DIY as possible to keep your operating costs low. As far as raw materials, I try to buy everything here locally to not incur shipping costs, but sometimes, you have to bite the bullet and order something from out of state, like a specific glass jar for example.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

You just have to keep going, that’s it. You’ll have days where you’re upside down and make mistakes but it’s all happy accidents, as Bob Ross once said. Entrepreneurship is all trial and error, it’s constantly testing things to see what customers respond to and what they don’t. It’s constantly throwing yourself to the wolves and coming out stronger. If you’re not consistent, you won’t grow a brand. You have to show up every day. If you have time to complain, you have time to pivot and keep trying.

Contact Info:

• Website: angstyaddie.com
• Instagram: angsty_addie