We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Carrie Steen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Carrie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
“Invigorating your space through natural ingredients and promoting aromatherapy in any environment.” At The Naked Buzz, we strive to help our consumers create the environment they desire through beeswax candles made with local, sustainable ingredients. Our beeswax comes from a beekeeper in Orange, California who services over 800 hives across Southern California and our fragrances are derived from nature using plant based fragrance oils and essential oils. The story behind this mission is one of a hard working individual that found comfort in a burning candle while enduring some very difficult times.
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 background and context?
My name is Carrie, I’m 43 years old. I’ve spent my professional career in the corporate supply chain industry. First in the retail and hospitality industries, then on to electronics, where I would spend nearly 20 years learning the in’s and out’s of manufacturing, accounting, buying, selling, operations, and eventually supply chain management. But that’s not all that defines me, I’m also a wife, a mom and now a grandma! I wear many hats in my personal and professional life and I usually do a pretty good job of maintaining all of them. When things drastically changed in March 2020, I was forced to reevaluate everything. With lots of inner retrospect, I found new ways to get things done and a new love for being home and present with my family while earning a living at the same time. During this process there was always a candle burning in the background, keeping me calm in times of stress or energizing me in times of productivity!
I decided we wanted to make some candles at home with my friends and our kids and make a fun day out of it! We bought all the supplies online and showed up ready to dive in. After this day, it clicked! Why don’t I pair what I know, manufacturing & supply chain, with what I love, candles and aromatherapy! But I couldn’t just put another soy candle out there, it had to be the best quality! I had to stand out from the rest of the candle suppliers out there. Quality starts with the main ingredient, the wax! There are limited types of wax that you can use for candles that are considered “non-toxic”, but the only true, all natural, non-toxic wax is BEESWAX! It comes from a completely natural source, honey bees! There’s never any processing, bleaching or chemicals added to it to make a beautiful candle! The more I learned about beeswax, the more I fell in love with it! After several months of experimenting and burn testing, we finally pinpointed the perfect formula to create our signature classic scents!
“We’ve been in business a little over a year now and we have a strong system for making our candles and ensuring the highest quality for each one. We sell at local craft markets across Orange County and online through our website. Our customers love the truly natural benefits that come with burning beeswax candles in their space. Beeswax has air purifying properties, when burned they emit an abundance of negative ions into the air and since they are made from natural resources (unlike paraffin candles), they do not emit dangerous soot, smoke and chemical residue. Exhaust fumes, cigarette smoke, pesticides, dust, soot, radiation from power lines, computers, cell phones and electrical appliances all give off positive ions creating free radical molecules which are harmful to your body. Aging, tissue damage and some diseases are linked directly to free radicals. Positive ions are found in viruses, germs, mold, dust, odors and bacteria. Negative ions counteract positive ions and the dangerous free radicals that positive ions cause. The negative ions grab onto the positive ions and wrestle them down to the ground. They can be then vacuumed up leaving the air toxin and odor free. This leaves us feeling invigorated, healthier and energized.and the flame that burns has the same light spectrum as the sun. Burn an unscented beeswax candle if you’re sensitive to perfumes or have allergies or just want a genuinely unprocessed candle. Or burn one of our scented candles for more of an Aromatherapeutic experience.”
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
My business partner is my Husband! We’ve been married 19 years, we have 3 beautiful children and one grandchild. His name is Niels and he’s a very hard working man with a German upbringing. I believe his unique work ethic, attention to detail and his love for family sets him apart from others. Niels started his own Handyman business back in 2019 serving South Orange County. He’s been successful in this and is very skilled with woodworking, electrical and anything that needs the use of a power tool! Once The Naked Buzz started to really move product, he quickly became the “Production Manager”. He helps with the filtering, pouring, quality control, inventory, set up and tear down at the events and so much more. I wouldn’t be able to do it all alone so I’m very grateful to have a partner to work alongside with!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
The lesson I had to unlearn through this journey is to put myself first, instead of a corporate job. For many years, my family and myself came in second to my rigorous corporate schedule and workload. With limited time off, little to no coverage if I did want to take time off, and a never ending workload, I realized how hard I was working, but for what? I wasn’t earning any more per hour, there were no significant raises in my future, there weren’t any opportunities for promotion within my company so whether I worked extra hours and worked through my lunch and breaks, it really didn’t matter! What mattered was my mental, physical and emotional health. No job is ever worth sacrificing any of those things. I now find balance in flexible working hours, shared workload and lots of family support!
Contact Info:
- Website: thenakedbuzz.com
- Instagram: @thenakedbuzz
- Facebook: @thenakedbuzz
- Linkedin: Carrie Steen
- Other: TikTok: care.e