We recently connected with Catherine Sullivan and have shared our conversation below.

Catherine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I have always loved unique scents that either remind me of moments in time or seem to stimulate my senses and trigger a mood …be it a calming, energetic or even sexual. Fragrance really moves me and in the home environment can speak distinctively to others through the olfactory experience.
So, this being said, I reached out to a dear friend who just happens to be the founder of one of the first successful alternative candle brands here in the states for the initial conversation of my idea of producing and launching my own candle company I then shared my vision and desired aesthetics w a major marketing and design firm friend who wanted to help me since Covid had so many on a pause cycle. So while discussing the concepts in May of 2020…things started to happen with actual art and creative presentations in June/July and tweaking along the way….a lot of tweaks! While vessels and packaging graphics were being created, working w fragrance houses and nailing down the scents for the original collection was under way. We were able to finalize the graphics, packaging and die lines by August 2020 and place the necessary purchase orders at that time. Due to so many issues surrounding Covid we got a later start than desired and started pouring in November. My goal was to have it on some retail shelves and online before Thanksgiving, the actual official BIG candle selling season. We needed to set up an online wholesale platform for B2B and create a website to sell D2C in which we used the Shopify platform. Our first retail partner was Candle Delirium, one of the largest candle purveyors in the states. We chose to take small steps as a small business and not move too quickly and overwhelm ourselves since we are truly a small female owned company. The candles are poured in small batches, packed and shipped by us and all here in Los Angeles.

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

I have a rep agency and have represented many notable brands within the gift and decorative industry, candles being one of the categories. After working closely with many candle mfgs. and helping grow their brands from concept to final product, I was able to learn firsthand about candle operations more organically and quite fortunately. I became more enthralled w the process and have always loved intricate fragrances so it seemed plausible to maybe use my experience at some point to create my own brand. The Covid down time was the perfect moment to investigate things further. I already had a concept in mind, very much like a Basquiat/Graffiti/Urban type feel aesthetic to the brand name itself.
A friend had been married to a lawyer and used latin words quite a bit…et al. was one of them and it stuck with me for many years. It means “and others”. I knew I wanted to do good and give back in whatever endeavor I chose. The brand name speaks for itself in this respect. It was really important for me to donate to those in need through the brand especially in a world where there is much suffering.
We chose positive words as a vehicle for our Numbers Collection graphics and utilized these words printed in a graffiti font on the actual vessel itself and on the packaging in a much more subdued manner. The words, love, peace, hope, change, feel, trust illuminate thru the glass when lit in our white vessel which makes it unique to any other brand that we know of. We tried to associate our fragrances with either the black or white vessel in our Numbers Collection, be it the more floral, clean, lighter scents, they are in the white vessel and the heavier, sexy, woodsy, incense like scents are in the black vessel.
Our newest Blü Collection is more of a fun, lifestyle feel in a soft tiffany blue vessel with names like Cabana, Lust, Prive, Elixir, Ganja and Glow. Each scent tends to represent the feel of the aforementioned names.
Our motto within each collection is WE before me and We see YOU and with each candle sold we donate to communities in need like World Central Kitchen, CORE Response, The Trevor Project and other smaller local ones when needed.
This being where the brand name et.al life comes into play…”and others”. We are proud to celebrate diversity and inclusion and align with the idea of coexisting and helping others. Our designs are inspired by everyday life and the many facets of such as well my love for architecture, nature, animals, music, fashion, food and travel. Our hope is that our candles bring light and memorable moments to your spaces as well a feeling that your purchase has aided some in need….making good “scents”.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

After stints in co-owning a retail store, buying out a partner, rebranding and opening a wholesale showroom, then rebranding again expanding a showroom and opening a 2nd showroom…Covid was the culprit to put a screech in our momentum.
We made it through so many trials and tribulations over the years but Covid really was the factor that ended my dream name sake brand. Being a smaller boutique brand has its advantages but sometimes it also doesn’t allow for the financial stability when you need the type of funding that was being offered and having a small staff deterred the capital needed to survive successfully.
So creatively we needed to pivot and reimagine things and start all over…which we did as well offered me the opportunity to start the et al. life brand on top of a newly imagined agency with a much smaller imprint.
Simplifying all aspects of business and life has been a humbling experience but has taught me about resilience, believing and realizing that there are some things in life you dont have full control over and some things aren’t meant to make sense!

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

I was a co-owner in an agency and after a few years of predominately being the one that was bringing most of the business to the company as well more hands on than my partner, I stated I thought it may be time to go out on my own. At that point, I think she was tired and burned out and offered me a buy out option. We agreed on the price and the terms….it was a 5 year payoff and the business model remained as normal except with me having full ownership, a business name change and growth in a different manner. It was a fairly painless process…her attorney drew up the paperwork and for the most part business went on as normal except I was now the sole owner as well added more categories that we could offer to buyers as an agency and opened a full time showroom.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etallife.com
• Instagram: @etallife
• Facebook: et al life