We recently connected with Danielle DiBlasi and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Danielle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The mission of Casa Figlia is to provide a beautiful and uniquely scented candle collection that highlights the beauty of my hometown, Baltimore, Maryland as well as other locations around the world. Casa Figlia candles contribute to overall wellness by doing more than just smelling fantastic – they are as gorgeous to look at as they are to smell, which adds to the decor and ambiance of your home. Many of our candles have accompanying playlists, which help enhance the vibe. Additionally, Casa Figlia candles are all non-toxic, contain no carcinogens or mutagens and bring no harmful ingredients into our homes.

The first piece of the mission I adopted was to create candles that are in no way harmful to the health of us or our pets.I was shocked when I first started making candles to learn that many waxes, and fragrances contain toxins and carcinogens and even potential harmful effects to pregnant mothers and their babies. Health has always been important to me but when I started caring for my father as he was recovering from brain cancer, I became even more vigilant about what products I was using and bringing into our home.

I decided to pay homage to Baltimore, MD with my candles because Baltimore is a city that deserves to be celebrated for it’s unique charm and beauty yet is often overlooked or depicted negatively in the press.

Candles become part of a room’s decor and should enhance the ambiance with more than just the way they smell. Most likely they are going to be setting there unlit more often than they are lit. Because of this, I believe the candles should look as good as they smell and the playlists that accompany them fills your space with music matching the vibe of each candle.

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

The name Casa Figlia is an homage to my Italian roots and a nod to my role as a full-time caregiver of my father, as it translates to ‘house daughter,’ My role as a Stay at Home Daughter began in 2017 when I made the easy decision to take on the very challenging task of leaving my home to move in with my father and support him as he began to learn how to cope with brain damage that resulted from a rare form of brain cancer.

As a believer in hygge and its contribution to the overall wellness of mind, body and soul, I began making clean burning, toxin-free candles as a way to bring light, warmth, and joy to our home. While maintaining a full-time job is not possible as a family caregiver, making candles is something I can do while supervising my father at home and has quickly become my passion, an outlet for creativity, and a therapeutic activity during a lonely and stressful time. The soothing glow and comforting fragrances of our candles transform our home into a place we love being and play a role in both of our wellness journeys.

Prior to taking over my father’s care, my husband and I spent as much time as we could traveling the globe. My role as a caregiver limits our opportunities to travel together, yet it helped pave the way for the creation of my destination candle line. , These candles bring the essence and vibes of our favorite travel spots to our home. Full of hometown pride and a desire to shine a light on the beauty and character of Baltimore and its people, my first candle in this line is Charm City.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Prior to launching my candle company, Casa Figlia, I worked in the corporate world. When I became the sole caregiver for my father, it became apparent that managing a demanding career and my father’s care was not going to be possible. Coincidentally, the company I had been with for over ten years did a massive lay off of about 70 employees , including myself. Rather than utilizing the support the company offered to help find another job in the industry, I decided to step away from my career altogether. Being able to focus my energy 100% on my father gave me time to think about what I could do to earn income from home, while caring for him and thus Casa Figlia was born!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I think there is an unspoken rule in society that tells you it’s important to be busy at all times. There seems to be a belief that there is a level of importance or worthiness in being so busy that there is little to no time for resting. Next time you ask someone how they are doing, notice if they first answer by telling you how busy they’ve been. It’s become subconsciously ingrained in all of us that we ‘should’ be busy and at times. It almost seems as if we compete with each other to see who is busiest.

Being a caregiver often means that you cannot engage in parts of life that used to be the norm – travel, dinners with friends, going to the gym, running errands, or doing anything that requires you to leave your loved one unattended. At the same time though, caregiving leaves you housebound and idle with nothing you ‘have’ to do, other than supervise or care for your loved one. I went from having a very time-consuming and demanding job that I tried my best to balance with a social life and caring for my father, to having only the care of my father to focus on. This left me, initially, with a feeling of guilt. The time to rest and relax felt wrong at first and didn’t fill me with the feeling of pride I realized I had been (unjustifiably) feeling about how I was stretching myself so thin in order to accommodate everything I was burdened with. I began to understand that there is real value in taking time to do what is important, including resting, filling your life with purpose and setting boundaries to prevent life from becoming overwhelmingly busy in attempt to do it all.

I apply this philosophy to my business strategy by allowing myself to set reasonable work hours for myself that allow me to do what I need to accomplish and to take care of my father without feeling ‘bad’ if this includes time to rest.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/casafigliacandles/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-diblasi/
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/daniellediblasi
• Other: Instagram business: https://www.instagram.com/casa.figlia/?hl=en Instagram Caregiving/personal blog:

Image Credits
Candle photos by Kylie Perotti