We were lucky to catch up with Haley Jackson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Haley, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Dakota and Haley, co-founders and sisters, named their brand using their initials, “DH.” They aimed to create a brand that reflected their favorite aspects of Washington, D.C., while also symbolizing female empowerment.

The definition of a “heroine” is as follows: the primary female character; a woman who is admired and idealized for her courage, outstanding achievements, and noble qualities.

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

In September 2022, we embarked on our entrepreneurial journey with our company, District Heroines. Our company’s story began with a simple idea when Dakota came home one day and said, “you know what would be funny? DC themed candles,” to which Haley responded, “we know nothing about candles.” From that moment on, we jumped immediately into this crazy idea that DC was lacking a humorous candle that reflected the unique nature of the city. We knew nothing about running a company, starting a business, or even how to make a candle. Regardless of these limitations, we truly thought we had an idea that people would love, so we did what any young entrepreneur would do……….we watched YouTube videos! Lots and lots of videos on topics ranging from “how to file to be an LLC, what is an LLC…” and, most importantly, “how to make a candle.”

Our goal with District Heroines was to create humor-based candles that represented all communities in Washington, D.C. When we launched the company, we started with 8 scents; since then, we have grown to over 30 different types of candles!

Growing up as sisters in a military household, we moved around the country every 4 years, encountering many different walks of life along the way. If you have ever been a part of the military community, you know creating a new home everywhere you go is hard to do. Our hope with the candles was to foster a sense of commonality, one we always wanted growing up—a collective mindset that embraces being “in on the joke,” as well as a sense of belonging to a larger community. As military “brats,” we longed for a feeling of belonging and never imagined we would have the opportunity to create that sense of connection in others through our scents. We believe our experiences growing up in an ever-changing environment equipped us to connect with others on a deeper level.

In October 2022, we officially launched our brand online with a singular Instagram post, and we blew up overnight, selling around $30,000 worth of candles in the first two months. We weren’t influencers, we didn’t know how to market ourselves on social media, and we certainly didn’t know how to take high-quality photos, but we knew people loved our idea.

Our business continued to grow when we launched our Mission-Navy Yard Candle. We made this candle as an ode to growing up in your 20s in DC and drinking one too many tequila shots in that iconic Navy Yard bar. When we created the candle, our biggest concern was copyright issues since we were using another company’s brand, so we once again did what any bold entrepreneur would do, and we sent an email to the owner of the Mission Group saying, “hey we think our candle is funny, can we do a partnership” and to our surprise, he said yes! This partnership is truly what opened the door for us to the ‘influencer’ community of DC. We still remember being invited to the Royal Sands soft opening night party, thinking we were so cool ha!

One of our most proud moments was when we first made Washington Magazine as one of the top gifts to buy in the district. We remember waking up and our phones going off like crazy. We were getting thousands of orders and we had no idea why. We didn’t receive any heads-up that the magazine was going to feature us, but it was terrific, and we were truly shocked. Since the first post, Washington Magazine and other organizations have recognized our brand, and we now have a framed showcase of all our news clippings that we proudly hang on our wall.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

In short, no. We knew absolutely nothing. BUT we were dedicated to creating the highest-quality candles possible. We are proud to say we have personally hand-poured all of our products.

When we first began our candle journey, there were so many barriers to entry, and frankly, there still are. In the beginning phases of our company, we conducted extensive research on how to create the best quality product. We spent hours upon hours testing jar types, wicks, wax, scents, and even labels. And shockingly, the labels were one of our biggest headaches. It took us weeks to not have those pesky things wrinkle and be wax-resistant. After many weeks of mistakes and lots of patience from our customers, we decided our brand would use a 12 oz ceramic jar filled with 100% soy way and wooden wicks, as they burn for approximately 80 hours and provide a clean burn. We currently work with a variety of vendors across the United States to supply our fragrance oils, soy wax, and jars/tins.

One of our other biggest challenges as new small business owners was capital. When it comes to running a small business, capital means everything. When we started our business, Haley and I each contributed $500, and since then, the company has self-sustained on its profits. This is VERY hard to do. Especially when it comes to having enough inventory. Not only is it expensive to have extra inventory, but it also takes up space. The one thing we all know about DC apartments is that they are not very big. Our company still to this day is running out of a 2 bed 2 bath apartment even after thousands of sales. We hope to one day have a candle shop, but for now, it is still a distant dream; as you know, what is worse than DC rent? DC Commercial Rent! Most properties require long-term lease agreements, and it is sometimes hard to decide what we are going to do tomorrow, let alone 10 years from now!

Unfortunately, even though we now have our product down to a science, we still run into issues with sourcing delays. With many of our vendors on the West Coast, shipping delays often pose a huge problem in our supply chain system. With the goal of owning a brick-and-mortar retail shop, we hope to be able to store additional inventory in storage and not have to worry about constantly ordering products.

As it stands today, we both still work full-time jobs. Although this is beneficial as we do not have the stress of living off the profits of the candle company, sometimes it complicates our business growth. Dakota is currently working in Government Affairs, and Haley is a disability advocate. One day, we hope to run our little company, but until then, we spend most of our evenings and weekends growing our little empire. You wouldn’t believe what you can get done from 7 pm-2 am. It is never easy, but it is certainly worth it. Sometimes, we feel we should do a better job of sharing our ‘double lives’ as I think it would maybe inspire folks who want to start a side hustle but don’t know where to start! We can’t stress enough how much joy and passion owning our small business has brought to our lives. This entrepreneurial journey has educated us on many topics we would have never experienced otherwise.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Our company utilizes two primary advertising strategies: social media and word of mouth. While we acknowledge that our social media presence could use improvement, we have found that our candles are well-suited as gifts for various occasions, such as housewarming, birthdays, or the usual DC political events. Additionally, businesses often purchase custom candles from us to present to their clients, which really helps expand our business!

We also do as many events as possible in the evenings and weekends! This helps us maintain our visibility as DC small business owners to all our wonderful customers. One of the best parts about being a small business owner is getting to know other local small businesses in the area. We have truly loved being a part of the community and can’t wait to see where our small business ends up one day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.districtheroines.com
• Instagram: district_heroines

Image Credits

All photos are taken by the company founders – Dakota and Haley Jackson