We recently connected with Hannah Pham and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Hannah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

This company was born when my daughter died.

On November 29, 2020, Camellia Noelle was born sleeping. She weighed 5 pounds, 3 ounces, and had full lips and an even fuller head of dark, wavy hair; she was absolutely beautiful. She died suddenly and unexpectedly at 34 weeks due to a placental abruption. Camellia was our third child, our only daughter, and we were utterly devastated.

In the aftermath of her death, we were lost. We loved on her, introduced her to her big brothers, and planned a funeral. We were fortunate to be met with such an outpouring of support from friends and family, and we had a simple request: Say her name. Remember her. Light a candle in her honor. From there, #candlesforcamellia took on a life of its own. Friends across the country and even some across the world lit candles in memory of our girl, and those little flames became her legacy. In my grief, I sought out a way to feel close to her, to honor her, and to give back to the wonderful organizations that helped our family through our unimaginable loss. I started by pouring a few candles for friends and family, then offered some for sale and sold out immediately. Before I knew it, I was creating seasonal collections and crafting new fragrances for friends who had lost their children. It was such a beautiful and cathartic process, and I’m so grateful to get to honor Camellia with everything we’ve built in her honor.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

When I started this idea, I had never made a single candle, but I knew that if I was going to put my daughter’s name on something, it had to be perfect.

First and foremost, I researched the cleanest, safest options for ingredients and settled on phthalate-free, prop-65-friendly fragrance oils, locally-sourced soy wax, and lead-free cotton wicks. The safety aspect is extremely important to me— I want every family to feel safe burning our candles in their homes.

For fragrances, I knew I wanted to create something new and different. Our signature scent, Camellia, is a tidy blend of white tea and delicate florals, an ode to the gorgeous camellia flower she was named for— but there is truly something for everyone. Each of our fragrances is a specific custom blend, and we have a wide range of fragrances from woody colognes to rich baked goods, and everything in between. Personally, my favorite candles are those named after other babies born sleeping or taken too soon: those fragrances blends were specifically chosen by the families, based on scents that reminded them of their children.

Part of what makes our company so special is that everything is done by hand. My mom and I work together to create each new fragrance blend, source ingredients, and blend and pour the candles. Each wick, each label, each photograph, each stamp on a shipping box.. it’s all a labor of love.

The most important piece of all is our mission— we were so fortunate to have organizations like HeartPrints and The Finley Project to lean on in our darkest moments, and because of their incredible importance, we donate 15% of all proceeds to organizations dedicated to helping families navigate stillbirth and infant loss.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

It’s often said that the Pregnancy and Infant Loss community is “the most wonderful club that no one wants to be a part of”, and this couldn’t be more true. I’ve met so many incredible people through social media, both through classic parenting pages and specific loss groups, who have been supportive of Candles for Camellia from day one. I don’t have a huge following by any means, but I’ve found it’s best to be candid and genuine; focus less on gaining followers and more on creating true friendships, and the support will come naturally.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

It’s incredible how much resilience this business has helped me build. When we lost Camellia, I lost myself. It took months to pull myself together and begin to comprehend how to move on without her. I’ve spoken to countless other loss parents who went through a similar experience— it’s such a heartbreaking feeling to have all this grief and love, and nowhere to direct it. Creating these candles gave me direction. It created tangible, productive way to feel close to her when I missed her most. When we lost her little brother Elliot this past winter, I still felt absolutely devastated— but I had some sense of direction. I poured myself into creating the perfect candle for him, sweet and spiced and woody, and was able to light it as I mourned him. I leaned on the community that this business had helped me connect with, and we rode the waves of grief together, which brought comfort to an impossible situation.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.candlesforcamellia.com
• Instagram: @candlesforcamellia
• Facebook: Facebook.com/candlesforcamellia