Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jasmine Parks and Chelsea Wilson, owners of AURA Candles. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Jasmine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

It’s actually so typical of us and why we work so well together. One day we were making candles together and we decided to launch a candle business together. Just like that. A couple of family members came up with some very clever names; I recall there were a lot of puns, and as much as we love a good pun, we both felt like our vision needed a simple and powerful name. Chelsea called me to chat names and we both blurted out, “how about AURA?” Our vision (and minds) were in sync from the beginning.

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 back background and context?

We met in late 2009 while volunteering at church. We instantly struck up conversation, and we learned that we both had a mutual interest in
candle making. I (Jasmine) had already started experimenting; blending oils, trying different waxes, and making candles. We got together a few days after we met and I showed Chelsea how to make candles.
It was only a few days after that when we decided to start a candle business. I spent a decade running a wholesale distribution company and Chelsea came from the finance world, and we knew we were going to be a great team. We launched AURA Candles in 2009
and formally became a business in February 2010.

We knew early on we wanted to create high quality products, at fair prices, AND our fragrances had to be unique to us. When you smell as many candles as we have, you recognize a lot of the same scents just packaged differently. Developing relationships with
fragrance manufacturers was challenging at first. We persevered and landed our first fragrance house in 2011. Now we have the privilege of partnering with three of the most successful fragrance manufacturers
in the world and the scents they create are beautiful and uniquely AURA.

Equally important to us was the quality of the fragrance. Our fragrance oils are infused with essential oils and are free of parabens and phthalates, which are commonly used chemicals found in many household products. Having a product that we felt confident burning in our homes around our families was very important to us.

So here we are in 2022, with products that are free of harsh chemicals, made with natural and sustainable wax, and poured with love by hand at our studio in Carlsbad, CA.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

A multiple systems, hustle strategy for sure! Manufacturing a product is the easy part, getting it to the marketplace is challenging. Here are a few ways we approach growing our sales.

Getting AURA into a gift showroom helped us gain exposure early on. We were fortunate to have space in showrooms in Los Angeles and Seattle which brought in sales and got our brand in front of buyers from all over the country. We are currently without representation, but thank goodness there are many other ways to reach buyers. BUT, if you’re a showroom reading this, call us!

Using wholesale platforms like FAIRE to reach new customers has been very helpful. Once you’re an approved brand, setting up your wholesale site is pretty painless. Buyers from all over the world can shop your products efficiently, which is great. It is expensive, but the commission rate is about the same as being in a physical showroom.
Fun fact; we were one of FAIRE’S first brands on their beta launch in 2017. They were called Indigo Fair back then and we had exponential growth the first two years with them. It has since slowed down due to saturation, but they are a robust platform and one that is a great fit for most brands.

Advertising on the social platforms has also helped grow our clientele, but it is difficult to measure the return on your investment if you don’t have the conversion analytics set up. Pro tip: spend the money to have an expert set it up correctly. We wasted money for years advertising without analyzing the conversions, but now we feel empowered when we advertise knowing we’re promoting content that people appreciate and “add to cart!”

Being active and engaging on our social platforms has been an effective way to reach customers.

We’ve been on social media for a decade and we’ve tried it ALL – from hiring digital agencies to run it for us (really expensive!!) to taking a break (not recommended.) What works for us is authentic communication. We don’t post every day and we don’t stress about it. We have a modest following, but we are the ones commenting and interacting with them and we love it.

Getting your product into the hands of your target audience is everything when you’re first starting out, so we did as many events as we could. From home shopping events to large Faires, we’ve done them all. They are exhilarating and exhausting, and thank god we don’t have to do as many as we used to!

While growing our clientele has been a multi-step process, keeping them has been fairly straightforward…excellent customer service and superior quality products. Plus, our customers know they are going to get an owner when they call or email and we always respond quickly. It’s all about the relationships.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

We started our business in Chelsea’s garage and that’s where AURA grew from 2009 until February 2020 when we moved into our first commercial space. It came complete with a small showroom in the front, a shared office for us, and a lovely warehouse with a roll up door. We had made it. The 3-year lease was signed and we were ready to expand to accommodate the growing wholesale side of our business. Less than a month later, on March 13, everything came to a screeching halt. COVID.

Like the rest of the world, we were positioned in front of the television watching everything unfold, and figuring out how to buy toilet paper and food, and worrying about members of our families we couldn’t see, and helping our teens set up remote learning environments and worrying about their mental health, and just worrying.
At some point we both staggered back to work and had an intense conversation about what we needed to do keep our doors open. With the majority of our wholesale clients shutdown, we had to pivot and redirect our resources to make up for the loss of about 70% of our revenue. Our candles went from gifts for others to selfcare necessities. We refreshed our website, offered local curbside pick up, and ran promotions to encourage purchases. We gave away candles to healthcare and other essential workers and teamed up with others doing the same.
We had always identified ourselves as a wholesale manufacturer, but now we like to think we are a wellness product.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.shopauracandles.com
• Instagram: @auracandles
• Facebook: @auracandles
• Other: Pinterest – @auracandles