Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kira Davis. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kira, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Being a business owner is all about taking risks. Deciding to go out on a leap of faith and open a business is a risk in itself. I made my leap of faith two years ago. I left my professional career to focus on my business full-time. Before becoming a business owner, I was a teacher. I taught middle school Social Studies. I would say I much rather enjoyed my job, minus the few stressors that came with the profession. Overall reasonable position until 2020, we were swept by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The aftermath of Covid-19 made what was an enjoyable job into a major depression. The stress levels of my job became so high, to the point it was now mentally and physically draining. I no longer felt like a licensed professional educator. I now felt like the hired help. I found myself dreading the simple workday and decided it was time for a change. As an educator, I always encourage my students to find something they love to do and figure out a way to turn that into a career that fits them. This way, you love what you do and never work a day in your life. I decided that it was now time for me to take my own advice. I loved teaching but felt all the stress associated with the job was no longer worth my mental sanity. So after my teaching year was up, I resigned from my position and become a full-time business owner. That summer I focused on my business and began to build and expand. Just as I began to pick up steam. My fiancé and I found out we were expecting a little one. After receiving the wonderful news, I began to experience pregnancy challenges. Leading to make the ultimate decision to temporarily shut down all business operations for a year. Now a full year and a new beautiful baby girl later. I am taking the risk again by reopening business operations. I decided instead of taking the safe route and returning to the classroom, that I would continue with my aspirations and reopen my business.

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?

My name is Kira Davis. I’m from the Midwest but now reside in the lovely sunny state of Arizona. I originally worked as a middle school teacher. I taught 7th and 8th grade English and Social Studies before switching gears to become a business owner. I would like to stay I have always been a crafter. In fact, crafting has always been some form of therapy for me. After years of encouragement from peers and family, I decided to turn my crafting skills into a business. My original plan was just to start as a side gig just as something to do. When I first started I wanted to do everything. Custom shirts, tumblers, trays, canvas, hats, resin art, candles, etc. I soon found myself to be in over my head. So I sat down and said I needed to pick a niche. I found that people enjoyed my candles and I enjoyed making them even more. So Kaydee’s Kandles was born.

I got the idea for novelty candles while watching the show Cake Boss. I was amazed at the many things they can make a cake out of. I had seen clips on youtube of people making novelty candles but never seen any in person. So I thought why don’t I combo two of my favorite loves; Food and candle crafting? So, I started making the non-edible treat. I loved watching the cooking channel and visiting the bakery to come up with new ideas.

When it comes to candles, you can buy them at just about any store. Walmart, Grocery stores, and even the gas station. Candles are a hot purchased item. However, many candle suppliers don’t provide customers with anything but wax in a jar to burn. There is no excitement other than the scent the candle may have. Aside from the different colored jars and scents, there is nothing unique about the candle-burning experience until people come across my candles. My candles are not just jar candles that smell great but they are works of art. Each candle is individually designed and hand-crafted. No machines or plain jar candles. Each candle is themed and scented to match the theme of the candle. We fool many people with our candles. Often people are intrigued to visit my booth because they think my products are edible treats. The joy I get at the looks on their faces when they find out it’s not food; its a candle. This is why we are “The Home of The Sweetest Treats You Can’t Eat.”

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I am a mom. My kids are my motivation to keep going and never give up. After launching my business, just when I just started to pick up steam with my success, I found out I would be expecting another little one. With my business beginning to flourish and me finding out I would be a mommy again. I found myself in a rock and a hard place. I had begun to develop pregnancy issues. Pretty soon I found that I was unable to keep up with the daily required task to run my business. I was ultimately left with the decision to close all business operations. I decided to take the year off and focus on the new baby. After my little girl made her grand entrance into the world. I took some time to get myself together. was shy at first about reopening. I felt it might be a mistake, that too much time had gone by. I felt I should move on or just go back to teaching. All these were inner thoughts I had to train myself to block and rebuild my confidence.

Going back into business now as a mom for two under 5. I did not give up on my dream instead I used my children as motivation to continue and push forward with my business. I put my own funds into my re-start cost. Much of my savings went into relaunching my business. This was a scary decision to make because if I failed I lose everything. I have been blessed to have had success since we returned, excited to expand, and see where the business can take me.

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 don’t have a lesson I had to unlearn but more so a lesson I had to teach myself to follow. As a kid, the idea of starting a business is not something that was taught or encouraged. I was only taught to go to school and get a job. It was never said to me “find something you love to do and turn it into profit.” This was a lesson I had to teach myself and plan to instill in my children. As a teacher, one thing I always fawned upon with the education system is we teach kids to lose their creativity at a young age. For example, the one girl in my class who would love to do hair. Instead of punishing her for being off-task. I would assign her the task to complete a research assignment about how to become a cosmetologist and the different career patch cosmetologists can take. Or the boy who likes to stay up playing video games. Instead of punishing him for playing the game. I would have him research video game development and different careers in the gaming world.

This was a lesson I had to teach myself. I spent many years in jobs I found myself miserable performing because I never followed my true passion or even knew that I could. I found something I love to do and turned it into a business. Something I didn’t know was possible. When people ask what I do for a living, I say I’m a business owner, I make candles. This is the most joy and passion I have had for any “job” I worked before.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kaydeekustom.com
• Instagram: kaydeekustom
• Facebook: kaydee kustom
• Other: Tik Tok: Kaydee Kustom