We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Melissa Davis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Melissa below.

Melissa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How do you think about spending on things like coffee when times are tough?

A recession is the last thing you would like to hear as a small business owner. It challenged me to make fiscally responsible decisions like making coffee at home. That doesn’t mean that I don’t treat myself every now and then to something special. Businesswise, I looked at all my numbers, supplies and realized the plan I initially had for my fall candle launch had to change. The goal was to not spend an exuberant amount of money on unnecessary supplies. This meant utilizing vessels I bought for a previous line. It was the trim that needed to happen during these lean times, and as a business owner I cannot be afraid to pivot.

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

I’m Melissa Marie, the founder of Cali Meets NYC where we specialize in creating a one-of-a-kind experience with elevated fragrances. I’ve been making candles since I was 12 years-old, and since then I curated a keen sense for complex fragrant notes.

I’m a candle lover first, which propelled my love for making candles during the pandemic. The best things are built out of necessity and my positive coping mechanism to reduce anxiety became candle making and soon turned into Cali Meets NYC.

Cali Meets NYC is a fragrant love letter to Cali and New York City in candle form. Affectionately known as the zip code candles, we’re inspired by how I met the love of my life. When we met I lived in the Bay Area of Cali and he lived in NYC, Queens to be exact.

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

The thought of building a social media audience can be daunting. While I’m still growing on social media it is important to remember to show up authentically. I’m not afraid to show the behind the scenes, work in progress, my studio space, packing orders, and manufacturing products. It creates a sense of knowing and trust when your audience can see the face behind the brand. The biggest tip I can give is it is never too early to start building your social media presence. Even if you haven’t launched your business, show the inner workings, tease products and a launch date. This is just the beginning of building a community.

While you are building your community make sure you engage with your audience; ask them questions about new products, feedback or product development. This creates excitement and engagement, and your customers feel like they are a part of your journey. I get so excited when customers rave about being excited about new scents or when they show me their empty candle vessels. It creates a sense of pride knowing how much love and thought goes into every product and my audience sees it come through on social media.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

We have built a strong community on social media as well as in-person at markets/ pop-ups. This coupled with our quality products creates a great reputation. Our community has become our biggest advocates and word-of-mouth advertisers.

I love meeting our customers in-person so we can create a deeper connection. It also allows us to share our origin story and it makes our customers love our brand even more. The experience then translates online and builds brand recognition and a strong reputation.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.calimeetsnyc.co
• Instagram: instagram.com/calimeetsnycco
• Facebook: facebook.com/calimeetsnycco
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/calimeetsnycco
• Twitter: twitter.com/calimeetsnycco
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC25GUvIIloORNTz76ZlqcEQ

Image Credits
Product Images: Soona Melissa Davis Portrait: C’EST LA ZEE PHOTOGRAPHY