We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Micka Hart a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Micka, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear your thoughts about family businesses.

Running a business is far from easy. Good months can turn into months without any orders for a business. This can become discouraging. Putting family into the scenario has helped in many ways. My children are a big help with Hunnie Bee Scents. My oldest son Tayshaun helps with the website along with managing his own business. My others Jayden, Messiah, and Zion help with preparation of wax crumbles, assisting with running the business at local markets. Extended family help by sharing posts, word of mouth advertising and emotional support. I often thank my siblings for ideas of marketing and where I should take my business next.

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

I’m a proud mom of 4, a boy mom! I was raised in a Caribbean household where my family is from St Thomas Virgin Islands. Family is everything to me, we are all close and so I raise my children the way I was raised. The values and culture, the food, music are all what makes our family. I started on this journey in 2022 while supporting another small business I became curious on the candle I purchased and decided to jump in and research. Once I figured out my wax of use and decided on the way I wanted to present my wax melts and candles my official journey began. Early days turned into late ones. Family and friends supported me along the way even up to now. I chose to go wickless with my candles as a safety feature. How many times have you as a candle loving person ever forgotten to extinguish your candle? Or kids playing in areas and knock one over? Also wanted to take that relaxing scent with you to your office or on a vacation? With wickless it’s possible. All you have to do is place your cable on a warming plate and allow it to melt that’s it. The aroma fills the room within minutes. My wax crumbles gives the ability to gauge the scent in the room better without the overusing of regular wax melts in the trays. Room sprays are great for refreshing rooms, furniture, even cars.
My followers know me as a very kind and informative person. I am always sharing the information I enjoy educating about the best way to use my items. Once I see their smile and they show their appreciation my day is one star better.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Always push forward and never rush are my mottos. Candle making is a process you cannot rush. It is very time consuming and requires math and understand different types of waxes available, also curing times and testing. There were plenty of mistakes at first. Example, I made several wax melts in a mold and thought to myself they were ready to be taken out of the mold. I was wrong!! All of my wax melts crumbled. Instead of throwing them away and wasting wax, I decided to use a technique I’ve been using until this day. Crumbling!!! I have learned from listening to customers that this technique helps them use an adequate amount of crumbles in their melter without overuse. So I’ve kept this technique and it works great.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Working full time, owning a business, and taking care of home life is not easy. You really have to learn time management skills, especially being a boy mom of four. I use a calendar in my phone and a physical calendar at my desk. I’m often writing notes down to keep up with advertising ideas, my children’s schedules, and taking time off for myself I call rest days. Keep up with self is so important. We often forget to take care of us. If we don’t then the domino effect happens. Stress occurs, accidents happen, and the overwhelming feeling sets in. Time management and asking for help is key.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hunniebeescents.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/hunnie_bee_scents
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hunniebeescents