We recently connected with Pharaoh Taja and have shared our conversation below.

Pharaoh, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Tajassentials is an apothecary brand specializing in artisanal candles and hand crafted skincare. Our mission is to elevate your basic routine and to make it a little easier to stick to. Mental health issues like depression can make it hard for your to care for yourself and veer off your regular routines while just trying to stay on top of the things that take priority. Using vibrant colors and uniquely relaxing fragrances, Tajassentials was created to combat mental health issues like depression and anxiety. This mission means everything to me because on days when I feel the lowest, it’s one of the only things that bring me back up. The people I touch by providing fun necessities, the connections I make when I do pop-up shops, and the testimonies I get from people who rely on my products for their daily pick-me-up shows me that this mission is more than just me.

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.

My name is Taja Pharaoh and I am the owner of Tajassentials Apothecary. I opened Tajassentials for business on May 5th, 2018 as a way to spread joy to your everyday essentials. Through Tajassentials, I provide hand crafted skin care, face and body oils, whipped body butters, hand poured candles, shower melts and more. All of my products are handmade with colors and fragrances in mind to help uplift and add excitement to your regular routine. As a small business owner, Tajassentials has helped me in times where imposter syndrome and depression have come in full force. I am most proud of sticking with my business through the ups and downs especially during Covid-19. There have been so many shipping delays, material inflation and more standing in my way in the midst of Covid and I am most proud that I was able to take a few steps back to assess the situation so that I may keep pushing forward. Not to mention being stuck in the house then becoming homeless at the peak of Covid, I’m not only proud that I’m here to write this response, but I’m proud I’ve gotten back to what’s important to me. Without Tajassentials, I wouldn’t have had the hope and drive behind remaining a business owner. I also started a business, Snatched By Pharaoh, a month before Covid started and am thankful for the timing. While dealing with homelessness, I was building clientele. I’m proud of my drive and determination behind being able to stay in hotels. I just knew if I gained a certain amount of clients and booked a certain amount of appointments, I’d be able to stay in a hotel a little longer until I found full time housing. Instead of hanging up my business, I used it to keep me afloat until I could get back on my feet and balance the focus between both businesses which I’m still maintaining.

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

Let me take you back to 2019, a year after I started my very first business, Tajassentials. I started things all wrong thinking I was right, thinking I knew everything. I had no initial capital, no marketing plan and no business plan. I started out just making products and tweaking them as I went. In 2019, I was sitting on a lot of made product but wasn’t able to afford pop-up shop fees, a marketing team or even a photographer to take professional photos of my products to sell online. I created my own website because I couldn’t afford to have one created for me. I thought that if I had a great product, which I did and still do, that it would just sell without any background work and I was definitely wrong. In 2019 I was just desperate to sell what I had so that my inventory wouldn’t go to waste and so I could at least make some of the money back that I’ve invested because my bills weren’t going to pay themselves. In 2020, I thought I was going to hang up Tajassentials for good once I stated Snatched By Pharaoh, my sugar waxing, service based business. Although I hadn’t deleted my website or Business instagram, I had no inventory available for purchase and I hadn’t posted on my business page in months, going on a year. I basically quietly quit my business without making it official. When Covid hit, I thought both Tajassentials and Snatched By Pharaoh would be done for and I felt completely defeated. I watched TikTok blow up brand new commerce based businesses while I wasn’t in the position for a blow up despite being almost 2 years in. Meanwhile, service based business, like the one I just opened at the time, were being closed left and right due to Covid’s new laws and rules. I took a break from my new businesses venture as required but that’s when the pivot began. Once the laws were being lifted little by little, I was able to finally start taking clients. Since my service based business wasn’t large and I rarely had clients from being only one month old prior to the shutdown, I was allowed to open for business! I still had Tajassentials on the back burner because I was still leaning towards throwing in the towel. I had a few candles left over from when I made more product than I could sell and decided to burn one while I serviced clients and had quite a few inquiries. I brought in what I had left over and sold them all within two weeks! I shifted my focus away from online sales and began my in person presence for Tajassentials and my 2021, Tajassentials was fully functioning again while Snatched By Pharaoh was still thriving and growing. As of 2022, I began displaying Tajassentials in my way room for sale while balancing my presence both online and in person. As of 2023, I have started focusing on growing both businesses and am on track to creating some commerce products for Snatched By Pharaoh manufactured by Tajassentials. Although, I am behind thankful that I’ve grown since 2019, I still thank 2019’s me for holding it down until I was able to make that pivot.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I manufacture my own products and I didn’t start out knowing how. I started creating products the <not so> good old fashion way, by trial and error and watching YouTube videos of other creators and formulators. Unfortunately, a lot of these formulations were simple and some were unstable. The only way to get more complex formulations were to purchase formulations or lessons and I didn’t have the capital for experimenting at the start of my business ownership. I did eventually outsource bath bombs when I was unsuccessful in creating them before ultimately removing them from the menu due to their decline in popularity. I started thinking I should outsource more complex creations since I didn’t have any experience in formulating. I started purchasing samples from different wholesale websites which became costly and I didn’t find anything that I liked. Also, a lot of sites would only allow you to purchase a short amount of samples before requiring you to fully commit to gallons of product you weren’t sure you loved. Since going back to fully manufacturing my entire product list, I have been digging into formulating. So far, I’ve created my own simple formulations which my clients and I love. I figured instead of continuing to put money into buying samples that I didn’t enjoy, I could invest in learning about formulations which has helped me more in the long run. I’m able to be in full control of my products ingredient list and I’m able to get to know my products inside and out. I absolutely love hand crafting all of my products and I’m glad I took the leap into formulating.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tajassentials.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/Tajassentials
• Facebook: facebook.com/Tajassentials
• Twitter: twitter.com/Tajassentials
• Personal: BohemianPharaoh (Instagram/Youtube/Twitter)

Image Credits
Photographer: Tglad Photo Location: The Spotlight: Columbia, MD