We were lucky to catch up with Sara Stepnicka recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sara, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
When people ask us how we started our business, Camelback Candle Co., I often first refer to the risk we took well before we ever started this company. That risk was moving, blindly, out to Arizona from Michigan. I was able to transfer to a new location for my employer at the time, but once I got here I realized almost immediately that I would need a new job. Dwindling funds, looking for a new job, and all the expenses of moving across the country and settling in here, were all big risks to take; but without taking that first risk to move out here, there would have never been a Camelback Candle Co.
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?
I grew up in Ohio and met my life partner, Anthony Vallone, in college back in Michigan in the late 1990s’. After the 2008 housing crash, we realized we needed a change and more sunshine. Anthony researched places to live that had a lot of sun and found that Phoenix was one of the top locations in the United States for the number of sunniest days. So, we packed up what we could and drove out West to start anew in Arizona. We fell in love instantly with the gorgeous Sonoran Desert, the hiking trails, the hot weather, the community, and the budding vegan culture.
Anthony got inspired by the trails we were hiking weekly and was working on developing scented candles for our home. At first, just for personal use, we love scented candles but didn’t love the scent selections and/or chemically smells, or the price of the higher-end candles we loved most.
He created a number of scents, some of the scents directly inspired by the trails we were hiking, such as our Palo Verde Trail candle. The hike is littered with little beaches along Bartlett Lake with driftwood washed ashore, wildflowers growing off to the side, and little firepits along the way. Soon, Anthony had developed about fifteen scents, and together we whittled them down to ten. Friends and family really liked the scents of our candles when they would visit, and we got the idea of maybe trying to create a product line of vegan scented candles to take public.
Together we spent the next two years refining the scents, finding the best ingredients, jars, developing labels, and a brand, and what better way than to incorporate one of Phoenix’s premier locations and hiking spots, Camelback Mountain, into our company name featuring sophisticated and layered scents named after some of our favorite hiking trails in Arizona.
Today we are most proud that our candles have attracted such a diverse base of customers and are carried at some of the finest resorts in Phoenix.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
It’s funny how life sometimes places you in the right spot at the right time. In college, I was hanging out with my friend, who was dating this new guy, and we were over at his house visiting him when his roommate, Anthony, came home. I felt drawn to him and found him really attractive, he was carrying in a pizza he picked up after class and offered us all a piece. I never liked cheese, and while I was hungry, I told him I don’t eat cheese but thanks. When he stated there wasn’t cheese on it since he didn’t really care for it either, as he was moving towards a vegan diet, the stars aligned on that day. Now, twenty-five years later we are still deep in love, best friends, and business partners.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
We wanted to develop really unique scents that can’t be found elsewhere, and also develop a candle that would last more than a few days. In doing those two things we separated ourselves from the pack and we often still get comments about how long our candles last compared to others in our market.
On top of that, we always take pride in getting orders out the next business day when ordered online, along with always delivering on time to our wholesale partners and resorts we provide candles to in the area.
We also will go out of our way to serve customers, be it custom orders with custom labels, or hand-delivering candles to customers who are going to be leaving town, or need a gift now and can’t wait for shipping. If we can do it, we often do, and I know it builds up our reputation among our customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.camelbackcandle.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/camelbackcandle/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/CamelbackCandle/