We were lucky to catch up with TaJara Riley recently and have shared our conversation below.

TaJara, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

The craziest thing is, the idea wasn’t mines. The idea was brought to me by another individual in 2020. We were considering doing it together, but I began to notice that I was pursuing it more so than the other person. I purchased supplies, tested out various products, and began to fall in love with it as a whole. Once I noticed that I was pushing more to make candles and learn, I decided to do it on my own. I had many moments where I wavered, but a friend of mines gave me great advice of his that led me to want to continue to make candles. So I continued on and loved it immensely! The creative process is what pulled me in. I think I can attribute this all to being diagnosed with moderate to severe depression and needing an outlet, a distraction, something that I loved to comfort me. Every second, minute, and hour of the day was spent doing research. Even while I was at work I was listening to YouTube videos, searching online, looking at other candle makers, etc. Every day I watched Stanley Handcrafted videos to learn more and more. He’s extremely knowledgeable and always willing to share. I also joined his Facebook group. This all went into my testing phases.

I need to back up a little. While learning, I spoke with my therapist every week. It sounds crazy to have to mention to the world that I actually have a therapist that I have to speak with every week lol but it is true. She is extremely insightful and she pushed for me to continue because she noticed a change in me overall and stated I seemed lighter, more grounded, and happier.

Then over the course of a few months, I began looking for suppliers with specific products that I needed because I wanted to ensure I had exactly what I wanted for my candles and my family and friends who loved them. After finally finding what I wanted, I decided to launch after a year. To be quite frank, after having so many friends continue to ask me for candles, someone said start it as a business seriously. That’s when I said okay time to file the LLC and get the ball rolling for real this time. This took me a full year until I actually made it happen September 2021. I had a lot of issues between May 2021 and September 2021 because my application kept getting rejected, b or I finally got it right and received my LLC certificate and was excited! Now I knew it was time to get serious. I had the supplies, I am the man power, and I know how to perfect my craft. So I went straight into making it happen. It was no walk in the park. Between testing different wicks, fragrance loads, waxes, jars, and lids, I was exhausted. I also had to create my own labels and that was even worse. Actually no, the worst was having to build a website. I had to study my website and learn why looked good and what did not. That took the longest because it required my full attention (no distractions what so ever). Then my website launched, and I had so many orders from family and friends for Christmas that I ran out of supplies and had to start making products all over again. Talk about a headache, but I pushed through and persevered. Now I have a candle business. It’s still hard while working and in school, but I’m still pushing and trying to keep going!

Now let me state this, I am doing all of this while being a Masters candidate at Howard University, work a full-time job, help family back home, manage friendships, and most of all trying to balance my mental health and make sure this business is conducive to what I am trying to do with my health, heart, and mind. I also encountered many health issues where there were moments I was in the hospital and my mom didn’t know and was furious when she found out. Starting and managing a business from top to bottom, on your own, is not easy when you have no help and not as much support that you would think you would have. It sucked to realize that my friends back home were not really as supportive, but my out of state friends (some whom I had just met) were exceedingly supportive).

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

I am TaJara Riley and I am a student and full time worker. Most of how I got started is the same as mentioned before. An idea was brought to me and I executed and was putting in a lot of hard work and soon realized that I was the only one putting in a lot of time, effort, and finances so I decided to continue on with what I started on my own. I make candles and I have 3 different collections; signature, spring, and luxury. What sets my business apart is the communication and products I provide. I am really big on customer service and communication. I’ve had a customer bring a scent they would love to have to me and I executed it with no problem! I love creating scents that people love, but cannot find. That’s my niche and market. Providing scents people would love when they mention it to me. It’s all in the customization.

I am extremely proud of how far I’ve come in the face of adversity with school, work, business, family, and friendships. My business continues to do well outside of the social media spectrum and I love that for me! I’m not big on social media and consistency with posting, but I make sure all orders to date are on time and perfect. If anything happens in transit, I take it upon myself to correct it.

My entire business is centered around my mental health and how it has health me. A beautiful scent can trigger a thousands memories that is why I tell everyone that “Nothing triggers a happy memory like a scent attached to that time”. My favorite quote!

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I make sure all clients know and understand that there is a direct line of communication to me. They do not have to go through anyone. I provide an active and monitored email address and phone number for them to use if they encounter any issues related to communication, shipping, products, etc. if any issues/problems are brought to my attention, I make sure the client knows that I have their best interest at heart and that we will work to find a solution that they are satisfied with and that the company is also happy with.

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

What illustrates my resilience would be my drive. I have continued to work and push through even while dealing with multiple health issues, undergoing surgeries, and having to put the wellness of my body first. I recently underwent surgery the beginning of February which was done on my head. I won’t get into the details, but undergoing this surgery left me in a constant state of pain that I could not physically go to work nor work much at home, the meds provided did not work, and I wasn’t able to be as mobile. I knew I would be down for a while, but it almost “took me out of the game” as most would say. But I pushed myself to push the pain out of my mind and get to work and that’s all I could do. It was not easy and many times I had to sit down because I felt lightheaded or the pain was too unbearable, but I still persevered. Another situation came about where I literally had to not fulfill orders because I had to go to the emergency room to find out that I needed to take time off from work and sit still and take pain meds to allow my body to fully heal. Sitting around not being able to do anything and having to apologize to customers was the worst because it was what I loved doing, but it felt as if took many attacks on my body we’re happening which affected my business. But while sitting around I found another way to help my business. I worked on rebranding, content, found a graphic designer, and made it all still work overall.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.luxandlitaromas.com
• Instagram: @luxandlotaromas
• Facebook: @luxandlitaromas
• Other: Email: [email protected] Phone: (504)402-2586

Image Credits
Image Credits are dedicated to Hannah Mulik