We recently connected with Taylore Graves and have shared our conversation below.
Taylore, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
A home is the most intimate place in a person’s life. It is a reflection of who you are: as a person, an individual, a family. We believe that everyone deserves to indulge in a little bit of luxury without sacrifice. While our mission is to make quality candles that are better for both you and the environment, it goes a bit deeper than just that. We strive to create candles with scents that can trigger some of your happiest memories. The reason for this is actually because of the positive impact scented candles have on an individual’s mental health.
Scented candles have been scientifically proven to improve mood, thus decreasing levels of anxiety and even depression.
Mental health is one of our highest values, due to my own struggles but more importantly because of the loss of my brother due to his.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Family and Human Development. With aspirations of returning to my field to become a Therapist after a few years in “the real world”, I moved to LA to begin my Corporate America adventure. I never thought I would be a business owner or a candle maker at that! I absolutely love coming up with new creations, from physically crafting the candles to making proprietary scents. Creating candles was never something I planned, but rather something that I fell into. It began as a passion project after being furloughed due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and has now expanded into a career. I am so grateful that I enjoy what I do every day. Heaven Scent Scottsdale handcrafts natural coconut soy, paraben free, candles that are made with either 100% cotton or wooden wicks. Since our candles are paraben free and made with quality ingredients this allows the candle scent to fill a room and leave you headache free. Before I embarked on this journey I knew very little about candles, and some of the facts that I found were quite shocking at first. I had no idea that some companies were using metal cored wicks in their candles, or other toxic ingredients. I knew there was a better way to make candles, ones without all of these harmful ingredients.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Right out of college I worked in marketing for Coca-Cola and later in Administration for Guggenheim Partners. It felt like everything had fallen into place so easily. I felt like I had, for the first time, paved a life for myself that was truly my own. Which made me feel like living in LA was where I belonged. However, we had no idea at the time that my brother had been silently suffering for years from his military related PTSD after his time in Iraq. He had pretty sparse communication with the family and was living in North Dakota after being stationed there. After multiple attempts of treatment, we lost him in May of 2017. Feeling absolutely torn apart – and remembering some of our final conversations where he repeatedly asked me to move back home to Arizona – that’s what I did. I changed career paths again and began working in Sales at Indeed.com until I could pick back up on my major and begin Grad School. Unfortunately, the loss of my older brother was still too raw and I ultimately left the program because I wasn’t ready and needed to process my own grief.
I felt lost and had no sense of direction. I wasn’t looking for a career but rather just a way to pay the bills. So I began bartending again, as I did throughout College, but when Covid-19 happened it brought back the same sense of confusion: what was I doing with my life, what was the goal? At the same time I, like many others, wanted to fill my time at home with different entertaining tasks and decided to try something new. As I mentioned before I never thought I would be a candle maker, but I am so happy that I am! So often in life I feel like we have a false sense of control over ourselves and our lives. My journey was definitely a winding road, but it taught me the skills to get to the point that I am at today. Since scented candles help elevate mood and decrease anxiety and depression it truly felt like it went full circle. I love that I have the opportunity to help people, in a different way than I originally intended, but help nonetheless.
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
Yes, we manufacture all of our products. Because Heaven Scent Scottsdale began as a passion project, I am completely self taught. I spent a lot of hours researching, watching different videos online, as well as trial and error. The testing portion was definitely the biggest hurdle before I was ready to start selling candles to anyone. Due to the nature of candles, it is important to vigorously test to make sure your candles are stable, consistent, and not a safety hazard. Each one of our products is hand poured and crafted in house to exacting standards. From precise temperatures to fragrance oil percentages, manufacturing candles is definitely a science and an art wrapped into one. We strive to ensure that every product and every order exceeds our customer’s expectations.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://heavenscentscottsdale.com/
- Instagram: @heavenscentscottsdale
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/heavenscentscottsdale/