We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tina Guevara (Formerly Peterson). We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tina below.
Hi Tina, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
In retrospect, The Zona Co. was founded a long time ago, I just didn’t quite realize it yet. Ever since I was a little girl, I was always in the lab trying to make my own “potions” for my family and myself. I would mix and create my own shampoos, soaps, and perfumes and would absolutely have a blast inventing my own little creations and sharing them with my family to make them smile. As it turned out… I would be doing the exact same thing, just 20 years later with spunky-named, clean-ingredient candles!
The Zona Co. came into fruition one evening when I was shopping for candles and suddenly had the random urge to know exactly what was IN the candles I was buying. I was just starting to really pay attention to the products I was bringing into my home. My curiosity was positively peaked! To my surprise, I did not like what I read. I never knew how unhealthy and harmful candles could actually be, and the lasting effects they could have on my family, pets, home, and myself.
I came up with a mantra while daydreaming about my future and envisioning my true goals in life. Shortly after, I came up with the idea for The Zona Co. Since then, this mantra has really been the foundation of everything I create. It’s amazing the things that can happen in your life when you just focus on this simple concept: breathe. envision. manifest. That’s when a little light bulb went off. I spent countless hours, weeks, and months researching and testing, knowing I was on a mission to create something everyone would feel safe and excited to have in their homes. Flash forward and here we are: clean-ingredient, spunky candles, made just for you!
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’m Tina, a Georgia girl with an Arizona heart. I am the founder and creator of The Zona Co and I LOVE absolutely everything I do for “Zona” as I like to call it. I am driven by my passion to create! I truly enjoy the little things in life and just want to inspire others to love them as well. I want to encourage everyone to follow the dreams that make them feel alive. Life is just too short not to!
The Zona Co. candles are made of 100% all-natural soy wax from soybeans grown right here in the U.S. They are non-toxic, infused with essential oils, and topped with real crystal chips. To take it a step further, our products are also free of lead, zinc, phthalates, carcinogens, and reproductive toxins. The essential oils and crystals aid in various helpful benefits. Our flat-braided cotton wicks + our eco-friendly wax cause each candle to burn clean, slow, and soot-free, ultimately giving you a guilt-free burn. No harm, no foul here!
While health comes first, we strongly believe happiness is right alongside it! Our unique and spunky candle names will put a smile on your face and hopefully remind you to not always take life so seriously. Our candles serve as a sense of comedic relief and a little spark of joy to add to your everyday life… not to mention the magical glowing effect that takes you on a cozy, calming retreat with every light.
Zona is so much more than a candle company. It’s a loving community on a journey to discover their ultimate self-care routine to help cleanse their spaces to bring aid to their mental health and overall well-being. Too many of us fall into the routine of a stressful life where we struggle to find healthy ways to recharge our batteries. I wanted to create something that was not only safe to have in the home but something that evokes pure joy with every use.
We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.
I use Shopify as my platform for all things eCommerce and I truly love it! It was important for me to be able to have a creative hand in what the website was going to look like, but I know that I do not have the coding experience to start something from scratch. Shopify allowed me to do just that! It gave me a template and I took over the rest. I love all of the functions and capabilities that Shopify has to offer and the customer service is unmatched.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I am so grateful to have such a supportive community and growing clientele over these past four years. I believe that the key ingredient of my reputation is simple: a product that is exactly what it says it is. My candles speak for themselves and here’s why: They smell amazing (throughout the entire life of the candle), are packed full of non-toxic ingredients, last a long time (we love a good, slow burn), have funny names that make you smile, and most importantly, they are created with the absolute best of intentions and with an abundance of love. This right here is what I believe continues to build my reputation in my market. I love showing up for my customers and getting to know each and every one of them. Farmer’s markets are my absolute favorite days, because I get to meet the people who are so kind to support my mission. I truly just want to spread joy and light in a world that can feel so dark at times. I hope Zona will continue to brighten the days of others for many years to come.
Contact Info:
- Website: thezonaco.com
- Instagram: @thezonaco