We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Val Barnett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Val below.
Val , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
The kindest thing anyone has ever done for me is when a customer prayed for me. I was selling at a farmers market and a customer came to my booth to smell my candles. After smelling my candles, he asked me how I develop the scents and the names of the products. I explained to him that Emmerse creates custom scent blends for all of our products and that I create them by trusting my nose and judgement in the process. He then complimented me on how great all the candles smelled and proceeded to purchase his favorite scents.
After his purchase he asked me if he could pray for me. I was humbled and surprised because I have never had a customer ask to pray for me. I consented and he grabbed my hands and asked God to continue to bless my hands and nose on my journey. It was one of the most thoughtful things anyone has ever done for me.
I found it so remarkable and thoughtful that someone would take the time they could be spending asking for their own blessings to ask God to bless me. To this day, it is a moment that I cherish, deeply.
Val , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
At the age of 15, I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. After this, I used candles to help myself relax as I matriculated through my education and workplaces. After working as a healthcare executive for over ten years, I found myself looking for more ways to relax and in need of a change of environment. Emmerse was born out of my need for a mental health outlet in combination with my love for using scents to fuel relaxation.
In 2020, after making large candle purchases, my husband recommended I start making candles for myself. After this motivation, I spent months creating custom scent blends and researching the best performing and environmentally friendly waxes. I created Emmerse to share my love for different scents and my deep passion for advocating for everyone to place their mental health at the top of their priority list. I started sharing the candles with my friends and they encouraged me to sell them to others; hence Emmerse was born. As someone who has coped with a mental health disorder for the majority of my life, I understand the importance of creating a safe environment for others to explore their mental health and the need for safe products that can help you relax and the need for products that can be easily incorporated into daily activities.
Emmerse provides relaxation in a jar to help our customers reach their desired level of peace. Many of our customers know they need to relax, but they simply don’t feel like they have the time.
Emmerse designs products that can be incorporated into daily activities, removing the time barrier for relaxation. Our candles can be used throughout the day and our bar soaps can take any shower and turn it into an oasis. We pride ourself on having a scent for everyone; helping all of our customers Get Emmersed.
More important, we are an eco-friendly company that will remain committed to respecting the environment as we continue to grow. The environment is at the forefront of our product and supply decisions.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I originally started Emmerse in Oakland, California. At the start of 2022, my husband and I decided to relocate to ATL, so the business needed to move as well. Relocating Emmerse to the Metro-Atlanta area was a big move and it taught me a lot about truly running a business. The relocation meant that I needed to leave my established market and re-establish relationships, business ventures and customers in the Atlanta area. I learned so much about operations and regulatory compliance from the prospective of owning and operating a business in a brand new state.
The relocation also gave me a great opportunity to set up a new production area that was more ergonomically friendly and a production area that could produce double the products as my previous production area. While it was a very challenging time, a lot of great lessons were learned and I was able to focus on improving production in the process.
Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?
Emmerse creates all of our products from scratch. We are proud to be a company that manufactures products in the United States. When I started producing products and prior to us launching new products, we do a substantial amount of research on ingredients, recipes and procedures. We write all of our own recipes for our products and we love to experiment with diverse natural ingredients.
Through manufacturing we have learned so much. We’ve learn to leave time and room for error, and to build in a buffer for recipe testing prior to establishing a selling timeline. In addition, we’ve learned to build in time for packaging and labeling products. All of our manufacturing lessons have really helped us to better predict our timelines and prices for finished products.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.getemmersed.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/
getemmersed - Facebook: www.facebook.com/
getemmersed - Linkedin: linkedin.com/
company/getemmersed - Twitter: twitter.com/getemmersed
Image Credits
Kola Shobo, Lena Allure