Hi Taneidra, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, but I moved to Texas in 2015 to pursue a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering. I graduated in 2020 and now call Houston, Texas my home. I am currently working full-time as a product engineer in the medical device industry. To cope with the challenges of transitioning into my new career, I started using candle aromatherapy to ground myself after a bustling day at work.
As someone who loves crafts and D.I.Y. projects, I challenged myself to start making my own candles with unique scents that specifically resonated with the many moods I experienced after work. When I first started a year ago, I thought that it would be as simple as melting the wax, adding in a random amount of fragrance oil, and letting it set. Oh, was I wrong! I quickly learned that there is science behind candle-making. From then on, I started using my science background to guide my candle formulations. And voila, Enkindled Moods was born! I chose to name the company Enkindled Moods as enkindle means to inspire an emotion, and that is exactly what my candles do for me!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I have definitely encountered some challenges along the way. As I mentioned before, I underestimated all of the parameters involved in candle-making. I lost a lot of time and money during the first few months by using the trial-and-error approach to make my candles. That is when I had to take a step back and start viewing candle-making from a scientific perspective. Since making that switch, the process has become much more standardized and has allowed me to produce quality candles that perform well consistently.
Another challenge I am currently facing is having a lack of business funding. As many small businesses know, you have to build business credit before you can secure funding from lenders. So for now, I am diverging a decent amount of my personal funds to my business. Unfortunately, this limits what products the company can offer upfront and requires that I am very strategic with how I invest the company’s resources at this stage. That being said, I am extremely blessed to have a career that allows me to be able to support my business without taking away from my personal financial security.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I used my background in science to formulate candles that can inspire your mood. Specifically, these candles are engineered with unique scents that are inspired by commonly shared experiences or adventures. They are highly concentrated to provide the best scent throw without the sensitizing headaches, optimized to burn at a slow rate when used properly, and are aesthetically pleasing with their minimalistic design.
Furthermore, this brand has another hidden mission that stems beyond inspiring your mood. I created the Enkindled Moods brand to also inspire our Black and Brown youth to pursue a career in science or engineering. Being only the fourth Black student to graduate from my Ph.D. program since its formation in 2002, and now being the only Black person in my department at my current job, has made me hyper-aware of the lack of representation in the fields of science and engineering. I set out on a mission to increase the representation of Black and Brown graduate students when I was in school. Now that I have graduated, I want to shift my efforts to focus on increasing representation in the industry. I believe one way that we can increase representation in science and engineering is to target grade-level students, as these students are at the critical point in life when they start to decide what they want as a career.
To help facilitate this engagement, Enkindled Moods plans to offer fun and interactive workshops that teach the science of candle making and/or plans to donate resources to a community organization that provides similar types of engaging learning opportunities to young Black and Brown students. Although Enkindled Moods was recently launched, I am confident that there will be many supporters of this mission and will help it to become a reality.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was very creative, studious, high-functioning, and inquisitive about science. It’s no surprise that I ended up pursuing a Ph.D. and now pursuing entrepreneurship in candle-making. I was also very compassionate, a leader, and loved to uplift those within my circle. These traits still hold true today and are the reason I want to empower the Black and Brown youth with knowledge to become the next generation of scholars.
Pricing:
- Candles- $12.50
- Wax Tarts- $6.50
Contact Info:
- Email: enkindledservice@gmail.com
- Website: www.enkindledmoods.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enkindledmoods/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enkindledmoods/
Image Credits
James De’Rouen
