Business can be a lonely game, but it doesn't have to be.

Welcome to Boutique Chat, where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek.

We'll hear from product-based businesses of all types, retailers, e-commerce, and wholesale brands,

along with industry experts shaping the future of our industry.

I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the boutique hub, and I can't wait to chat.

Hey, guys, welcome back to the podcast this week.

I am pumped about this conversation. We just became like fast friends. I'm pretty sure, didn't we? Thanks for being on the show today, Annabelle. Festies. Thanks for having me. I am such a nerd when it comes to like founder stories, gross stories, founders who found like really unique iterations to a product that we're all familiar

with. And I think that you've done just that in a really cool way. So I can't wait to share

with everybody what you've got going on. So as you get started, tell me the very origin story

of how the company came to be. How did we get into candles in the first place? Well, it's going to sound very random,

but I was a lawyer and it was holiday season.

I was looking for a gift for my secretary.

She loved her cat and she loved candles and diffusers.

And so I wanted to get her a candle with her cat on it.

I felt like that was something that was already

out there. So I looked for it everywhere and couldn't find it. And so I created it. And that's,

that's really how that was the idea that drove me to this obsession. I love that story. I talked to teachers and nurses and state-home moms and

everyone else who starts a small business. I get a few attorneys, but not that many. So I love that.

This is perfect. So you have this idea and it becomes your obsession. How did you first dig in?

Where did the manufacturing process begin?

So actually, I needed to understand how I was going to engrave them because really what existed at the time and still are candles that you can slap on a sticker. And then that's what they would call, you know, personalized. And that's fine, but I wanted something that had a more luxurious look

and that was more beautiful than that. So for me, that was, it was a necessity that the candle had

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