TAGazine | VOL. 5 (MTV Movie Awards) | Page 11

Kristen Jackson Lit&Co. Candles Candles I started out making small batch candles in a spare room in my home and selling solely online. This quickly turned into selling in local boutiques, then branching out to accounts in other states, then other countries, to finally reaching a point where I had to make the choice to either leave my great, stable day job to focus on candles or to scale back on the small business. “From day one, it has been important to me to provide a really great product that not only meets, but exceeds my customers’ expectations. There are a lot of candles and home fragrance options on the market, but I knew that my buyer wanted something better.” What’s been your most popular item or line to date? The most popular item, by far, is the Recycled Wine Bottle Candle. Not only is this candle beautiful, it also helps people in the community which is a major win-win. This absolutely thrills me because these jars are really special - they are donated wine bottles from Boise-area bars and restaurants that are sorted, washed, cut, polished and processed by hand by people with employment barriers (recent incarceration, homelessness, refugees, at-risk youth, seniors, etc). The organization teaches these individuals valuable work skills that can help them re-enter the workforce and get back on their feet. What is your favorite part in the process of designing products? My favorite and most successful method of launching new products is taking inspiration from my customers! I take that information and formulate a plan to create scents and home fragrance products that would not only delight my customers, but could potentially fill a need as well. litandco.com TAGazine | 11