Ten years ago this month, my then seven year old daughter and I decided to make some holiday gifts for friends and family. We wanted our gifts to be made with our own hands and we wanted to personalize them for each recipient. It felt like a new exploration into a world of delightful scents and ingredients that yielded useful and beautiful gifts. It made us happy. After researching and playing around with a variety of materials from the best ways of blending notes of essential oils for body scrubs to which wick size to use for candles, we made gifts that garnered overwhelmingly positive feedback. My daughter and I felt like we did alright that year with our gift giving. I was ready to leave it at that, but my husband kept insisting I take it further and start selling these items online. There was pushback and excuses on my end before I eventually relented. My years long journey into research and formulations began.
While writing my book, The Holistic Home: Feng Shui for Mind Body Spirit Space, I decided to call my business The Holistic Home Company. I began what became one of my greatest joys of my life – working from home. In the begininng, I could make aromatherapy sprays at the coffee table while watching a movie with with my daughter and husband. I could walk Yogi at the times he needed in between pouring batches of wax. As my gratification soared, so did my productivity. A dear friend from college who is now a creative director designed my signature lotus logo – which through the years has become embossed in cement for my lux lotus candles, burnished on wood boxes for aromatherapy sprays, hand blocked on linen pillows, hangs in gold on a necklace as well as on over one hundred product labels. My right hand, Desiree Guedez, helmed the role of Director of Operations and became invaluable in every aspect of the business. The wholesale end began to grow, products awards were bestowed and two products expanded to divisions of Beauty, Wellness, Home Goods, Herbal Teas, Adaptogens, Honey, Jewelry, Candles, Canine products and the books I’ve written.
Four years ago, I signed a lease to open a brick and mortar location in Bed Stuy Brooklyn. A few days before Christmas, I threw together a pop up style shop while construction over hauled an expansive lower level for a Wellness Center. Shortly after the Grand Opening, I was mandated to close for 4.5 months because of COVID. This time period was fraught with the fears that only a pandemic of that magnitude can offer. I pivoted my business plan to offer online classes, services and offerings, while dropping off local orders on doorsteps. Re-opening was not easy. Understandably, people were hesitant to get massages or shop in person, but it helped that Yoga and Sound Baths were on the terrace and masked acupuncturists took extreme precautions with their patients. The following years, building up the business to where I am today has been a journey filled with more catastrophes than triumphs. It has taken me a while to see the big picture, to take them both in stride, because the lessons are equally encoded.
It is a pleasure to serve the community of Brooklyn that I love, to offer restorative services and products, and to employ so many skilled and treasured healing practitioners. With stress and unrest at a high in this world right now, offering a store and wellness center that provides some solace, in these small ways has been more rewarding than I expected. I’m thankful for all the helpers along the way and the loyal customers and clients that have enabled my business to not just survive, but thrive.
