Tamara Mayne started Brooklyn Candle Studio out of her own apartment as a fun side project.

While working as a graphic designer, Mayne experimented with her favorite scents, and crafted beautifully handmade accessories for her friends.

Soon, she started selling online, and began expanding her label to include even more affordable, artisanal products for the home. Now, Brooklyn Candle Studio products have been sold in major retailers and online spaces, like J. Crew, Gilt, One Kings Lane, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, and more.

As part of House Tipster Industry’s regular Women of Design feature, we spoke exclusively with the creator to learn about the start of her business, its wildly-fast expansion, and her goals for the future ahead. Catch our exclusive Q&A below.

House Tipster Industry: How did you first go about starting Brooklyn Candle Studio, and what was the initial process like?

Tamary Mayne: When I first started the company, it was just myself – and occasionally my husband – making all the candles, interfacing with customers, and shipping all the product. I had been perfecting the craft of candle making for 10 months, and in September 2013 I created an Etsy shop with just a few products not really expecting anything—mainly just so a few friends and coworkers could have a place to order the candles I had been making for fun. A few small orders came in at first which I already found super exciting!

Then, Etsy featured the shop in one of their emails sent out to millions of customers, and I received an overwhelming flood of orders and buyer inquiries asking if I did wholesale and would be interested in being in their shops.

I was crazed the entire holiday season working as an art director during the day and pouring and shipping candles at night. Finally, in January 2014, a subscription box service asked me to produce 1,100 candles.

At that point, I thought I could really pursue BCS as a real entrepreneurial venture and quit my job to work on it full-time. Of course, I quit during down season and had to get a few other full-time freelance art director jobs to get by until September when I was able to finally run BCS full-time, and it’s been that way for the last 4 years!

House Tipster Industry: What has been the most challenging moment you faced in establishing the business?

Tamara Mayne: There were quite a few challenging moments from the beginning (and now!), but one of the most difficult aspects was just basic fulfillment of orders on my own without help. The sheer volume was overwhelming, and combined with commuting and working until sometimes 10pm (I was freelancing in advertising) then having to make and ship candles all night was exhausting. It was all worth it, though!

House Tipster Industry: How has your company expanded since its beginning?

Tamara Mayne: Expansion seemed to happen very fast—our popularity really surged during Spring of 2015 when Urban Outfitters placed a gigantic order for 10,000 or so candles. I had to hire additional help quickly, and we had to produce fast to meet the ship date. Since then, we steadily grew until last August I decided we could finally afford to do NYNOW, the huge international biannual gift show held in the Javits Center.

We acquired many, MANY new accounts at that show, and our order volume multiplied. We moved to the studio double the size of our previous one, I hired an Operations Manager, an Account Manager, an additional shipping person, and two production assistants. I was finally free to focus on creative/marketing, my forte, and completely redesigned our product line and added new ones to really elevate the brand.

This year has been our most successful to date, kicking off with a huge order from J.Crew and the acquisition of many new accounts and direct-to-consumer through trade shows, influencer marketing, word-of-mouth, and aggressive email list growth. We’re adding 1-2 new employees for next year and are expanding our space by 50%.

House Tipster Industry:  What’s an accomplishment in your career so far that you’re most proud of?

Tamara Mayne: There are many, but my most proud moment was finally being able to offer mostly subsidized health insurance to my employees.

House Tipster Industry:  Where do you find the most inspiration in your work?

Tamara Mayne: I find the most inspiration in travel, nature, new experiences, arresting visuals, beautifully balanced typography, and well-composed prose. Capturing aromas of new places that stay with you as you’re flying home, flipping through magazines featuring artfully styled editorials and reading articles that spark visuals in my imagination. I browse through Pinterest and design books for packaging and product photography inspiration, and get my best ideas while daydreaming on the subway.

House Tipster Industry: Who are some other women business owners who inspire you?

Tamara Mayne: I’m obviously inspired by other female business owners from different candle companies like Margot Breznik from Tatine and Kristen Pumphrey from P.F. Candle Co. They helped pave the way for other small batch candle companies like ours that are actual brands instead of just manufacturers.

I have great admiration for women business owners who prioritize ethical practices and eco-consciousness like Elizabeth Suzann and Jesse Kamm. I feel like many business owners out there neglect their employees and only focus on revenues and profits as measures of success.

I think it’s important to give back to those who help propel your business with paid time off, higher pay, bonuses, maternity leave, healthcare, and more. I truly believe us business owners can change the world by giving back to our employees by offering a better quality of life.

House Tipster Industry:  Have you had any helpful mentors or guides over the years?

Tamara Mayne: My husband has been my rock in this entrepreneurial journey from the very beginning. From helping me wick candles early on to emotional support during the lows of owning a business to legal, business, and e-commerce advice, he’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a mentor.

House Tipster Industry:  What are a few upcoming projects you’re working on for 2019?

Tamara Mayne: I’m working on a few new exciting scents and potentially a few cool collaborations! In 2019, I really want to focus on streamlining our business—outsourcing some fulfillment to reduce the crazy volume for our shipping team, discontinuing our least popular scents to make production manageable, figure out solutions to our ongoing issue of limited space. I might come up with some new ideas in the New Year, but those are the goals for now!