This is the year I got excited about branding the candles and creating a story that resonated with my audience at pop ups and online. 

I actually started building  two brands; The Harlem Candle Company (inspired by the Harlem Renaissance) and Travelista Candles (inspired by my favorite destinations).  I would sell them at a local artisan market in Harlem and I got tons of feedback and ideas on how to further develop the brands. I knew that launching two brands at the same time wasn't the wisest thing to do but I needed my audience to help me decide which brand deserved my full attention and focus.  The Harlem Candle Co was obviously the winner.

By the end of the year, I had fully developed the Harlem Candle Co brand and completely changed my packaging, fragrances (thanks to an amazing team of perfumers) and did an overhaul on the brand and website just in time for the soft launch of  Lenox, Ellington, Savoy and Holiday in December.

The soft launch was a success and our feature in the December 20, 2015 issue of the New York Post led to our invitation to be the exclusive home fragrance company to exhibit at the Architectural Digest Design Show.  This amazing opportunity allowed me and my team to really showcase the vision of the brand while officially debuting the Harlem Candle Company to the design world.  We built a 1930's Harlem parlor room as our booth where we displayed and sold the product and connected with interior designers, retail stores and show attendees. 

We introduced two new fragrances at the show, Josephine and Sugar Hill that are now part of our luxury collection.  We were the most photographed booth at the show and we sold out of almost all of our products.

We continued to grow the brand and we secured more wholesale accounts.  We launched our Amazon store and participated in at least fifty pop ups throughout the course of the year.

We spent ten months developing a new fragrance, Langston inspired by Langston Hughes.  To celebrate the launch, we hosted a private event with our top customers and tastemakers at the home in Harlem where Hughes lived.  

In February 2018 we were introduced to the home goods buyers at Bloomingdale's who loved the brand and decided to launch it in four stores in November 2018.  

We also returned to exhibit at the Architectural Digest Design Show with a "Hollywood Meets Harlem" theme that was a hit with the show attendees and designers around the world.

By the summer, the business had expanded to the point of no longer being able to operate out of Teri's two bedroom apartment, so we partnered with a logistic and fulfillment company to help with order volume and to work with our first big retailer, Bloomingdale's. 

From November 12th - December 24th, we are excited to announce that we will have a pop up at the Grand Central Holiday Fair.  Details to follow.