Member Spotlight: Noelle Lucas of Blaze Wellness
Hey ladies! Welcome to another Member Spotlight, featuring our members — influencers, entrepreneurs, bloggers, and girl bosses alike! Next up: Noelle Lucas of Blaze Wellness.
Keep reading to learn how Noelle started Blaze Wellness with her best friend with no prior business experience and just a passion for health and wellness!
Q: Tell us a little about you, girl!
A: Hey everyone! My name is Noelle and I was born and raised here in Atlanta. I graduated from Auburn University with a degree in exercise science, which is where my love for wellness and health originally came from! Though I had originally planned to be a Physical Therapist, starting my company with one of my best friends allowed me to see being an entrepreneur is something I love more than anything (It’s the Capricorn in me!).
Q: What inspired you and Tamara (Co-Founder) to start Blaze Wellness?
A: It’s so funny because our idea for Blaze Wellness actually stemmed from one of our MANY 3 hour long phone conversations. We were having a chat about Bath and Body works semi-annual sale (which we were very familiar with) and talked about how much money we spent on candles monthly. We also started to talk about the lack of black owned wellness companies and how there needs to be more representation within that space overall. After many more hours of chatting, we decided “Why not start our own black owned, female owned wellness company?” and thus Blaze Wellness was born.
Q: As a fairly new business, how have you navigated the many curve balls thrown at you considering these frustrating and stressful times?
A: To be honest, we have been very blessed to not have felt any severe effects on our small business during these times. We are solely an E-Commerce store, so we have always only sold our products online. Having people home more than usual has only allowed us to gain more exposure and build our brand a lot more rapidly than we had been in the beginning. Another way we were able to pivot our business model and keep people interested is by launching one of our newer candles “Chill Pill”. Chill Pill is a scent we created as our own version of a stress relief scent to help people decrease their anxiety and create a spa like environment at home! It also contains herbal scents like eucalyptus and sage, which promote immunity and clearing of the sinuses which is something people are really looking for right now.
Q: What advice do you have for young women wanting to start their own business/achieving their career goals?
A: Just start. Don’t listen to that inner voice telling you that you can’t do it or that what you have isn’t good enough. Don’t worry about what your friends and family think, just do it for you. Take it from two business owners who never took a business class and never knew ANYTHING about starting a business prior. All you have to do is start. Sit down, write out your goals (long term and short term), and make a to-do list. Once you have your list, just start breaking down those goals and actively checking things off your to-do list week by week. By the time you’re done, you should have all you need for your business. Even if you don't, who cares? You can always start and figure out the rest later. The hardest part is starting and that goes for starting a business or any goal you have in life.
Q: What’s the most rewarding—and most challenging—part of your work?
A: The most rewarding part of my job is having people tell us how much they love our candles and just getting to connect with so many other female owned businesses. Getting those emails and DMs from our customers saying they love our scents and the fun sayings on our candles makes my day. The most challenging part is finding balance between business and just everyday life. You can often feel like you can’t run an amazing business and have a social life. In the beginning, I struggled a lot with that and I tend to be a workaholic because I want everything I put my name on to be perfect. For me, I have had to learn how to separate the two and also make time to just chill out and take care of myself as well. Just because I am spending time with family and loved ones doesn’t mean I am a bad business owner and just because I’m spending time on my business doesn’t mean I’m a bad girlfriend, daughter, friend, etc. It’s all about balance.
Q: What’s next for you and your business?
A. So many exciting things! We are so excited that soon people are going to be able to shop our candles in person at a few boutiques around Atlanta (follow @blazewellness on Instagram to be updated on which ones). We are also heavily focused on positioning ourselves as more of an aromatherapy and self care brand. We’re planning on launching some really exciting products in September and debuting a new look for the company over all! When all the craziness of COVID subsides a little more, we also want to start hosting more wellness events around Atlanta. So stay tuned because we definitely have so many more expansions and exciting things coming for our brand!
THERE YOU HAVE IT, LADIES
A glimpse into how Noelle trusted her intuition and confidently started Blaze Wellness alongside her best friend. If you are looking for some new products to take your self care routine to the next level, make sure to check out their site to support a local black women-owned business! Follow Blaze Wellness on Instagram to keep up with new products and restocks.
Who should we spotlight next?! Leave a comment below!
