- What?
Wow really, you guys.
Yes.
Hey, I'm X Mayo,
and you're watching "By Black,
your guide on a road to black equity".
This week we're looking at a brand that captures the essence
of the Harlem Renaissance and scented candles,
the Harlem Candle Company.
We're going down in Harlem.
♪ Black and I'm proud ♪
♪ Say it loud ah ♪
♪ Black and I'm proud ♪
- On the Northern tip of the Manhattan Island is a piece
of the borough known as Harlem.
The great migration caused by inequality in the South,
and an inability to make a living wage,
forced 300,000 African-Americans to move North,
where many eventually settled in Harlem.
The settlement of black men and women in the city,
resulted in a boom of art, literature, music,
and much much more known as the Harlem Renaissance.
This era birthed poets like Langston Hughes
and Countee Cullen.
Anthropologist and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston,
musicians like Louis Armstrong,
entertainers like Paul Robeson and Josephine Baker.
The father of black American art, Aaron Douglas
and black nationalist leader, Marcus Garvey.
Today, the founder of the Harlem Candle Company,
Terry Johnson, creates sense that encapsulate
the Harlem Renaissance.
- Hi, everyone.
Welcome to "By Black".
I'm your host X Mayo,
and today we have an amazing black female entrepreneur,
and queen.
She's also the CEO of the Harlem Candle Company.
Guys, please give it up for Terry Johnson.
Hi Terry.
- Hi, thank you so much for having me.
- So I wanna get started
with knowing a little bit about yourself, your background
and what inspired you to start the Harlem Candle Company.
- Yeah, so I'm originally from Houston, Texas,
and I moved to Harlem after I graduated from college,
and I just fell in love.
I absolutely loved Harlem and I was surrounded
by these street names, Frederick Douglas
and Martin Luther King, and just,
just surrounded by all these symbols that were significant.
And I wanted to really understand a lot more
about old Harlem and what makes Harlem so special.
And it just led me to really uncovering all
of these amazing gems from Harlem Renaissance.
I had no idea was ever gonna start a candle line,
I absolutely love beautiful fragrances.
I've been a huge consumer of luxury candles for a long time.
And I met a chemist who gave me my first set
of fragrance oils.
I ended up making a bunch of candles
for friends and family for the holiday season,
gifted them, and they were blown away by the fragrances
and by the stories of each candle.
And I got so into just doing the packaging and the design.
So I decided to start a business,
and I wanted to just see how people received the brand.
And I started in my Harlem kitchen
and I was able to trademark the name Harlem Candle Company.
And I realized that, okay, I got the name Harlem,
I really need to do it justice.
I need to honor those people, those icons,
those legendary figures that came before us
and who made Harlem what it is today.
- So Terry, I would like to know what separates
the Harlem Candle Company from any other candle.
- What makes the Harlem Candle Company different
than any other candle company out there,
is the fact that our scents really do transport you
back to the Harlem Renaissance.
Celebrating the iconic people like the Josephine Bakers,
and the James Baldwins of the world.
And we really wanna celebrate their legacy
through beautiful fragrances.
So we have a candle inspired by James Baldwin's garden
when he lived in St. Paul de Los in France.
And his garden has roses,
and so we put beautiful rose notes.
Langston Hughes working late at night with, you know
the nice and sweet tobacco and the leather and the incense.
I really wanted to create the essence
of Josephine Baker's boudoir.
And here she is living in Paris.
And she is the most famous person in Paris at the time.
How did women perfume themselves back in that time?
And so there's like a very powdery sort
of underlying tone to it.
And so we really wanna create things
that celebrate people.
And at the same time, we're sharing bits
of history for those people who might not know that much
about these iconic people and places.
- So what was the moment when you were like
"Okay, I'm actually going to start a business."
- Well when I started making the candles
and gifting them to friends and family,
I didn't just rush right into starting a business.
I felt in my heart that it was a really, really good idea
but I also needed confirmation.
So I started selling my handcrafted candles at these popups
and these artisan markets here in New York
and here in Harlem,
and the confirmation came from customers
you know, coming to these pop-ups week after week.
And then a fragrance professional saw what I was doing
on Instagram and online and was like,
"Hey I see what you're doing,
I wanna help you."
And that really kind of changed my world.
And I got introduced to these insane perfumers.
I mean, they're just incredible.
They do the fragrances for Givenchy,
for Joe Malone, - Wow.
- Estee Lauder, yeah.
And so they are the same perfumers who are now working
on the Harlem Candle Company fragrances.
So that was confirmation.
- Yeah.
When you decided to start the Harlem Candle Company,
did you get any pushback from peers saying
that maybe that this wouldn't work?
And if so, what was that like?
- I had people in my family
who weren't necessarily huge fans
of me starting a business from scratch.
You know, I'm the fifth generation in my family
to graduate from college.
Generations of educators and engineers
and doctors and lawyers,
but not necessarily entrepreneurs.
And here I was like,
"Oh, nope,
I wanna start a candle business."
And it's not like we have any-
- And they're lawyers and doctors,
and you're just like,
"Excuse me, you wanna play with wax?"
- It took some convincing.
And it also just took,
honestly, this is what it took.
It took, Bloomingdale saying,
"Hi, we would like the Harlem Candle Company
to be on our shelves."
- So we have a special surprise for you here,
from By Black.
- I love surprises so this is great.
- What?
- I'm Terry's dad.
I want to take this opportunity to just say
how very proud I am of her accomplishments and achievements.
Although she's no longer that little girl
who used to tightly hold my hand as we crossed the street,
she remains the brave and beautiful daughter
who sets high goals and powers through to reach those goals.
I remain blessed to have Terry as my daughter,
and I remain grateful for all she means to me.
Terry, you should remember
that I will always be there for you.
And I will always love you and be very proud of you.
- Wow, really you guys.
Yes.
- He never does things like this.
So the fact that you guys got him to turn the camera on,
like we don't even do zoom.
We just talk on the phone.
- So Terry, I really want people to continue to support you
and your brand so can you please drop your social media
for yourself and for the Harlem Candle Company.
- Yeah the social media for me is travelistateri,
and for the Harlem Candle Company,
it is harlemcandlecompany.
- Well, it was such a pleasure speaking to you.
I look forward to seeing your future business,
and to be purchasing more of your candles.
- Thank you so much, thank you.
- You welcome.
Bye.
- Bye.
♪ Say it loud ah ♪
♪ Black and I'm proud ♪
♪ Say it loud ♪