BUSINESS BULLETIN

When the pandemic struck she says, “it went kaput.”

“By the end of the lockdowns I had no clients left,” she remembers. “I sat there one day and thought; ‘I’m going to make a candle.’ I’d studied ceramics at university and I just wanted to do something creative. So I did, and it was really bad!”

Soon, she says their home in Ipswich was filled with “really bad candles” as she set about learning as much as she could.

She was fascinated by essential oils and discovered they helped her enormously in her quest for good health.

“I suffer with chronic fatigue, so I started blending them,” she says. “It’s a very heavily regulated industry and you have to know what you’re doing so I went on a journey of discovery. I learned I could blend energising fragrances using citrus in my shower gel which gave me an extra boost, or if I wanted to just chill out I’d use one from my relaxing range.”

As with all great ideas, a company was born and named after her beloved children - Elsie and Tom Candles is now a lighting the way for luxury essential oil scented candles, wax melts and natural base reed diffusers. These wonderful fragrances are specifically designed to help you relax, sleep or get energised.

Now she’s busy launching a new body range of beautiful fragrances too including making her own soaps. Life is looking good and Emma admits that she’s never been happier. Looking back she can see she was very stressed running her marketing agency. “I don’t miss that life at all,” she smiles.