A DAY IN THE LIFE OF
KALAYAAN is owned by Los Angeles native, CESSA COHEN and is produced in Southern California.
C
essa has been in the fashion industry for over 10 years as a jewellery designer and an online retailer for contemporary clothing designers. Cessa pours her love and energy into every candle she makes.
“I try to take a couple of hours every day writing out new ideas for Kalayaan..”
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I usually wake up with my cat above my head, as he waits for me to get up every morning. I start my morning by checking my emails and Instagram before heading straight for coffee - decaf of course! I call stores on the East Coast, as soon as they open so I can talk to the buyers. I spend a few hours making phone calls and emailing line sheets of our collections to various buyers. By that point I have completely forgotten what I need to do for the day and start a new To-Do list. After I have made notes of all the stores that want fragrance samples, I pack up sample packets and mail them off to the stores. Some days I have bloggers who are interested, so I send them a candle along with samples as well. I typically send out between 10-20 sets of fragrance samples to different stores, so it can be a rather lengthy process. I usually take a little break and check on my Instagram. I try to post something every few days to stay in touch with my followers. I love networking and meeting new people, so I find that Instagram is a great way to startup a conversation with someone ... hopefully someone who wants a candle!! If we are in production, I always check with my team to make sure that we are on schedule and that the candles look and smell perfect.
14:00 pm
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I try to take a couple of hours every day writing out new ideas for Kalayaan. Whether it is a gift bag for buyers, a new fragrance collection, holiday ideas or any sort of new marketing - anything that will help expand my company. I will typically meet with someone on my team to go over my ideas. I take a little time to check the Kalayaan website. I add the new stores that our collections are in, check the traffic to see if people are checking out the site and find new ways to improve and update the website. I constantly have deliveries coming in so I usually go through all of my boxes for the day and re-organize my office. In my evenings, I like to take a little time to relax. I have 3 cats, one of which is scared of everything. I have now taught her to come to me when I give her a can of food, so I like to take a bit of time to help her become less shy! I also try and visit my parents to catch up on the day with them. I don’t spend much time away from work and I try to get any last minute sample packs put together for the next day. Back to my social media! I learned that a lot of company owners check their social media at night so I like to talk to buyers in the evening when the day has settled. I usually end up making a few new connections to reach out to for the next day.
Kalayaan candles can be found at the following US stores: WAVERLY BOUTIQUE Manhattan Beach, CA www.waverlyboutique.com ISLA BOUTIQUE Laguna Beach, CA www.myislaboutique.com MAVEN BEAUTY BAR Frederick, MD www.mavenbeautybar.com
For more information about Kalayaan and more store locations, please visit
www.kalayaancandles.com