Meet Lorena Cicciari | Candle extraordinaire and tranquility facilitator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lorena Cicciari and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lorena, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
When I started my business in 2019, I set out to repurpose wine bottles and handcraft them into candles. My husband and I developed a process to make them smoother and more polished than anything else in the market. It was and still is important to us to produce luxury eco-friendly products that are safe for your family and pets. So to this day, all of our materials and products are natural, eco-friendly, toxin-free, phthalate-free.

Approximately 8 months after starting my company, I was diagnosed with breast cancer so after going through that season of my life, my whole perspective and purpose around my company shifted. I was fortunate to have detected my breast cancer early so I wanted to use my business to spread awareness about breast cancer and early detection. So we partnered with The National Breast Cancer Foundation to donate a portion of every sale to breast cancer. In addition to making the donation, I wanted my candles to provide tranquility, peace and a way for women diagnosed with breast cancer to create quiet moments and reset. With every purchase, I include either my survivor story or a story from another breast cancer survivor to provide hope and encouragement to women currently battling breast cancer to know that they are not alone. My vision is to create a community where women who are currently battling breast cancer and survivors can connect to help each other get through this stressful time in their life.

What should our readers know about your business?
I am most proud of the breast cancer awareness community that I have created with my brand. I am proud that my candles are not just beautifully scented, but they are candles with a mission to create awareness around early detection of breast cancer. I believe that my breast cancer journey was a wake-up call to create a greater purpose for my brand. There is obviously plenty of room to grow, but I love where my business is at this point and where it is going. I have huge dreams and hope to collaborate with other businesses that share our mission.

This entrepreneurial life is not easy and there are certainly many mistakes I have made during my journey, but I wholeheartedly believe that the mistakes and challenges are important lessons that shape our businesses and our journey. I believe that there are no mistakes, just lessons to learn from and grow. I believe that this is a critical part of growing as an entrepreneur. So the emphasis is not on how many mistakes you make, but rather what you learn from them. Risk is something that scares many, but I embrace it and use it to keep me on my toes. It is impossible to be successful without risk.

I’ve learned so much from the small business community. I have to say that all of the small business owners that I have met at markets and pop-ups have been so generous with their knowledge and support. I am definitely paying it forward to new business owners that I meet. I always lead with community over competition. There is plenty of room for all of us at the top. Not everyone will put the work in to get there, but for those of us that do, the rewards are amazing.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend were visiting for a week, I would take her to the Claremont hotel in Berkeley for massages and brunch. For dinner we would definitely have to visit Kokkari in SF. And the trip would absolutely include a couple days in our Napa & Sonoma Wine Countries. We would visit some of my favorite wineries, Vine Cliff, Gary Farrell and Nickel and Nickel and do a cave tour at Del Dotto winery. In our Livermore wine country we would visit Concannon and Longevity wineries.

I would also include some fun hikes on Mt. Tam and Mt. Diablo.

We would go to Sausalito for shopping and lunch on the water.

And of course no trip to the bay area is complete without a trip to Muir Woods.

We are fortunate to have so many amazing things to do in the Bay Area within a 1-2 hr drive in any direction.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Yes, I would love to give a shoutout to Krystal Jugarap from EM/Powered by WMN. Krystal is a huge supporter of women owned small businesses and has created a community for women-owned small businesses to network and share ideas, provide encouragement and support with other small business owners. Her podcast provides an amazing platform for women entrepreneurs to share their stories. In addition, she provides a membership based directory for small business owners to get more visibility to their businesses.

I am grateful for all of the many small business owners who have shared information, given me advice and helped me along the way and to our retail partners who have given us an opportunity to showcase our products in their stores. I would also like to give a shoutout to my family for always being so supportive of my dreams and aspirations. Their support gives me the strength to push through any obstacles that I encounter during my small business journey.

Website: https://fiammacandle.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fiamma_candles/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fiammacandles

Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/fiammacandles

Image Credits
Jessica Wilson (Jessica K. Wilson Photo) Sarah Montano (Sarah Renee Photography)