E30: Crafting Clean Candles: Aria Bella Candle is Pittsburgh's Non-Toxic Candle Co.

What makes Arianna Posa with Aria Bella Candles a good neighbor? 

Discover the aromatic world of Aria Bella Candles as founder Arianna Posa shares her entrepreneurial journey from college sophomore to successful candle maker. What began as an alternative to traditional career paths blossomed into a thriving business specializing in non-toxic, personalized soy candles for weddings, special events, and home décor.

Arianna takes us behind the scenes of her craft, debunking common misconceptions about candle toxicity that might surprise even the most discerning consumers. She reveals why clean-certified fragrance oils are actually preferable to essential oils when it comes to candle making – essential oils aren't meant to be burned and can become toxic at high temperatures. This commitment to truly clean ingredients allows Aria Bella Candles to deliver on their promise that customers can "breathe a breath of fresh air."

From marketing strategies centered on Instagram Stories and word-of-mouth referrals to balancing business with new motherhood, Arianna offers valuable insights for entrepreneurs and candle enthusiasts alike. Whether you're planning a wedding, corporate event, or simply looking to enhance your home with non-toxic fragrances, Aria Bella Candles offers customization options limited only by your imagination. Connect with them through their website ariabellacandles.com or on social media @ariabellacandle to transform your next celebration with personalized scents crafted with care.

To learn more about Aria Bella Candles go to: 

www.ariabellacandles.com

Aria Bella Candles

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Lila Carter.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
The Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a candlecompany?
One might be closer than youthink.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
Ariana Poza, with Aria BellaCandles.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Ariana, how's it going?
Great Thanks for having me on,thanks for being here.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
We're excited to learn all about you and your
business, so tell us about yourcompany.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, so I own Aria Bella Candles.
It's a candle company thatspecializes in personalized soy
candles.
Candles.
It's a candle company thatspecializes in personalized soy
candles.
We primarily sell gifts such aswedding favors, different event
favors for bridal showers,birthdays, anniversaries.
We also do corporate eventgifting and we sell a home decor

(00:59):
line of candles as well.
All of our candles arenon-toxic, so we use clean,
certified fragrance oils, cottonwicks and a hundred percent soy
wax.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Beautiful.
How did you get into thisbusiness?

Speaker 3 (01:12):
So I was in college.
I was a sophomore in college.
This was back in 2015.
And I was an integratedmarketing communications major
and the work in that fieldtypically goes towards agency
work.
And I thought to myself I don'tknow that I really want to go
into agency work, and I wasstarting to spiral a bit the
closer I got to graduation.

(01:33):
So I decided let me try my handat starting my own Etsy shop.
And so I decided on candles,because I loved Yankee Candle.
As a kid.
We always used to go on our waydown to North Carolina.
There was a store inWilliamsburg.
It was this big store and Iloved smelling all the candles
and I thought to myself well, Ithink I can make candles, I can

(01:53):
learn.
And so that's what I did and Istarted an Etsy store.
And in 2019, I started to pickup some traction when I added
wedding favors.
And in 2020, during thepandemic, things really kicked
off and it's been good goingever since.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Brilliant.
So what are some myths ormisconceptions in your industry?

Speaker 3 (02:15):
I think a huge one is about the toxicity of candles.
So absolutely the big boxbrands.
They use fragrance oils that dohave really harmful chemicals
in them, like there's organtoxins, reproductive toxins,
there are carcinogens and thosetypes of fragrances.
But I make sure that all of mycandles are sourced we use clean

(02:37):
, certified fragrance oils.
So we source all cleanfragrance oils.
So a lot of people think thatthey have to buy essential oil
candles to get 100% natural sortof burn.
But the misconception really isthat essential oil candles
aren't actually better thanfragrance oil candles in the
sense that essential oils aren'tmeant to be burned, they're

(02:57):
meant to be diffused.
So when you do burn essentialoils at a certain temperature
they become actually toxic.
So I prefer to use fragranceoils in my products, but I make
sure that I source the cleanestfragrance oils possible so that
you could breathe the breath offresh air which is our tagline.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Wow, what great insight.
And so we know that marketingis the heart of every business.
How are you attracting yourtarget customers, and who?

Speaker 3 (03:24):
are they business?
How are you attracting yourtarget customers and who are
they?
Yeah, absolutely so.
We mainly advertise just onsocial media.
We don't do a lot of paidadvertising.
The only sort of paidadvertising currently that we
utilize are Etsy ads, and that'sjust native to the Etsy
platform.
We do use Instagram primarilyon stories.
I don't do a whole bunch offeed posts Instagram primarily

(03:47):
on stories.
I don't do a whole bunch offeed posts.
I like to communicate with mycustomers to show different
orders.
Something new I've been doingis adding every order that I get
for wedding favors and taggingthe customer and sharing that
with all of my Instagramfollowers.
And my customers are primarilybrides or maids of honor,
matrons of honor that arehosting events.
We're mainly targeting womenthat are in their late twenties

(04:09):
to mid to late thirties, I wouldsay.
And also I would say a huge waythat I get customers is word of
mouth.
I have, like I said, weddingfavors and so people buy these
in large quantities and as theyget these little gifts, they can
flip it over and they have mywebsite.
A lot of new customers fromthat, and then also repeat

(04:30):
customers that have bought mycandles for different events and
whatnot they come back fortheir next event.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
I know that a lot of people are interested in product
formulation or maybe interestedin how your story speaks, so
have you ever thought aboutdoing your own podcast?

Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah, you know, it's not something I have thought of
doing, but maybe down the linethat is something I could
consider for sure.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Well, so outside of work, what else do you do for
fun?

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Right now I'm just hanging with my baby.
She's six months old, so that'sreally my life right now is
just being a mom.
But we have a ton of fun.
We go to the pool, we go to thezoo, you know just the little
family life stuff.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Oh, congratulations, thank you.
Please tell our listeners onething that they should remember
or that should stick with them,about Aria Bella candles.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Well, I would say, aside from us having non-toxic
candles, we can personalizeanything.
So if you have a logo thatyou'd like to put on a candle or
you want to do a custom line ofcandles, we offer wholesale, we
offer private label, we offerpersonalization, so we can
really do anything with ourcandles.
So just reach out to us andwe'd be happy to chat.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Excellent, and how can our listeners learn more
about Aria Bella?

Speaker 3 (05:42):
Candles.
You can go to our website,which is ariabellacandlescom.
You can also find us onInstagram, facebook, tiktok,
pinterest at Aria Bella Candle,and you can always send us an
email.
Pinterest at ariabellacandle.
And you can always send us anemail at hello at
ariabellacandlescom, and wewould be happy to chat.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Beautiful.
Well, Ariana, I reallyappreciate your time today and
having you as a guest on ourshow.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
Thank you so much for having me on.
It was a pleasure.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Thank you for listening to the good neighbor
podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPPittsburghcom.
That's GNP Pittsburghcom, orcall 412-561-9956.