By Tabitha Ervin
Editorial Director

Londria Ewing-Ladner was in Chicago looking for date night ideas and a candle making bar came up. She went and had a good time. She then went to one in Indianapolis a few times and liked the concept so much that she felt like she could start her own! During the pandemic, she was making candles for herself at home so she knew a little about how to get started. Thus began the journey of her candle bar right here in Fort Wayne!

She had not run a business before and found the SEED program a week into it starting and they allowed her to get in the program. She feels like the business training she got in the program helped her get started and understand how to build a budget, get a loan and a variety of other skills needed to be successful.

Ervin: Congratulations on your early success! I’ve seen so many pictures and posts online! Tell us how you put everything together to get started?

Ewing: Thank you! After the SEED program training and having my budget written, I went and got a personal loan that I was confident I could pay back along with my savings and then began to look for a location. I got a personal loan because when looking at a business loan I needed to already have a business and I was just starting. Looking for a location was the hard part as I got a few denials initially and was ready to give up. My instructor and classmates encouraged me to keep going and the right place would come around and eventually it did!

Ervin: This is awesome and congrats on your tenacity so how’s it going?

Ewing: It’s going so well that I was able to pay my loan back in two months! I’ve been booked pretty much since our soft opening! I was supposed to originally open in July then September then finally opened in October and it’s been nonstop! I wasn’t sure who my clients would be in the Fort Wayne community but I was determined to appeal to all demographics and I’ve been really surprised at all the support from everyone!

Ervin: So how does the process work?

Ewing: I have a booking site so you book online. We do allow walk-ins but if it’s busy with bookings that becomes difficult. Once you are here we have a whole process where you pick your scents then we narrow it down to three. You then get to add your scent to the hot wax and your candle is on the way! It takes about two hours to dry so most people come back to pick up.

I was already doing this on a small scale at home so I just did my research to make sure I knew how to instruct people and that various scents would work well together. This was much more fun to learn than science when I was in school.

Ervin: What else do you want people to know?

Ewing: I am open to hosting private parties, events and groups as well as walk-ins, individuals and couples. Our prices range from $22-40 for various options. The site is Wixporiumcandlebar.com or call 260-434-WIXX and we are also on Facebook and Instagram. We also have gift cards for any occasion! And don’t forget about date nights which is how I started on this journey!

Ervin: Well congrats again and you talk about it with such ease.

Ewing: I will close and say it wasn’t easy. I definitely was afraid but I did it anyway and there were sacrifices during the process. I was confident in myself and kept going. It was a lot of work and stress and hurdles to climb but through it all I had encouragement and I will say if it was easy, everyone would do it. It’s definitely not easy!