Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Farrell. She and her team share their story with us below:
Lady Dragonfly is a mother/daughter venture (Gryselle) and daughter (Victoria) born from the need of both women to alleviate their anxiety.
Seeking how to channel their stress, and at the same time spend time together, they searched for calming activities that they both like. Gryselle wanted to take a gardening or bonsai class, but there were none available in person, Finally, they landed on a candle-making class as they shared a mutual love for candles and aroma therapy.
For many years, Victoria struggled with anxiety and depression. During her mental health journey, her mom saw candle-making as an activity that could significantly help Victoria channel her anxiety.
Ever since she was a little girl Victoria fought with depression, she didn’t understand why she would feel sad for no reason at times and how her mood swings affected her relationships with friends and even her attendance at school.
It wasn’t until her late 20s that she was diagnosed with these mental illnesses. Her anxiety started to manifest in her physical world when she was working in a toxic environment where her hair started to fall, and she gained weight and had trouble sleeping.
One day her mom, Gryselle, was sweeping the floor of their home and wondered why there were so many feathers? When she took a closer look, she realized that she was sweeping chunks of her daughter’s snowy white hair on the floor.
That is when she decided, that enough was enough and searched for calming activities to help alleviate her daughter’s anxiety while she transition to a new job.
After the candle-making class, boxes with candle-pouring kits and materials appeared at the front door. Victoria began crafting candles with crystals that helped her feel better. She found a taste for manifesting intentions into a physical candle and started giving them away as Christmas presents to co-workers.
The testimonials started pouring in, “I love the smell,”
“The candle you gave me helped me to gain focus working from home” “My wife was struck by the smell; she loved it; where can I buy them?” At that moment, they both realized that selling candles could be the start of their small business, thus Lady Dragonfly was born.
Several prototypes later, they arrived at the high-quality products and meticulous designs seen on the website today. Victoria saw in candle making a way to mix her love for spirituality and mental health with her artistic nature. Combined with Gryelle’s knowledge of metaphysics, affirmations, and crystals, they built intention candles for healing and manifestation.
But, it didn’t happen overnight, the very first candles didn’t smell and were made from basic materials. In September of 2021 Victoria began learning about materials, smells, texture, vessels, and herbs. It was not easy, it took her 3 months to make the first prototypes to gift as Christmas presents.
Victoria takes her time to find sustainable materials, and Gryselle is the nose of the company, giving the final design approval. Every candle design has undergone many changes and will continue to change to give the best quality to our customers.
Then, it took another 4 months to build the branding on social media, source materials, build the website, packaging, and booking their first Bazar. Lady Dragonfly went on their first market and made its first sale on Herprenuer on April 9th, 2022.
Since then, Gryselle and Victoria have called their business at an enormous speed, being published on Entrepreneur by Harreld, Sponsoring events supporting Latina women, and expanding to being sourced on retail shops and boutiques.
What do they have planned for the future? Lady Dragonfly has a podcast launch planned by the end of summer, 2 new products coming soon, and much more!
In the short time (9 months) that Lady Dragonfly has opened, it has helped many women choose peace for themselves, gain focus, & manifest self-love. Spirituality and healing are at the forefront of their company motto, “Together We Heal” bringing it into your home, one candle at a time.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Having a small business can be very challenging and very fulfilling at the same time. Especially when both partners have full-time jobs, Gryselle is a full-time teacher, She works days and nights.
While, Victoria, has a very demanding corporate job during the day and works on Lady Dragonfly by night. They both attend many events during the weekends, like markets, bazaars, and sponsoring events. So most of the time, they struggle to find a space to rest. It has been a challenge to accommodate this very strong and demanding workflow for both women.
Sometimes when you’re tired and stressed out you could snap at each other. The challenge is to always keep perspective and know your limits. When you’re running a small business there will be always one-thousand-and-one things to do but health and rest come first.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
LDA is a healing crystal candle company focused on healing and manifestation through intention candles. Each candle is carefully crafted with special herbs or flowers, essences, and crystals that will help fortify the user’s intention.
For example, the “Healing” candle contains gree aventurine which promotes physical and mental healing, as well as unblocking the heart chakra during chakra alignment practices. Every candle is hand-poured and hand-made right down to the label design. Made with all-natural ingredients:
– Soy wax
– Eco wick made from recyclable materials
– All-natural quartz and crystals
All vessels are recyclable
The user can keep the crystals and continue to use them in their manifestation practices.
Coming soon: Manifestation and healing lessons.
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
The new podcast launch will have both English and Spanish versions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ladydragonfly.us/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dragonfly_apothecary/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ladydragonflyapothecary
- Youtube: youtube.com/channel/UCaWSIMmpJSJMzwyjo8MRK3w
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTdEc1FAj/
Image Credits
Sarima Proveyer https://sarimaproveyer.com/
