Black College Student Finds Sweet Success Selling Dessert-Like Candles

Dominique Shawn Norwood, founder of Dom's Dessert Candles

Dominique Shawn Norwood from South Orange-Maplewood, New Jersey, is a college student at William Paterson University, but she is also the CEO and Founder of Dom's Dessert Candles. Her company produces candles that look like delicious desserts - with delicious flavors that vary from strawberry shortcake to apple pie to banana cheesecake to peach cobbler and many more.
How she came up with the idea

Dominique says that one of her cousins once gave her a hot chocolate candle as a gift, and it was like love at first sight. She comments, "I started to research the art of making candles that look like food. Within a few weeks, I purchased my first mold to create my first dessert candle ever - The Canned Peaches." The design looked just like a real can of peaches.

After getting positive reviews from her family and friends, she was fueled to then create more. Her next creation was a cupcake candle with blue, red, and pink sprinkles. Then came the milkshake candles with chocolate, vanilla, and neapolitan flavors. Then, she started experimenting with candles that resembled breakfast foods like waffles, bacon, and coffee mugs.

Turning her idea into an actual business

Dominique's first sale came in September of 2014 after she posted countless vibrant photos of her creations on social media. People all over the country could now see her beautifully-designed candles that resemble milkshakes, cupcakes, pies and even bowls of cereals.

She comments, "Within a year, I'd significantly increased my sales while adding many more candle designs to the list. One day while boxing up an order to be shipped out, I got the idea to call my local town hall to inquire about outside vending. It was the perfect way to meet customers, show off my product, and increase revenue all at the same time."

Sweet success

Dominique's idea to sell her products right outside the local town hall turned out to be a great one. Now, she regularly vends at fairs and other events. She comments, "The smiles of the customers walking by and the children stopping to smell the scents is one of the warmest experiences I've ever had with my business."

She has also found a lot of success selling her candles online on Etsy.com, the largest online peer-to-peer marketplace of hand-crafted and unique factory-manufactured items. The site has helped her to gain tons of customers from all over the country, and she fulfills each order within 3 to 5 business days.

For more details about Dom's Dessert Candles and/or to place an order, visit www.etsy.com/shop/DomsDessertCandles

NOTE: We previously reported that the dessert candles are edible. However, this was a mistake in our reporting; The candles should not be eaten.