(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Displaced from her accounting job by the pandemic and stuck inside her West Pullman home, Angelique Chatman started the An-Joli Candle Company.
“All of the stores were closed and I ran out of candles,” she tells WBBM Newsradio. “I turned to my fiancé and said, ‘Can people make candles?’ I knew nothing about it.”
She purchased an inexpensive candle-making kit from Amazon just to see if she could actually make a candle. She could. Next she upgraded the materials she was using.
Now a seasoned pro, she is still making all of her candles by hand, at her new home in Blue Island.
“The kitchen and the dining room have been taken over by the candle company,” Chatman said.
Each month, she sells thousands of dollars worth of her coconut-blend wax candles from a small kiosk at Navy Pier and online.
An-Joli candles come in a variety of hand-picked scents. Her top seller is an amber scent called “Fashionably Late.” She also offers a candle, “Jamaica Me Crazy,” that transports people to Jamaica.
“When you smell this candle, you are taken right to Jamaica. You’re on the beach, with your drink and the little umbrella. You’re just relaxing.”
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