Creator Spotlight: Kate Glass, Founder of Briarwick Candles

In our first guest episode, Tara and Kyra sit down with Briarwick Candles founder Kate Glass to discuss how she built a successful bookish candle business from scratch, transforming beloved romance books and fantasy novels into bestselling literary-inspired candles. Kate shares how Briarwick grew from a kitchen-counter hobby into an international brand, the challenges of scaling a small business during the pandemic, the inspiration behind her bestselling book boyfriend candles, hilarious scent-testing fails, ethical licensing with indie authors, and why community has been the foundation of Briarwick’s success.00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro01:51 Favorite Trope Fake Dating02:45 First Candle and Etsy Launch04:54 From Hobby to Global Brand05:57 Scaling Up During COVID06:32 First Warehouse and Quitting Job08:34 Turning Books Into Scents10:17 Aspirational Romance Candles11:31 Scent Testing and Epic Fails12:11 Testing New Scents12:31 Top Candle Picks12:47 Fan Fiction Citrus Scale14:24 Handling Bookish Opinions15:18 Reading Slumps and Formats16:24 Indie Author Spotlight19:29 Scaling Beyond the Kitchen21:10 Community as Advice