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She is young. She is patient. She is paying attention.
Penelope grew up in Eastern Passage, Nova Scotia, which is exactly the kind of place that teaches you what quiet looks like — the water, the slower pace, the sense that the city is nearby but not quite here. She's always been an arts person: music, writing, poetry, the way creativity moves through people and becomes something someone else can hold.
Psychology is where she's headed next — university, a degree, a future helping people understand the architecture of their own minds. She talks about mental health the way someone does when they've thought about it carefully, when it's personal without being consumed by it. "I'm really passionate about helping people," she says. "I think that ties into everything I'm passionate about."
She runs her business from her bedroom. She pours wax after school. She spends weekends at farmers' markets talking to strangers who become, gradually, regulars. She writes handwritten thank-you notes for every order. She has learned the hard way to value her time — to price her products honestly, to account for the hours and not just the materials. She underpriced herself for months at the start and watched it drain her. She adjusted. She kept going.
Her support system is small but real: a boyfriend who comes to markets, carries things, offers his honest opinion; friends who believed in the idea; a family that cheers her on. She has also learned what she calls a harder truth — that the people you most expect to back you don't always, and the ones who show up sometimes surprise you.
What brings her joy isn't the sale. It's the moment after — the customer who texts to say they burned the lavender candle while meditating, the kid who runs back to the table to show their friend the bracelet they picked out, the stranger who stops and says you're doing something real here. Those are the moments that close the distance between a teenage bedroom workshop and something that genuinely matters.
Small Flame, Relentless Heart
Candles that started everything
In the world of commercial candles, most are made with paraffin wax — a petroleum byproduct that burns faster, cheaper, and with more soot. Natural soy wax, made from soybeans, burns slower, cleaner, and holds fragrance more gently. The difference isn't just environmental — it's sensory. It's the difference between a smell that hits you and a scent that stays with you.
Her personal favourite, and the bestseller at every market she attends, the Pistachio candle is everything Radiance Wellness is in one jar. It's made with 100% natural soy wax — something she made a deliberate choice about early on, because she cared too much about what people were burning in their homes to cut corners. Inside, a wooden wick crackles softly as the candle burns, the way a fireplace does, the way rain does — a sound that immediately slows you down. The wooden wick also means a longer burn: up to 40 hours for the medium 10 oz jar.
"I really, really like the crackling sound," she says. "And it makes the candle last longer." So does she. So do her customers. Pistachio keeps selling out.
A Heartfelt Note
Radiance began as something small — an idea for a Grade 11 entrepreneurship class project. I needed to create a mock business plan, so I chose soy candles without thinking too deeply about it. At the time, I never imagined Radiance would grow into what it is today. But when I poured my first candle, something clicked. It felt more meaningful than a simple assignment.
Mental health challenges have been part of my life from a young age; Experiences with anxiety, trauma, and undiagnosed ADHD, I began learning the importance of self-care and creating peaceful moments within everyday life. At fifteen, I started therapy, where I discovered tools that helped me regulate and reset.
Personally, that healing often came through small rituals — journaling, meditation, and lighting a candle at the end of a long day. Those quiet moments became grounding practices that helped me create a sense of peace in my own space.
Radiance Self-Care & Wellness was built from that idea: the belief that small, intentional moments can make a difference. Every candle is handmade with care, and the hope that it helps someone pause, reset, and create a peaceful space of their own. Thank you for supporting this journey.
With much love,
Penelope
Radiance Self-Care & Wellness
Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia
