How Beyoncé and a mission made this company one of the most sought after in the Triangle

One of the most sought-after items in the Triangle right now might be a candle — specifically ones made in Durham by Bright Black Candles.

The company can’t make enough of them to sell. Walk around the shops in Durham, and they’ll tell you something similar: We’re sold out.

“We can’t keep them on the shelves,” a cashier at Bulldega Urban Market in downtown Durham said last week.

“We’ve sold out twice,” said Natalie Minott, the owner of the Nolia Family + Coffee shop, which partnered with Bright Black on a signature scent. “We are definitely wanting more candles.”

Though barely a year old, Bright Black Candles has already built a following for its candles, which honor the Black Diaspora through place and scents.

The company, founded by Tiffany Griffin and her husband, Dariel Heron, first made candles that honored important cities in the Black experience, like their hometown of Durham (a blend of tobacco, cotton and whiskey) and Salvador, Brazil (with hints of acai palm and sea salt). Scents are powerful because they trigger memory, said Griffin, a psychologist by training.

Griffin also created a candle honoring Ida B. Wells, the famed investigative journalist and civil rights leader, and a candle whose proceeds partially go to an organization helping Black and Latinx men prepare for college.

In its first few months, Bright Black was steadily growing, going from pop-ups in Durham coffee shops to being sold in stores in multiple states.

The quality of the candles has resonated with people, Minott said.

“It is a phenomenal candle,” Minott said of the exclusive candle that Bright Black made for her coffee shop, which takes scents from magnolia blossoms and coffee. “People keep saying it’s one of the best candles we’ve ever smelled.”

But this summer, it received a tidal wave of interest.

Beyoncé’s ‘Black Parade’

In June, following national protests after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, Bright Black was among the many Black-owned businesses that saw an influx of new support, as Americans looked for ways to support the Black community.

Then came the big hit: Bright Black Candles was included in a list of Black-owned small businesses curated by Beyoncé in an effort to send her millions of followers’ dollars to Black businesses.

The call-out from arguably the most famous artist in the world caused demand to skyrocket.

“In June our demand went linear, given the national protests around police brutality and the chronic murdering of Black people in the country. People were looking to support Black businesses,” Griffin said. “Then our company went viral.”

Griffin didn’t even know what had happened for hours; she was busy trying to fill the hundreds of orders already coming in. When she finally checked her phone, she found a barrage of messages from friends freaking out about the endorsement from Queen Bey. By then, thousands of orders were coming in.

The attention was bittersweet, though, Griffin said.

As the coronavirus spread across the country, its impact has been felt most keenly in Black communities. In the wake of the economic downturn the disease caused, the number of active Black business owners declined by 41% from February to April 2020, while white business owners declined by 17%, according to one study. Then there were the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.

“It was a moment where we couldn’t feel holistically joyful,” Griffin said in a phone interview. “We were keenly aware that our gains — our financial gain and the brand awareness gain — were on the back of murdered Black bodies. We do not take that lightly. We didn’t have the mental space to fully process that.”

But it also confirmed her convictions around why she wanted to start Bright Black.

When she and her husband decided to start their candle business after doing it as a hobby for years, many people told her to take the “Black” out of Bright Black, she said. Advisers told her people weren’t going to understand, and certainly didn’t want to be hit with a message when they light a candle.

“I remember one store owner said they wouldn’t carry our candle because it’s a black jar,” Griffin recalled, adding the owner conflated the color Black with sadness and other negative emotions.

“I am in the business of joy,” Griffin said, noting she started the business, in part, to show her daughter positive representations about Blackness. “The fact that you think that is why I started the business — because Black is joyful.”

Catching up to demand

The sudden clamor for the candles has put a strain on the small company, which is run completely from Griffin and Heron’s basement workshop. The couple have been working around the clock making candles by hand and packaging them for delivery, which is why everything is sold out. Sales of most candles are paused until mid-August.

On one hand, the surge is better than the alternative. When COVID-19 first started shutting down the economy and hurting demand, Bright Black was too young to access the Paycheck Protection Program or other emergency funds.

But catching up with the demand is exhausting work for the couple, leading to some sleepless nights.

They’re hoping to invest the money they make from the uptick to open a larger manufacturing facility in Durham and invest in equipment or another employee to increase capacity. Eventually, Griffin said, they will need a break for mental health and self care.

“Getting out of the basement is really important,” she said. “We literally have packing boxes in our bedroom. We have outgrown this space.”

Recently, the company was one of 15 out of 1,600 applications to win a $10,000 grant from Stacy’s Pita Chips Rise Project, which supports female-owned businesses. The money also comes with advertising help and mentorship from PepsiCo leaders in sales, supply and development.

It’s quite the rise for a business that was started during the government shutdown during the winter of 2018. It was in the middle of Griffin’s furlough from her job with the U.S. Agency for International Development that she decided to take the leap in Bright Black and relocate to Durham.

Once the company catches up with demand, Griffin said, it will launch into more styles of candles. Their next collection is going to be called “Genres,” and it will take influence from styles of music created by Black people, like Hip-Hop, Gospel and Bachata, a Dominican style of music heavily influenced by African rhythms.

There will be something for everyone, Griffin added.

“This isn’t your mama’s Yankee Candle,” she said. “The scents are androgynous, and they fit everyone on the spectrum. People always come up to me and say, ‘Thank you, I don’t have to pick between scents like banana pudding and apple crisp anymore.’”

This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate

Zachery Eanes

The Herald-Sun

919-419-6684

Zachery Eanes is the Innovate Raleigh reporter for The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun. He covers technology, startups and main street businesses, biotechnology, and education issues related to those areas.