This week, something happened that still doesn't feel quite real: JARE Candles was featured in Oprah Daily, in their "Women Who Start Things" series, in a beautiful profile of our co-founder April Ryan written by Holly Carter. If you found your way here from that article — welcome. Pour yourself something warm, light a candle if you have one, and let us tell you the whole story. Because a magazine feature can only hold so much, and there's more to JARE than fits on one page.
It started with love, and with loss
JARE was born out of grief — and out of a promise to keep a light burning.
Before JARE was a company, it was a form of care. When April's mother, Vivian, was diagnosed with leukemia, her doctors advised her to avoid smoke and synthetic fragrance. No more grilling. No more fireplace. No more of the candles she loved — unless they were made with clean-burning soy wax. So the family made the switch. Soy became the thing that let Vivian keep the small comforts of home without the harm.
Vivian passed in 2007. But that quiet act of love — choosing soy so her mother could still enjoy a candle's glow — never left April. Every JARE candle is, in a very real way, an ode to Vivian. Her light still shines through every one we pour.
A first date, a shared secret, and a spark
Years later, April met James Ewing. On one of their earliest dates, April admitted there was something she'd always wanted to do: make candles. James laughed — because he was already making his own. Store-bought candles, he told her, frustrated him. Too expensive, and not good enough. So he'd started pouring his own at home.
What began as a bonding activity became a shared passion. April created her very first fragrance, Eucalyptus Dream. James made his own, a scent he named First Day of Spring — because his birthday falls on the first day of spring. Two people, two scents, one growing obsession. There's a certain poetry to it that April still marvels at: a ritual rooted in her memories of her mother led her straight into a life — and a business — with the man she'd marry. Together, they'd make sure her mom's light kept shining.
From a downstairs lab to real shelves
Here's the part the magazine only glances at — the actual building of it.
We decided early on that this was not going to be a hobby. It was a business, and we were going to treat it like one. We poured our own money in, knowing full well it might take a couple of years to see real profit. We didn't have a team. April mixed the fragrances — the concoctions, as she calls them. James designed every label and ran the spreadsheets that kept it all straight. As it happened, April had bought a house from a doctor who'd built a lab in the basement, so night after night, after full workdays, the two of them would come home and disappear downstairs into their little lab to pour, test, and refine.
We also knew marketing would make or break us. We taught ourselves the website — and not just how to build one, but how to make it work: the analytics, understanding where customers linger, making it effortless to navigate. Your website is your business card. We went through more versions than we can count before we landed on the one we have now. It was trial and error, a lot of research, and surrounding ourselves with good people.
The first real sign came from a friend. Ramunda Young, who runs Mahogany Books in Washington, D.C., took a candle home. Then she came back and said: "I want 30." She's been our biggest supporter ever since — and the first retailer to put JARE on a shelf.
From there it grew. Lynne Goldman Elements in Charlottesville. A store in Martha's Vineyard. And not just one-off orders — continuous ones. People started posting online: "Oh my, I love this fragrance." That's when April knew this could really be something.
The order that proved we could do anything
Our hardest, proudest moment came early: our first large order was for the NAACP Image Awards. They wanted 350 candles — on a very short timeline. James's first reaction was completely reasonable: how are we going to do this? April's answer was simpler. "Watch me. We can do it. We can do anything." And we did. People loved them.
Why JARE candles are made the way they are
If you take one thing from this story, let it be this: the way we make our candles isn't a marketing choice. It's the whole point.
We use sustainable soy wax, never paraffin — because soy is what let Vivian keep her candles when synthetic smoke wasn't safe. We scent with pure essential oils, not synthetic fragrance oils, for a cleaner burn and a truer scent. And some of our fragrances are inspired by the people we love, which is why a JARE candle can feel less like a product and more like a memory you can light.
Everything is hand-poured, in small, careful batches. That's slower. It's harder. It's also the only way we know how to do it.
Watching JARE grow up
April likes to say she's watching JARE grow up. "She's in middle school now," she jokes, "getting ready to become a teenager." It's been wonderful to watch the evolution — a hobby that became a company, a grief that became a way to celebrate a life, a first date that became a marriage and a mission.
"It's not about me," April says. "It's really all about the product. I love that the candles speak for themselves."
An Oprah pick for Mother's Day: Sunday Brunch
The Oprah Daily love didn't stop at April's story. Oprah also named our Sunday Brunch candle a best Mother's Day gift — and honestly, we get it. Sunday Brunch is a champagne-and-citrus celebration in a jar: bright top notes of champagne, grapefruit, and lemon verbena, a heart of mandarin, mimosa, and coconut, all settling into warm amber and benzoin. It's the scent of those slow, sparkling Sunday mornings — crystal flutes, good company, no rush. One of our bestsellers, and clearly a favorite beyond our own walls.
Light one for yourself
If April's story moved you, the best way to be part of it is simple: bring a JARE candle into your own home.
Start where it all started — with Eucalyptus Dream, April's very first fragrance, or First Day of Spring, James's. Want to know what April herself reaches for? Browse April's Favorites — a curated collection of the scents she loves most. Or explore our full collection across Floral & Herbal, Fruity & Citrus, Woody & Spicy, and Fresh & Clean. Every one is hand-poured with sustainable soy wax and pure essential oils — made to transform your space into a sanctuary of warmth, elegance, and environmental responsibility.
Shop April's Favorites → · Shop the full JARE collection →
And if you'd like to read the original feature, you can find April's Oprah Daily profile here.
