Meet Our Next Top Maker: Sophie Offit

As we gear up for another exciting year of The Next Top Maker, we’re so excited to do a deep dive into the world of Sophie Offit of Remedium Candle, the winner of our 2020 Next Top Maker Contest!

Sophie’s vision was born out of a desire to create luxurious scented candles that are naturally derived and eco-friendly. Her love for nature, beauty, and simplicity is what guided her to make a superior product using natural coconut wax, essential oils, and wooden wicks.

All of her candles are hand made and poured from small batches, and are presented in clear reusable glass jars. Her candles embody a clean and simple aesthetic to suit any décor or personality.

Throughout the year 2020, Sophie had the opportunity to connect with a few key experts at the makesy and utilize some amazing resources to foster further growth of her amazing brand. We’re so thrilled to circle back and hear the magical things that she accomplished this past year!

remedium's growing success

As our top finalist Sophie received a $1000 shopping spree to woodenwick.com, along with personalized consultations with our team of experts to help her grow her business. Since then, we’ve been working with Sophie behind the scenes to achieve some amazing maker magic!

Here are a just few of the wonderful highlights from Sophie’s journey with us:

• Sophie landed Remedium Candle into the notable C.O. Bigelow retail and online shops, as well as had her products accepted onto Wayfair!
  
  
• Remedium expanded its product line from candles only to also include Hand Protection Sprays, and has more new products in development!
  
  
• Sophie implemented new financial and inventory management softwares, as well as went through an in-depth cost and pricing analysis that she will use to make the most of her components and profits moving forward!

sophie's experience as makesy's next top maker

how did winning NTM '20 help your business?

Winning NTM helped me grow and scale my business immensely. My weekly meetings with the WW Team helped me to identify what aspects of my company I needed help with, including advertising and marketing, inventory management, pricing strategies and finding new business opportunities.

how has maksey impacted your business thus far?

They are an integral part of my business! All my wicks are sourced from them, their new products including their sanitizer solution instigated my introduction of sanitizer sprays and they have always been great with customer service helping me to identify which wicks work best for my different vessels. 

what do you hope to achieve in the next year?

My biggest hope for the upcoming year is to continue our growth! Our candles are now being sold in many retail locations nationwide, and I am hoping to find even more this year.

describe the NTM entry process

It was so easy and quick! I am always intimidated by long applications for anything, but this was really straightforward and simple!

3 words to describe being the NTM?

Notoriety, Strategy, Growth

3 words to describe the feeling when you won?

Success, Disbelief, Excitement

What would you say to future NTM applicants?

Apply, apply, apply! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

sophie on building a small business

what did you learn when starting up remedium?

Running your own business is a lot harder than you would expect. As the business grows you have to wear many hats and juggle all areas of the business. 

what would you do differently in the beginning stages of your business?

Thinking long term from the start on decisions.  Understand what a decision means at scale as opposed to in the moment. 

what efforts do you find yourself spending the most time in these days re: the business?

Evolving product, marketing and streamlining processes.

if someone gave you $5,000 for your business how would you use it?

Product development and hiring employees.

a growing success

We are so thrilled at Sophie's success and can’t wait to see where she continues to grow and flourish with Remedium Candle. To learn more about Sophie and support the Remedium Mission you can visit her at https://www.remediumcandle.com/ and on social @remediumcandle

Want to be our Next Top Maker? Stay tuned for our next contest, coming soon! Happy making!