makesy's 2026 next top maker

Building a brand is one thing. Putting yourself behind that brand publicly and vulnerably is something else entirely. When Sabrina entered Next Top Maker, she didn’t just submit a product.

She showed up.

She shared her story.

She showed her process.

She invited people into what Ruby + Begonia really is…not just what it looks like on the surface. Week after week, she leaned in. Posting. Creating. Connecting. Not knowing exactly how it would unfold—but choosing to show up anyway. And people felt that. Because when something is real, it resonates. 

Thousands of people followed along.

They voted.

They shared.

They rooted for her! Not just because the products were beautiful, but because the story behind them meant something. That kind of support can’t be manufactured. It’s built through honesty, consistency, and heart.

And Sabrina earned every bit of it.

All that being said…. Meet your 2026 Next Top Maker! Sabrina Vaseleck of Ruby & Begonia!

Some maker stories start with a business plan. Ruby + Begonia started with a life that had already been lived in many chapters… military service, motherhood, education, business operations, deep family roots, devastating loss, and then, somewhere inside all of that, a creative outlet that slowly became something much bigger. Sabrina, the founder of Ruby + Begonia, writes that she never imagined as a child that she would grow up to be a candle maker, but “life has a funny way of not working out as planned.” That sentiment feels like the perfect place to begin, because her story is not about taking a straight path. It is about building something meaningful out of the moments that changed her.

Before Ruby + Begonia ever existed, Sabrina had already lived a full and layered professional life. She joined the Air Force at 18 and served for nearly a decade as an Imagery Analyst. Later, at 27, she left active duty and moved from Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii back to Mount Pleasant, Texas, with her husband so they could raise their two boys closer to family. From there, she earned a degree in Education and taught for almost another decade. Then, in 2018, she stepped into yet another world, joining a childhood best friend’s real estate firm as COO. On her About page, she reflects that business and sales were not naturally her strength, but people, creativity, and problem solving were — and in those real estate years, she absorbed lessons about running a business that she never expected would one day become essential. 

At the same time, her home life was full in the best way. Her parents had moved into a tiny home on the back of her property, and the rhythm of life sounds deeply warm and familiar: family dinners, card games, swimming parties, and movie nights. That picture matters because it shows what Ruby + Begonia grew out of. This was not a brand born from trend-chasing. It was born from closeness, family, and a life built around the people Sabrina loved most.

Then, in the summer of 2020, everything changed. Sabrina’s mother — who she describes as her best friend and “the sun that my entire family orbited around” — was diagnosed with Mixed Hepatocellular Cholangiocarcinoma, which Sabrina says was an extremely rare and extremely aggressive cancer. Over the next six months, Sabrina’s life shifted toward caregiving. She drove her mom to chemotherapy appointments, helped sort immunotherapy pills, made repeated trips to MD Anderson, and reduced her work so she could care for her more closely. It is one of the most moving parts of her story because the business didn’t begin in ambition. It began in love, in showing up, and in trying to carry someone through an impossible season.

One moment from that period became the turning point. Sabrina shares that day three after chemo was always the hardest for her mom. During one of those brutal days, while they were lying together watching Hamilton, her mom told her gently that she could not handle the smells in the house. Sabrina says she immediately gathered every plug-in and candle in her home, put them into a trash bag, and carried them outside. That single moment — intimate, practical, heartbreaking — opened the door to something much larger. It sent Sabrina into research, and what she found unsettled her: many of the large candle and soap brands she had loved contained chemicals and toxins she had never realized were there. In a season when she felt she had very little control, making her first soy candle and organic soap gave her something to focus on.

That detail says so much about why Ruby + Begonia resonates. This was not just a hobby picked up on a whim. It was a response to grief, to caregiving, and to a desire to create products that felt safer, more thoughtful, and more aligned with what really mattered. Sabrina did not arrive at making because it looked fun on Instagram. She arrived there because she needed an outlet, because she was paying attention, and because she was trying to care for someone she loved. 

Her mother passed away on December 11, 2020. Sabrina describes her as optimistic, kind, brave, encouraging, colorful, loving, and giving — someone who fought as hard as she could to stay. She writes that her entire family, and everyone who loved her mother, was devastated. After that loss, Sabrina wasn’t ready to return to work full-time, so she kept reading, learning, and experimenting. She dove further into soap making. She tested different waxes, wicks, and fragrance combinations for candles. What started as a way to keep her mind occupied and her heart tethered to something constructive slowly became a craft, then a discipline, then a business.

Even the next chapter of the story feels deeply personal. Sabrina’s husband built her a shop for this new outlet, creating space for something that was still becoming itself. Then, in August 2021, Ruby + Begonia was born, named in honor of her mother’s nickname. That detail alone changes everything. It means the brand is not just inspired by family; it carries family in its name. It is, in a very real sense, an act of remembrance. An act of love. An act of continuation. Sabrina began with festivals and fairs, then fell in love with a tiny storefront in downtown Mount Pleasant and decided to go all in on herself. 

Today, Ruby + Begonia hand-pours candles, soaps, scrubs, body sprays, room sprays, and more. But the product list only tells part of the story. What stands out even more is the way Sabrina describes what she loves: the creativity, the people, the joy of making things that bring happiness to others, and most importantly, having a business she can pour into the way her mom poured into her. That line is the emotional center of the entire brand. It explains the tenderness behind it. The generosity behind it. The reason it feels like more than a shop.

And then there is the team. Ruby + Begonia’s About page describes “Team Ruby + Begonia” as their own little “Island of Misfit Toys” — a group made up of full-time, part-time, and cameo-style contributors, all with wildly different personalities: quirky, awkward, outgoing, introverted, soft, wild, free, quiet, and loud. Sabrina writes that somehow, they fit together beautifully. That line feels especially telling, because it reflects a brand that is not trying to be polished into sameness. It is embracing personality, warmth, and real human connection. The team loves their community, loves their products, and most of all loves each other. That spirit is palpable.

That is why Ruby + Begonia stood out.

Not simply because the products are beautiful. Not simply because the branding is strong. But because the foundation is real. There is grit in this story. There is service. There is motherhood. There is career reinvention. There is caregiving. There is grief. There is learning on the fly. There is building something with your hands when your heart is cracked open. And then there is the courage to take that deeply personal beginning and turn it into a business that serves others.

Winning Next Top Maker feels especially fitting for a brand like this because Ruby + Begonia represents so much of what making can be at its best. It can be creative, yes. It can be beautiful, yes. But it can also be healing. It can be connective. It can become a way to honor someone, to start over, to bet on yourself, and to build something that carries meaning far beyond the finished product. Sabrina’s story reminds us that some of the most powerful brands are born not from having everything figured out, but from responding honestly to life as it unfolds.

We are so honored to celebrate Ruby + Begonia as our Next Top Maker.

And if you are in the middle of your own beginning — still testing, still learning, still wondering whether your idea is worth pursuing — let this be your reminder that the stories that move people most are rarely the neatest ones. They are the ones built with heart. The ones built through real life. The ones, like Sabrina’s, that turn pain into purpose and creativity into something lasting.

Check out her website and keep up with Ruby & Begonia on instagram!