Meet Lisa Garcia | Chandler / Owner at Ouachita Wax and Naturals

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lisa Garcia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lisa, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?

My first thought is that there is an incredible amount of information regarding candles that most people, including myself, never knew or thought about when lighting a candle. There can be an immense difference in the quality, and ultimately safety, environmental, and health impact of a burning candle in your home. The type of wax used, the type of fragrance oil, the type of wick, the dyes, and any other additives can greatly affect what that candle produces and releases into your environment as it burns in your home. Some of the more popular chain retail stores are sourcing the lowest cost, highest profit margin candles they can find. That approach doesn’t necessarily always lend itself to high quality and safe ingredients, but it does allow them to make money selling inexpensive low quality candles in pretty containers.

Obviously, anything that burns is going to produce some unwanted byproducts, but there are ways to minimize those byproducts through the careful selection of candle ingredients. Instead of a less costly paraffin or soy/paraffin blended wax that produces toxic byproducts when burning, we have chosen to use 100% natural soy wax that burns longer and cleaner. We are using 100% cotton wicks, versus paper core wicks. The result is a nearly soot and smoke free burn with our candles. We have selected high quality fragrance oils that are free of DBP (dibutyl phthalate) and DEHP (Diethyl Phthalate) additives found in inferior fragrance oils. A Ouachita Wax and Naturals candle is a safer candle for your home, family, and even your pets.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

Prior to embarking on the Ouachita Wax and Naturals journey, I had been employed as a histology technician and Laboratory Supervisor/Manager for the last 25 years. For those unfamiliar with histology, it’s the study of tissue. So, if you have ever had anything surgically cut off you, or out of you, chances are it went to someone in a lab somewhere just like me to be made into a microscope slide for a pathologist to read and help diagnose. I loved my job, other than the getting up at 3am 5 days per week to get to work on time, however I also wanted to express my creative and artistic side.

Ouachita Wax and Naturals has been a great creative outlet! We can be as creative as our minds allow in creating new fragrance combinations, wax colorations, container choices, candle labels, and naming of our creations. Many of our candles are beautifully and individually hand adorned with select stones, florals and botanicals, sugar-based decorations, and stunning Arkansas quartz crystals that our family personally goes out to gather in the Ouachita National Forest. It’s a lot of fun, and we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to earn some money while being creative. It is definitely a ton of work, very long days, and some late nights to grow a small business in such a competitive product market. Thankfully, we have each other to lean on when the crunch is on!

Our goal is to produce the best, safest, and most unique possible product for our customers. We hope that our creations will inspire, take our customers back to a fond memory or time, and bring a positive vibe to their environment.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

Nah, it was all me!!! LoL!

May be a little cliche’, however, the support of my family has made all of this possible. My daughters Madisyn, Megan, and Mya have all been instrumental in various phases of our company’s development and growth. Each of them has made a contribution to the creative, product development and testing, presentation, marketing, and sales aspects of the business. It has been Choctaw woman power at its finest! My amazing husband, Mike, is the jack of all trades that steps into whatever role is needed at any time. Together we have grown this venture to where it is now. We will continue to rely on each of our talents and efforts to further the growth and continued success of Ouachita Wax and Naturals in the coming years.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention, and show gratitude to, the Dallas Farmers Market. They offered our fledgling company a chance to be a part of the market in 2021 during the midst of the Covid pandemic. That opportunity has become the main outlet for our current sales. It is an amazing environment that really works hard to showcase and promote local businesses, farmers, and artists. I can’t recommend enough that anyone that finds themselves in Dallas on the weekend should swing by and check it out! Come find us under “The Shed” and say Halito!

I would like to also show gratitude to the Choctaw Nation. We are honored and proud to be a part of the tribe. The Chahtapreneur – Small Business Development Center has offered specialized one on one advising services, access to business training, networking and business resources. I’m always taking classes and attending seminars to learn how to operate and grow our business bigger and better. We are proud to be a Chahtapreneur!

Website: https://ouachitawaxandnaturals.com/

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