Meet Monisha Edwards | Founder & CEO

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

Hi Monisha, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I would say that the most important factor behind my success and the success of my brand would be remaining authentic and transparent. I started the brand after a family tragedy and starting a mental health journey, and I believe that being transparent about my struggles with taking care of my father, my depressive episodes, and random anxiety flares really resonated with my customers. Fragrances and candle making helped keep me out of dark spaces and lowered my depressive episodes, so being able to share that with my customers is very important to me feel connected with them, I share all of my wins and losses with my customers and that essentially helps with the success of the brand itself because when I feel comfortable and confident in my products and customers, it pushes me to continue to show up for my brand everyday.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Scent & Fire® is an eco-luxury fragrance brand that manufactures pure soy candles and other eco-conscious products for the Culture, Self-Care, and Mental Wellness. We utilize technology to enhance aromatic experiences through curated music playlists and sensory campaigns. Our products are hand-poured in small batches from domestically sourced raw and recycled materials.

I established myself as a force in entrepreneurship early on, hitting the ground running by starting a clothing line while attending college to help pay my school fees at the age of 19. I didn’t know that the time that I would become a full-time entrepreneur in my early 20’s, but my clothing brand started my entrepreneurial journey. For the first year and a half, it was extremely hard because I didn’t have much money, mentoring, or resources. I taught myself how to design the graphics for my shirts because I couldn’t pay a designer, and I read business books in the library to help me start and market the business. I eventually got into a business incubator on campus and it helped me tremendously.

One of the things that I always did to overcome challenges was to figure out where to find help and resources. Once I started taking the initiative to seek answers to whatever I was facing, I would find them. There are so many resources and people out there that are willing to help you. I learned that if you don’t seek help, people may not know that you need. You can’t be prideful on your path to success, but you do have to make sure that you find trustworthy people to help you.

I want my brand to be known for the people, the community, and the culture. Scent & Fire is much more than wax and wicks. It isn’t a run-of-the-mill fragrance brand either. Every day, I am constantly enhancing my olfactory senses to curate mood-evoking fragrances and fragrant consumables for the people – my people. I do this by working with local and regional perfumers to help me with phthalate-free fragrance blends, domestically sourcing all of my supplies to reduce supply chain issues, keeping my packaging fresh and eye-catching, ensuring that I provide exceptional customer service and support, and delivering a quality product that people love and want to purchase over and over again.

Because my brand blossomed out of traumatic circumstances, I make it a priority to give back to those who may suffer from the same mental issues that I did and still do. My products are created to not only smell great and be eco-conscious; my products are also a low-cost alternative for self-care, but aromatherapy can only do so much. This is why my brand partners with mental health organizations to provide access to therapy through sponsored sessions for men, women, and kids in marginalized communities. This is the mission that chose me – I’m just the messenger.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I moved to Dallas in June 2021, so I’m still getting acclimated with the city. I like really upscale and fun places to go to so if my best friend decided to fly in, I would make sure that we would hit up The Henry for a bougie brunch and RH Rooftop Restaurant for an elegant dinner. I also would want to take her to Haywire in Uptown, Kitchen + Kocktails, Bread Winners, Yardbird, Waterproof at the Statler, The Selfie Museum, and Andretti’s. We’d also hit up a few art galleries in the Design District.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to first dedicate my Shoutout to God for always keeping me and revealing my purpose in life. My father and mother for creating me and inspiring me to be resilient on a daily basis. My grandparents for fostering me and pouring into my teenage years to help my parents mold me into the woman that I am today. I would also like to thank my best friend Whitney for always being my right hand and sister since high school. Shoutout to my friend Que for supporting me and being a true friend. He helped make my move to Dallas special. To my friend Demetrius for making sure that I’m operating in excellence everyday. To my mentors, Pamela Booker, Tamla Forney, Tate Hill, Tara Gray, Dr. Little, Corey Jackson, and Matt Horn. I have so many more people who play roles in my story so thus far, but those mentioned above are my vital support system.

Website: scentandfire.com

Instagram: instagram.com/scentandfire

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/monishaedwards

Twitter: twitter.com/scentandfire

Facebook: facebook.com/scentandfire

Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCEJwojdVMqnH8zPJP-L0siQ/featured

Image Credits
Credit: Monisha Edwards, Scent & Fire®