The Superwoman at Scentalicious

If anyone ever underestimated what a sweet-smelling scent of a candle can do, that person needs to think again. Tara Williams, the owner of Scentalicious in Stone Mountain Village, calls candle-making her therapy.

Having undergone a double mastectomy and months of chemotherapy, Williams is in the recovery stages of triple-negative breast cancer. Keeping a positive and determined attitude, the soy candle-maker (who’s also a certified phlebotomist) opened her shop in mid-September. Scentalicious, which can be found at 913 Main Street, also sells tart melts, candle warmers and jewelry.

This week, Patch spoke with Williams to discuss the many things going on in her life.

Patch: How long have you been making soy candles?

Tara Williams: I've been making them since about 2008, as kind of a challenge between my family members. We always try to do something challenging around Christmas, and it was kind of a rough year financially for us, so we said, "Well, let's do something homemade as gifts." I think I went to Michaels, trying to find something relatively inexpensive, and I saw a soy candle-making kit. I love candles, so I brought it home and made about eight candles.

My husband went crazy. He was like, "What are you cooking? It smells so good!" We tried them out, and we fell in love. We gave them out to family and friends, and I think for Valentine's Day I said, "Well, let me see if I could do it as a side hustle or something." I made some candles, he took them to work, and guys just went crazy over them. And that kind opened my eyes. Guys, really? Candles?

Patch: It’s so interesting that you started off with soy and not regular candles.

Williams: Soy candles are more natural, and it helps out soy farmers. I really like that idea. I'm buying something that's reusable and helping our economy. I came up with the idea to do refills and give discounts on them. If they bring the container back, we can refill the container and give them a little discount. It seems like it took off from that point.

I’ve always enjoyed candles, but there was something about soy candles. There’s something about the way they burn. They burn cleaner. Not that there’s no soot, because there is soot. It’s just the soot from the soy is kind of like a white soot, so you can’t see it.  I use cotton wicks, which is supposed to be healthier. They burn longer, they last longer, the smell stays with you longer, and... I don’t know. I just love them. That was my therapy, making them at home. It just relaxes you; you’re being creative, but you’re relaxing at the same time.

Patch: Your therapy with breast cancer? I imagine things have been tough.

Williams: It has. It's been a journey, but I kind of feel like my candles are like my saving grace because it gave me something to focus on besides just the treatment itself and the downside of that. You get really depressed, and it's a rough road because you put your body through a lot. There are some days when you just don't feel like talking to anybody. You don't want to see anybody, but I kept in my mind that I wanted to do this business, and I wanted this business to grow. Just knowing that I had something at the end of that tunnel to look forward to has been kind of an inspiration to myself to keep going and keep pushing. Now I'm at the point where it's a reality for me. I'm getting through it, and it's working.

Patch: May I ask what stage of the breast cancer?

Williams: It was triple-negative breast cancer. I found the lump myself on my birthday, January of this year. I went in to get the mammogram and ultrasound, and it came back as being cancerous. She did a biopsy that same day, and three or four days later I got the results. With triple-negative breast cancer, all the hormones are not sensitive to any of the usual drugs that they treat, so it's more of an aggressive type of cancer. It was rapidly growing, so I think we did the surgery a month and a half later. I opted to do a double mastectomy, because I've had family history of it: My mother had it, my sister had it, several aunts, so I just didn't want to go through this process again later on. The healing process after the surgery went pretty well. I started chemotherapy in July of this year, and I underwent hormones pretty much in the rest of the treatments.

Patch: Are you still in chemotherapy?

Williams: I've completed the chemotherapy. Now I'm just recovering from the chemo, because it takes a lot out of you. They were monitoring my heart, because it can damage the heart and weaken it. I did a couple of echos, and actually the last one I did showed there was no damage from the chemo. I was like, scratch that off the list!

Patch: So it seems like you're going to fully recover.

Williams: Right. And basically, they said I was cancer-free when I had the surgery, but I had a couple of positive lymph nodes that caused concerns. And whenever there are lymph nodes that are "hot," as they call it, they recommend that you do chemotherapy.

I have a lot to live for. I just turned 45 this year, and I completed my master's program in June, so there are a lot of things this year in spite of having to deal with the cancer. I'm like, OK, if I can get through all of this, then there's a reason for me to be here.

[Cancer] also makes me think of what we are doing and the environment that's causing it because there are so many people [with cancer]. From the time I was diagnosed, at least six or seven women were diagnosed at the same time, and they're friends of mine that were in Texas and Louisiana.

It's like, what's going on that's causing that? It's gotta be what we're eating, the preservatives that we have in foods, and that was another reason why I was determined to do soy, because I wanted to do something natural and not harmful to people who buy it.

Patch: How many scents do you have?

Williams: I probably now have close to 100. They're not all in the store, [but they came about] because most people will come and say, "Well, do you have such-and-such scent?"

Well, I can make it for you. Sometimes, what I do is make candles for one person, and then the overflow ends up going on the shelf.

Patch: Have you created a special holiday scent?

Williams: There's a couple of them, actually. Cinnamon is a really strong scent this time of year. Pumpkin spice, gingerbread. Apple blossom is a new scent. That's a favorite.

Do you have a personal favorite scent?

Williams: I would say my personal favorite is the strawberries ’n creme. One, because I usually make it pink, and pink is my favorite color. And I love strawberries. I think they smell great. Now, I don't like to eat them, but I love the smell. Isn't that odd?

Patch: What did you do for breast cancer month?

Williams: When they started the three-day walk in Stone Mountain, I opened early that day, and came out and supported them. It was a very emotional day for me, because even though I’ve never walked the three-day, I’ve participated in other walks and events to support cancer in general. It was very touching to see so many people, I think 2,200 people. So I cried with some of them, we hugged. They were thanking me for coming out, and I was thanking them for walking for me and thinking how next year I’ll be on the walk with you guys. It was a really great day. It was just very inspiring.

Patch: It seems like you’re almost like a superwoman. How are you running everything?

Williams: Lots of help. My family helps me out a great deal. My aunt has been a great help to me because she comes in on days when I can’t, and sometimes she’ll just be here with me. My daughter has been a lot of help behind the scenes and marketing ideas. I have a cousin who does marketing. My son-in-law designed the website, and he updates it for me. So I’ve got lots of help. My niece who lives with me learned how to make candles, so I let her do some. My husband helps, too. He’s a great sales pusher.