Meet Dani Rooney of Old Pine Candle Co in Evergreen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dani Rooney.

Dani, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Ryan, my husband, and I started making candles in our first home. It was actually Ryan who was determined to figure out how to make a high-quality candle that threw a balanced fragrance and burned evenly. We started gifting candles to friends in old salsa jars and then started to get requests for more. We never considered turning this hobby into a business until we moved to Evergreen and dreamed of starting a family, where I could work from home to be with our child. We are also both entrepreneurs at heart so this was our first attempt at seeing an idea through.

We are now pouring candles in a studio above our garage with a team of friends. Susan is head of production, Josie runs our social media, and I oversee operations — but we all do much more than that, as small businesses require you to wear “all the hats!”

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Overall, it’s been a smooth road. There have certainly been busy and stressful times, and we anticipate challenges as we grow. In harder times it’s easy to lose perspective. I feel that’s when it’s important to take a step back, make sure we’re utilizing all of our resources and ask for help.

I’m sure we will never forget the 2018 Holiday Season! We were running way too much power in our garage and not enough circuits to support it. Susan made over 2,000 candles while our wax melter and portable room heaters kept shutting off. It was the nightmare before Christmas! We finally found an electrician to help us in January and now we can laugh about it.

All in all, I would credit the smooth road to our team. You can accomplish much more with a team versus doing it by yourself, and we have the most amazing people helping our product and branding in Susan and Josie.

Old Pine Candle Co – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Old Pine strives to make high-quality soy candles that represent what we love most about living in Colorado. Our candles have fun names and unique blends that people love, like Summit, Pass the Gin, Sweater Weather and Wake & Bake. We hear all the time about what our candles remind people of, like their family’s mountain cabin or being outdoors, and we love that. Ryan worked a long time on the perfect balance of wax and fragrance for candles that burn cleanly, evenly and up to 50 hours total, and we think this really sets our candles apart from others. As a company, we are very focused on being as environmentally friendly as possible. All of our materials are sourced in the USA, and our packaging is eco-friendly. We also have a jar-return program that gives people a discount when they bring us their Old Pine candle jars, and we encourage our followers on social media to tag us in photos of them reusing their jars in exchange for a discount code.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I’ve had to redefine success a few times along the way. At this point in life, my definition of success is being able to afford balance in life. Right now, balance looks like being with my family, bonding with the team, self-expressing through work, enjoying the beautiful town we live in, and making my health a priority.