Meet Stephanie Decker of Jannu & Me in Boulder

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Decker.

Stephanie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It all started as a kind of adventure. I’m from Germany and I lived there for the past 30 years. In 2018 my today’s husband got the chance to move to Boulder and work as a postdoc. Relatively spontaneously, we decided to go together. We quit our jobs and apartments, got married, and packed our backpacks. While my husband had his work secured right from the beginning, I had a lot of free time in the first month of our stay in Colorado. That gave me the opportunity and the space to explore what I wanted to do in the future.

I always had the idea of creating my own product, my own little brand, but I was not exactly sure what it should be and where to begin. So, I started taking classes, e.g. a writing and jewelry class and I did a soap-making workshop. In this time of creative exploration, I got the idea of making candles. I’ve always loved candles. They are the perfect little gift for friends and yourself, they soothe you, and make your home cozy and pretty. From there everything went fast: I ordered a candle making starter kit and I started making candles in our kitchen for friends and family. Along the way, I began thinking about a brand name and started researching all the legal terms to launch my own business in Colorado.

Before we moved to Colorado I was working in the field of marketing for a big publishing house in Munich, and I had several years of experience in advertising agencies and media departments. I feel the knowledge about how to market a brand or product helped me a lot to develop and advertise my own brand. Also, in my studies of Media Management and Business Psychology, I acquired crucial management insights and a holistic view for the value chain of a product. Nevertheless, a lot of things were totally new to me, and I just learned from trial and error.

In April 2019 I officially started my business, launched my website and my Etsy store with four different scents. In the last month, I added two new scents, two limited Holiday editions in a special black packaging, and a second smaller size.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
On one hand, it has been a smooth road because I got the time and space to experiment and try new things, and I got new perspectives and inspirations so far from home and without any responsibilities. I’m deeply grateful for this opportunity. On the other hand, just this amount of free time and space put a lot of pressure on me. I thought, now you have the time to start something new, to find yourself, and express yourself. But I didn’t consider what it means to be far away from home, from family and friends, not knowing anybody in a foreign country, and not being 100% confident with the language and culture. Sometimes I lost the initial idea of just being in a new place, being creative and experimenting, and I got to perfectionist, and my own expectations overwhelmed me.

Spending so much time with myself and making all decisions just by myself has also been new to me. Finding a daily routine and structure, when you work from home every day was very challenging as well. I had a little side job in Marketing and PR, but this one was also remote, and I didn’t see many people. Finding the energy and discipline to get productive and creative every day without any external motivation was not easy. Trusting my inner voice and being comfortable with the solitude was one of the most challenging and at the same time best experiences on this journey.

Sometimes I was doubting myself and thinking about applying for a regular job with a daily routine and financial security, but I always believed in the idea, that this time in the U.S. should be an adventure and the opportunity to look deeper into myself, even if it’s frightening. Today I’m so thankful that I found a comfortable balance to organize my daily life. I met many inspiring people along my journey this year, which motivated me, and I started a new side job in a consignment boutique. Here I can socialize and find new friends.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
With jannu & me. I create scented candles made of 100% soy wax from U.S. American grown soybeans, infused with fragrance and essential oils, and elegant yet minimalistic packaging with a wood lid. All containers are recyclable and can be reused for different purposes. The white glass jars produce a wonderful light and a cozy atmosphere.

I did a lot of testing and experimenting to find special yet discrete scents that fit to my slogan ‘Ignite the spirit of nature in your home’. I specialized on natural scents like rosemary, sandalwood, citrus, or sage. Most of the scents I blended by myself and every candle has a special name and a little story behind it, that is related to nature or the outdoors. With the unique descriptions on my website, people should get a feeling for the scents, even if they are just ordering from home in front of their computers.

And everything should be related to the brand’s name jannu & me. Jannu is a 25,300 feet tall mountain in the Himalayans. Its name literally means ‘mountain with shoulders’, and symbolizes power, calm, and energy. I wanted this idea of relaxation and refueling new energy to be present in all scents, the packaging, and on all communication channels. To honor Boulder as a special place full of inspiration, one candle is named ‘sunshine canyon’, that starts right around the corner from our home.

At the moment I pour all candles at home in our kitchen and let them dry in our living room. This can be challenging in a little apartment like ours, but it makes it cozy at the same time. I engrave all wood lids of my candles in the BLDG61 maker space at the Boulder library. When I found out about this place the first time I was carried away. This place is fantastic and gives my candles the final polish.

The thing I like most about being a candle maker and that makes me the proudest is to be involved in all steps of the manufacturing process, from the raw idea to the first design draft until the moment someone holds my candle in their hands. Being a witness of this process motivates me every day and it makes me so much more mindful about the value of a product and what it means to create something with your own hands, something that is not industrially produced.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Trusting in the process and your own skills, and being comfortable without knowing what comes next, might be the most difficult challenge. Just being with yourself and making decisions by yourself, can be very frightening especially in the beginning, but every decision, even it was the wrong one, builds so much confidence and you become a witness of your own decisions and creative process. This is especially inspiring and motivating. If it comes to things you can’t do, don’t be afraid to get help from an expert or outsource that part of your business. And then just get started! You don’t always need to have the most special idea to start your own business, sometimes people are just interested in your special version of the world.

Pricing:

• White Container, 8 oz $24
• Metal Tin, 4 oz $10
• Match Bottle, 35 count $5

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jannuandme.com/
• Email: info@jannuandme.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jannu_and_me/
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/jannu_and_me/

Image Credit:
@lisa_hantke

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