Today we’d like to introduce you to Erica Molitor.
Erica, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Everything started on Etsy — a friend of mine had been using Etsy to sell some crafts she was making as a hobby and I also wanted to try it out. This was about seven years ago right before Etsy and the handmade movement was about to take off, so I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. I began with a few handmade scented candles as well as some pillar candles with illustrations and within two months, I was contacted by Kat Von D’s Wonderland store in LA! I had to use google to figure out how wholesale worked! I think that was when I realized this could potentially become more than just a hobby.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There’s a saying “do what you love and you will never have to work a day in your life” — I think it’s more like “Do what you love and you will work every day of your life.” For that reason, my number one piece of advice is to be authentic, don’t try to chase trends. If you are not a person who loves and lives for, let’s say cats– then you are going to have a hard time trying to find a place in the cat lady community, talking about cats for nine hours a day and being inspired to create cat products. But if you are Angela from the office and cats are your life, then you will never run out of love and inspiration for what you do and 12-hour workdays ahead won’t get you down!
Starting a business of any kind is never an easy adventure. One of the major hurdles I continue to come up against is how women are treated in everyday transactions. I feel the need to be twice as assertive in my position to be heard and taken seriously. Because of the way society tends to ignore women’s complaints, I had to learn to be unapologetic about my demands. My second piece of advice is to never let anyone make you feel like you are bothering them when you are asking for your property manager, supplier or maintenance etc to do their job.
Please tell us about your work.
At the center of my business is the candle brand that began on Etsy in 2011 called Burke & Hare Co. I started making candles that I would want in my home but couldn’t find anywhere. I have always been someone with spooky style, I was a teenage goth girl and still love all things dark and dreary but I’m also an adult with a mature taste in home decor. I don’t necessarily want items from Hot Topic or Halloweentown on my shelves year round– but I do prefer black candles and bats to strawberry scents and butterflies.
The scents for the candles are blended by me and I create recipes that fit with the idea of the brand. Our candles have names like Salem, October, Zodiac, and Bathory and each scent is unique and thoughtfully created to complement those themes. Some are literal like Cemetery Gates is a blend of hay, sweet grasses and earth while some are conceptual like Hocus Pocus which is meant to conjure a witchy shop in the 90s with notes of incense and vanilla.
Over the years we have been able to attend lots of independent markets as the candle brand and we were able to meet and form connections with so many artists I admire and have purchased from myself so when I considered opening a store, I knew I didn’t want it to just be a candle shop — I wanted to feature all the awesome crafts and work from others! I have a unique ability to buy for the store while working with talented people when we vend events like Oddities Flea Market (curated by Regina and Ryan Matthew Cohn), Death Salon and Dark Arts Faires. My personal connection with a lot of the products we carry sets us apart from most other stores out there because I want to introduce customers to these exciting artists! I can direct you to their social media, websites or even tell you what market they are vending in person at next!
I opened October on Friday the 13th of last October and the store is not only my Flagship store for Burke & Hare Co candles but also a place where I can bring all the incredible independent brands I love to the shelves alongside so many items, I have a nostalgic love for because of my goth teen years.
Who have you been inspired by?
I grew up in the 90s and I feel like it was a time when women were loud, powerful and demanding of respect. I find a lot of inspiration in music and the lyrics of artists like Siouxsie Sioux, PJ Harvey, Hope Sandoval, and Bjork. At the same time, Hip Hop had a lot of ladies coming through like Missy Elliott and Queen Latifa. I grew up on songs that told me to never let anyone hold you back, don’t be afraid and seek out your independence. I have always been a little music obsessed so these women were my world.
Currently, I work alongside so many driven and strong women. In fact, 90% of the independent shops that I sell to are women-owned and operated businesses as well as many of the craft fairs I attend and makers that I buy from. Every day I interact with these entrepreneurs and they do not only inspire me with their ambition but they are the people I turn to with questions or just to vent after a tough day. These creatives offer such an amazingly supportive community and I am lucky to be part of it.
October was started with the help of the Center for Women and Enterprise. I worked with an amazing woman named Sandra McNamara for months getting everything I needed together to make the dream a reality and she is still available to me for questions, so a HUGE shout out to her for being an incredible resource!
Contact Info:
- Address: October
745 Westminster St
Providence, RI 02703 - Website: octoberpvd.com
- Phone: 4014327648
- Email: octoberprovidence@gmail.com
- Instagram: october.pvd
- Facebook: october.pvd
- Other: burkehareco.com and IG: burkehareco
Image Credit:
Erica Molitor
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