AKRON, Ohio – With stores in the Northside Marketplace and the eBay Retail revival program, a full-time job and the Akron Sustainer project, you might say Kaley Foster is as busy as a, well, bee.
Especially so, when you learn the products she makes and sells at Urban Buzz Candle Co. are crafted with beeswax.
At Northside Marketplace, Urban Buzz shares a space with Not Yo’ Daddy’s Mexican Hot Sauce and leaf. Home and Flower, an affiliate of Every Blooming Thing in West Akron The shared arrangement works well, she said, because none of the business owners wanted a separate store.
“We’ve been good friends for a number of years,” Foster said. “We trusted each other and knew we would all hold up our end of the bargain.”
Urban Buzz is located in the market’s Made in Akron section, designed with a central checkout so businesses without the manpower don’t need a representative to always be there.
The Marketplace works in conjunction with Downtown Akron Partnership, which brought in retail professional Jane Douglas, who Foster says checks in with the businesses regularly. The vendors have access to classes and workshops, as well as attorneys and small business advisors.
“If you want the help and support it’s there for you,” Foster said. “The collaborations are great. Everyone’s a big team.”
Ditto for the eBay Retail Revival program. eBay offers the 12-month program in conjunction with the city of Akron to support the local business community through ongoing training and support.
“The support from eBay has been astronomical,” she said. “They want us to succeed. I don’t know what we’ve done to deserve these opportunities.”
As a result, Foster says business at Urban Buzz is definitely up.
And while candle-making is an enjoyable hobby, Foster sees candles as much more — they can have a serious impact on health.
It all started when she visited Columbus with friends in 2014, and happened upon a busy candle-making shop for the public. She and her friends tried it out and had a great time. It occurred to her that such a business might work well in Akron.
So within the next few months she started making candles at home, but with a twist.
Foster had Googled allergy remedies because she wanted to adopt a cat a neighbor had abandoned, but she is seriously allergic.
While researching, she learned candles can purify the air. Digging deeper, she also learned most candles on the market contain paraffin, which releases toxins into the air. And because the industry is unregulated, candle makers don’t have to list ingredients.
“It’s absurd to me that the ingredients are listed on food products but not on something you breathe in,” she said. “You might as well be breathing in car exhaust.”
Urban Buzz candles are made to purify the air. Foster gets her beeswax from a bee farm in Ashland, Ohio and uses cotton wicks. Her candles’ scents come from natural essential oils.
“So they’re safe for your friends and family to breathe,” she said.
And, Urban Buzz candles are named for Akron area neighborhoods, from the lavender, tea tree, and grapefruit scented West Akron to the eucalyptus, pine needle, and tangerine Peninsula candle. She recently added a natural bath salts line, made with bee pollen.
It’s obvious Foster works a lot. And she still wants to open that public candle-making shop.
But it helps that her workshop is in her apartment. And her apartment is in the Cascade Lofts where she also works as a full time events manager for the Trailhead Events Space, which opened last month.
And, right outside her door is the Akron Sustainer, a project in an 8-foot by 20-foot shipping container Foster launched through a $5,000 Torchbearers’ Small Projects Achieving Real Change grant.
Painted in multi-colored splendor by the University of Akron’s Myer’s School of Art, Art Bomb Brigade, the shipping container is the epicenter of workshops and classes that promote good health and sustainable living.
Foster admits she’s a bit of a workaholic and at times it wears her out. But after spending a few complacent years after college, she wanted to discover where her passion lies. Now at 31, she’s juggling a lot but she’s happy with all her activities.
“I want to make an impact, that’s why I work so much,” she said. “It’s very rewarding. Now I feel like I have an opportunity to be heard and make an impact, and make Akron better.”
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