Waterloo woman makes candles to make people feel good

WATERLOO — Maryah “Ryah” Grisby was home-schooling her two sons during the pandemic when she started making and selling candles in April 2021.

Since then, her Ryah CandleLand business has grown to 22 fragrances, offered for sale on her website and in Waterloo and Cedar Falls area stores, including Hy-Vee.

“I love candles and use them as an artistic way of diffusing essential oils that have an amazing effect,” the 37-year-old Waterloo woman said. “It’s a more natural way of burning that’s clean.”

She’s now looking to put her candles in the Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Des Moines markets and is seeking a $7,000 Kiva Iowa loan to finance that expansion.

“My candles not only smell good, but they make customers feel good as well, giving me motivation to produce more,” she says in her Kiva loan application.

Grisby uses organic soy wax or beeswax as the base for her hand-poured candles, then researches and adds oils and fragrances that are all-natural and allergen-free.

“I study and select premium ingredients to maintain cleanliness and purity,” she says. “I create candles that smell good and work for people — and pets — sensitive to synthetic fragrances.”

It’s a special joy, she adds, when people who have lost most of their sense of smell, either through aging or as a side effect of COVID-19, find one of her fragrances they can smell and enjoy.

“It’s heartwarming, and it gives me more motivation to make people feel good,” she says. “Candles make people feel something — they bring out inner feelings. I cherish that. It keeps me going, reaching out further.”

Grisby says she can’t estimate how much time it takes to create her candles because “I don’t even pay attention. It gives me joy to be in the time of doing. Business is my therapy.”

She also aims to keep her candles affordable, with prices ranging from $5 to $35. Her top-selling candle is Berry Glacier — soy wax with orange sweet and strawberry essential oils with coconut, almond or vanilla extracts.

Grisby’s husband, Roosevelt, and their sons, Roosevelt Jr., 15, and Romaire, 11, also help her and are in charge of naming each new fragrance she comes up with.

Grisby had 15 years’ experience working for others — in accounting, marketing, customer service, sales and digital marketing — and credits her father, James Cockhren, for encouraging her to start her own business.

Her father, who died in April, owned and operated the popular Jim’s Smokin’ the Wheels on the Grill BBQ in Waterloo for 15 years.

“He motivated me, pushed me,” Grisby says. “He encouraged me to do more than him … and he always helped me. I can hear him in my heart — to keep pushing, baby girl.”

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