We were all trucking along, as usually, until ... about a month later when COVID-19 hit. It's been a challenging year for Griffin, who launched the company in 2019 to honor the Black Diaspora through scents and designs.
But Griffin, who lives in Durham with her husband and young daughter, hasn't let the challenges stop her. She's found ways to pivot her business — and sees plenty of glimmers of hope.
Go Ask Mom: We featured you back in February and let's just say things are ... different ... now. How has the pandemic reshaped your business?
Tiffany M. Griffin: 2020 has been QUITE THE YEAR! The pandemic has forced us to transition from a business that fundamentally relied on being present (smelling a scent requires one to be with the scent!) to primarily an eCommerce business (with no marketing budget to boot!). Luckily however, the local community and a number of key strategic partnerships over the year have kept us afloat.
It's been incredibly validating to see how much people respond positively to our company vision of "a world where the complexity, beauty and brilliance of Blackness is widely known, recognized, embraced and celebrated." And then once folks get our candles in their hands, they realize that our scents really are unique and that our artisanship really can't be beat.
GAM: What has been the biggest challenge this year?
TG: Hmmm, this is a tough one. There have been A LOT of challenges. Balancing work and being a mama is always tough, but took on a whole new level this year! Our business has also gone through a ton of changes this year, RAPID changes, which has forced us to be super agile in really short amounts of time, IN THE MIDDLE OF A PANDEMIC... and an election year... and widespread social unrest...and a deeply divided country... and and and :)
GAM: How have customers responded? What's been the most popular product for you?
TG: Our customers have been AMAZING—supportive, encouraging, positive, patient. They've rooted for us, asked if they could volunteer to help us, spread the word about our products and mission, and rooted us on every step of the way. They send us comments telling us how our candles bring light and hope and peace to their lives. They tell us how they're learning things about Black culture that they never knew before. The dynamic that we have with our customers is really beautiful; we feel very blessed.
Not surprisingly, our most popular product is our Durham candle!!! It really is a unique scent design! This year, our Harlem, KOI, and IDA Limited Edition scents have also been quite popular.
GAM: What are your business goals for 2021?
TG: We hope to stabilize in 2021--smooth out operations, get sound systems and logistics in place, get financially stable so we can hire great team members, SLEEP again, and of course continue to design amazing, transcendent scents that share all the reasons why we love and are so proud of the Black Diaspora.
