Luhrs Wicked Wicks

Transcript:

Narrator
Welcome to The Best of LKN, a podcast featuring the best small businesses and the most influential professionals around Lake Norman, North Carolina. Each week, we spotlight those businesses and individuals that are making a positive impact here in the Lake Norman area. Thanks for joining us. Enjoy the show.

Jeff
Hey, everyone, welcome back to The Best of LKN podcast. This is Lake Norman’s number one small business podcast where we work each and every day to elevate the Lake Norman small business community and introduce you to the best and brightest small business owners, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and leaders of local nonprofit organizations. I want to first give a shout out to our sponsors who make the work we do here at The Best of LKN possible, I encourage you to get to know these exceptional local small businesses by going to our homepage at thebestoflkn.com. There you’ll find a list of all of our platform sponsors with links to follow to learn more about their businesses. We’ll also have links to our sponsors in the show notes for this episode. While you’re on our homepage at thebestoflkn.com, please consider signing up for our weekly email newsletter. You can find the form on our homepage, simply enter your first name and email address and you’re all set. We’ll send you links to our most recent podcast episodes, written articles on our website, and YouTube videos every Friday, direct to your inbox. We’re also including information about some of our favorite upcoming events each week. The newsletter is free and signing up is an excellent way to show some support for The Best of LKN. And don’t worry, we’ll never spam your inbox, and we’ll never share your email address with anyone else. We’re still producing videos for our YouTube channel, featuring our favorite local Lake Norman small businesses, places to go, and things to do. Head over to The Best of LKN on YouTube when you get a minute and hit that subscribe button. In this episode, we’re featuring a local small business that’s on a mission to make a positive impact on families facing an autism diagnosis and individuals with special needs. Suzzie, Erik, and Mary Ellen Luhrs are the founders of Luhrs Wicked Wicks, a craft candle company based in Huntersville. Their slogan is “candles with a cause.” A percentage of the proceeds from their candle sales is donated to the Autism Strong Foundation. Suzzie and Erik join me for this episode. So, lean in with me and get to know Luhrs Wicked Wicks, candles with a cause.

Jeff
Joining me is Suzanne Luhrs. Suzanne, welcome to the podcast.

Suzanne
Thank you so much for having us. We appreciate the opportunity.

Jeff
Absolutely. And Erik Luhrs is joining remotely as well. Erik, welcome to the podcast.

Erik
Thanks, man. Nice to be on.

Jeff
Yeah, absolutely. I’m glad we were finally able to connect and get this coordinated. I’ve been looking forward to featuring Luhrs Wicked Wicks on the podcast. I first want to begin with a shout out to Matt Santos, our mutual friend at Davidson Provision Company, who helped me connect with you two. And I know that your products are available at Davidson Provision Company as well. But Matt’s been a great friend and advocate for our work, and I definitely want to give him a shout out and thank him very much for connecting us. Suzanne, I’m going to start with you. Share a little bit, before we get into details about Luhrs Wicked Wicks and what inspired this business and initiative, share a little bit of your background with the listeners, a little bio on you. Where are you from? And what inspired Luhrs Wicked Wicks?

Suzanne
So, I was born at University Hospital in Charlotte. So, I am a native Charlatan. I know that’s like few and far between.

Jeff
Unicorn.

Suzanne
Yep. Yeah, that’s how I feel. My mom is also, she thinks she was born in Georgia, but has lived in Charlotte her entire life. So, I’m definitely Charlotte born and raised. Huntersville, I’m 30, so Huntersville for 28 years. And met Erik in high school. So, we’re super local. So, whenever we tell people that Luhrs Wicked Wicks is homegrown and local, we truly are. So, that’s a little bit of my background as far as where I’m from and stuff.

Jeff
Where’d you guys go to high school?

Suzanne
Hopewell. We went to Hopewell High School. We haven’t been together since high school, so we’re not high school sweethearts, but that’s where we met each other initially.

Jeff
That’s awesome. Erik, hopefully we won’t lose connection. You want to jump in and just anything you want to add to that?

Erik
No. I mean, I think that sums it up pretty much. I mean, we’re both from here. So yeah, that is kind of rare these days. But I don’t know if it matters that much, but we do like to promote Huntersville, Davidson, Mooresville, Cornelius, Charlotte, etc. Just kind of North Carolina in general.

Jeff
Yeah, absolutely. That’s what we’re all about here on the podcast as well and definitely elevating the local small business community and nonprofits. Let’s talk about Luhrs Wicked Wicks. They’re not just candles, there’s a story behind this company. Share a little bit Suzanne, about the inspiration behind this project.

Suzanne
So, it first started with Erik’s aunt, whenever she moved down here from Torrington, Connecticut. During COVID, she’s developmentally disabled, and she had an aide who would drive her to the doctor, who would make sure that she had groceries, who would make sure she kept her apartment clean, things like that. And whenever COVID lockdown started, you know, that person was now remote. But how do you have a remote aide who does those things for you? You don’t. So, her quality of life in Connecticut depleted pretty much instantly with that. And so, it was the family’s decision for her to move down here to North Carolina. And you know, she lived in Torrington, Connecticut her entire life. I mean, 50 years. So, when she came down here, initially, things were great. She was loving being around the family. She’s like a third grandmother to my kids pretty much, almost sibling in a way. But she’s worked her entire life. So, after a few months, I think that just not working and leaving Torrington she starting to get depressed. And Erik was like, I think you guys should try this candle business thing. Two years prior, I tried to make candles and they were terrible. Absolutely terrible. I didn’t understand the art of scent throw, I didn’t understand wax, the importance of the type of wax that you get, any of that stuff. So, Erik was like, you guys should start to make candles, and I was like, but I suck at making candles. It was really that I never tried to make candles. So that really was what we started for was something that helped Mary Ellen to feel productive and feel like she was contributing and doing something and not just kind of existing, you know, with the family. And so that’s where we started, and it kind of quickly became this thing where like, we think we can help more people with disabilities, because she just instantly took to it. You know, it made her feel good. She likes telling her friends in Torrington, like look at these candles, look at this stuff I’m making. We discovered very quickly the parts of it that were not for her to do, you know, that I needed to take over, and what the parts were that she just flourished with that were great for her. And we found that she could make soap completely by herself. And that’s when we gave her Soaps by Mary Ellen. And, you know, we decided like, I think that we want to do this for people with disabilities in the future. And then about halfway through our first year, our daughter, Rilyn, we noticed that she was behind developmentally. Like, there were things that she just wasn’t hitting her cues like our son did. And I know for me personally, at first, I thought it was just COVID, you know, she was behind because she wasn’t getting, you know, the things that she needed due to COVID. You know, the social interaction with other children, going to the playground, going to the gym, and doing child watch, doing all those things. So, I felt like she was behind for those reasons initially. And Erik got his job at Choate Construction, and the charity that they back is Autism Strong Foundation. And Erik just so happened to be in a superintendent’s meeting with the founder of Autism Strong Foundation, whenever he was meeting there, and his name was Rudy Thoms, and Rudy kind of talked about autism and all of those things during that meeting. And after the meeting, Erik went up to Rudy, and he kind of described the behaviors that we were seeing with Rilyn, and Rudy just sort of suggested that we check that out further. And so, Rilyn got her autism diagnosis in November of 2021. And that’s whenever we really shifted our focus from helping people with disabilities one day to helping kids and people with autism right now. And instead of like, how can we keep things in our own bubble, because you get your diagnosis of autism for your child, and you feel like you’re drowning, and it’s so, it’s just so overwhelming. And you’re like, I need to keep it here on my kid and help my kid and do everything I can do for my kid. And it’s like, I don’t know that I can help anybody else because I need to help my child. And we really quickly got to a point where we’re getting everything possible that Rilyn could get. Every single therapy, all the maximum hours, all those things, and I think that we really felt like we can really help Rilyn, but we can also really help other people. And that’s kind of when Luhrs Wicked Wicks became more of what can we do to help people with these candles and doing more instead of like, just selling candles, if that makes sense.

Jeff
Yeah, absolutely. It makes sense. And overwhelming is the word that came to mind when you were describing how you felt initially, with Rilyn’s diagnosis. I can only imagine how overwhelming the feelings must have been at that time to be dealing with the diagnosis and then, you know, beginning to plan for the future and the changes that your family will have to make ongoing. So, yeah, overwhelming to say the least, I’m sure. So, your early experience with candle making reminds me of the founders at Hoptown Brewing talking about their early experience with brewing beer. And it’s a very similar experience. In the beginning, it was messy and a lot of mistakes were made you know, and then, but long before Hoptown was formed and was a business, but early on in their craft beer journey, and everything we do when we start a new initiative, a new business, or even if it’s a nonprofit, everything in the beginning is not quite up to par, not quite up to spec, but we get there through trial and error. I want to talk more about, so you started creating these amazing candles. Rilyn had the diagnosis of autism. When did the concept of Luhrs Wicked Wicks come together?

Suzanne
So, we were Wicked Wicks before autism. So, we were Luhrs Wicked Wicks when we started, and it was just about, you know, selling some candles, helping Mary Ellen feel like she’s being productive, hopefully eventually helping other people with disabilities feel productive, things like that. So, we were Wicked Wicks, then we became Candles with a Cause, which is like, now we’re Luhrs Wicked Wicks, Candles with a Cause. We became Candles with a Cause after Rilyn’s diagnosis. So, that’s kind of whenever we did our, like, focus shift, was after her diagnosis. And we still, hopefully, one day we’ll be able to hire people with autism, or with disabilities. More focused on autism, but not singularly to that, you know, for whatever their need is. If they want to be somebody who just makes the candles and stays back and does that, and that’s what they need for themselves, then we want to do that. Or if it’s somebody who wants more social development and wants to go to markets and meet and talk to people and get help that way, you know, we want to be able to help people and provide that kind of support as well, hopefully, one day.

Jeff
So, that’s the goal, right? That’s the trajectory that you’re on, the path that you and Erik and the family are going with Luhrs Wicked Wicks and Candles for a Cause. How far along are you? Do you have, have you been able to onboard anyone or like have workshops with people with disabilities and that sort of thing?

Suzanne
So, right now we have one employee, and she’s neurotypical. Candle making can be dangerous. And as far as like, you know, you’re dealing with very hot temperatures, you’re dealing with heavy lifting as far as like wax and moving product to markets and things like that. So, right now, we do not employ anybody who is on the spectrum or disabled, besides Mary Ellen. She’s our employee and she developmentally disabled. So, we have one non-family employee is how I should have put that. And I’m not comfortable hiring anybody with disabilities until we have like a certain ratio of neurotypical to disabled. Because I feel like in order for that to be safe, you need to have somebody who is able to watch and make sure things are managed properly. If that makes sense. You don’t add fragrance to soy wax until it’s 185 degrees. And we just learned with Mary Ellen, that that is not the part of candle making that is safe for her to do, is taking temperatures and adding oils, that’s not safe for her.

Jeff
Yeah, that makes total sense. And you’re still dialing in the process of how you introduce employees to the process of candle making. And safely, right? Safety, of course, is of paramount concern.

Erik
Kind of a big, big part of what we do also is we help families connect for free, we helped multiple families connect with resources that are here locally, that we know about, because we are talking to foundations like Autism Foundation, you know, the Autism Society in North Carolina. I’m talking to senators. We were just on the news. So, as a free thing that we do, just to help people out, is we connect people and we let them know where the resources are. Because part of North Carolina, what makes it so difficult here is like, if you get an autism diagnosis, it’s not just like, okay, here’s a handbook, this is what you need to do. It’s like you have to spend hours and hours and researching and, quite frankly, a lot of people just don’t have time to do it. So, you know, we kind of streamline that. We’ve done it with multiple families, and actually one of them up here in Huntersville was able to get a scholarship for their kid. So, you know, yeah, right now, we’re not even close to being big enough to, you know, talk about hiring someone. Like our employee maybe works like, I don’t know, maximum maybe 20 hours, Mary Ellen works more. But that is the goal, right? The goal is to have people, and to have people who can do the whole process. People who can do the markets and socialize with people and people who can be in the spotlight and feel like they have this sense of worth and belonging and a team and kind of like when we bring people in, they’re like our family. It’s not like, oh, you’re coming here to work. So, when we bring you in, it’s gonna be like, okay, you’re coming here because we’re a family type of deal.

Jeff
Yeah, absolutely. And so, you’re doing a lot of advocating for awareness for autism and also lobbying really, right? Senators and officials who can really move the needle on helping to fund some of these initiatives and bring support to families who need it.

Erik
Absolutely. That is, if anything, if we could change anything, helping families get resources would outweigh any kind of candle making that we could ever do. But if we can use the candle making voice to be heard then I think it can be beneficial for a lot of people. And that’s the goal.

Jeff
I love that yeah, that’s yeah, I love the initiative and the mission behind your company. Suzanne, share a little bit for me like the types of, I was in Davidson Provision Company recently, I took some photos of the candles that were in there and I’m actually going to post them, I might even post them on Instagram tonight. But I wanted to get an idea of the types of candles that people can find and also where can they be found? Other than Davidson Provision Company, where else can listeners find Luhrs Wicked Wicks and make purchases?

Suzanne
So, we have two different lines of candles. We have our like glass mason jars which are like our largest selection and kind of more classic, and there’s an eight-ounce size and a 12-ounce size. They come in like a rustic bronze lid and they’re available in just like a large range of fragrances. And then we also have our handmade concrete vessel line. And that’s what Davidson Provision Company carries. They exclusively have our concrete, they like that kind of rugged, handmade, outdoorsy kind of look. And those have actually gotten us into a couple of locations, of like retail locations, just based on like concrete. Some, like Davidson Provision Company have only gotten the concrete and then other ones have gotten in the door with the concrete and then bought other products as well. So, right now you can get Luhrs Wicked Wicks products at Dearness Gardens Nursery in Huntersville. They’re on 115. You can get Wicked Wicks products at Fresh Market Produce in Denver and in Hickory. And they’re a family-owned, farm and produce stand. They have incredible produce, fresh flowers, anything that you could possibly need. They are amazing, family-owned, love those people. You can go to Lavendar Boutique in Cornelius; they have our concrete line. There is the sweetest lady you’ve ever met out in Belmont who buys from us, her name is Poochie Dotson. And she is just the sweetest, sweetest lady and her store’s called Surprise Me. It’s on, like the main little stretch in Belmont. And then you can go obviously to Davidson Provision Company. But yeah, so those are the people who have our candles. The first people to take a chance on us and like say, hey, we want to sell your stuff, was actually the sweetest lady named Stephanie and she has a store in Huntersville that’s called The Perfect Home & Gift, she gave us our first chance. They’re not still there, but she’s an awesome lady. Really, really sweet. So, people should definitely check her out for a small business in Lake Norman. And then the next one is the family who owns Fresh Market Produce in Denver and Hickory.

Jeff
I’ll definitely, wherever possible, I’ll have links in the show notes for those businesses and give them shout outs on social as well. I do love to give shout outs to local small businesses in these conversations and that’s a pretty good list of local small businesses. I’m sure that you have more on the way, more locations where Luhrs Wicked Wicks can be found. Davidson Provision Company, of course we know and love. And every time I go in there, I find something else that I love about that shop. So, that’s a really good place to be.

Suzanne
And just great people. I mean, Matt came and made that video for us for nothing. Just because, and Shannon is just such a sweetheart. She saw our concrete candles and was like, I have to have these in the store, you know, and really vouched for us with Matt. It’s just been a great working relationship, so we’re really grateful for that.

Jeff
Absolutely. Yep. Yeah, they are great people. And they are huge advocates for local small business, but also up and coming small craft-type businesses as well. So yeah, great shout outs. Erik, before we close, I want to get you back in the conversation and share with us please, a little bit more about the advocacy side of the work that you’re doing at Luhrs Wicked Wicks, and what’s the message that you’d like to share with the community? And what would you like listeners to know?

Erik
So, first thing I would want listeners to know is that this year, my nine to five job, I’m a construction superintendent, I work for Choate Construction, it’s the black and gold sign that you see everywhere. They do a lot of philanthropy and they back autism one thousand percent. Last year, they were able to raise like half a million almost. And that was all donated locally. This year they’re hosting, Build Strong Charlotte, it’s going to be a massive event. And there’s going to be a ton of construction companies, potentially owners, health care companies getting behind this event, and really making a difference here locally and raising awareness for autism. And the main thing is that there are sensory zones, there are resources that will be there, and they’re really going to push awareness in the community and how to get help and that just showing them that hey, we’re big business but we’re here for the local guys too. And on a personal note, which is unrelated to that, I would just ask people to look into the Innovations Waiver for North Carolina and that’s what I was on the news for, and that’s what I’m writing senators for. That’s what I’m trying to get news networks involved in, and that is a waiver program for children with disability that just opens up resources for them to get the therapies that they need in order to be successful and enter the workforce later in life. In North Carolina, they’re a little bit behind. They’re processing waivers right now from 2010. So, the backlog is substantial, our daughter is on the backlog, and I would just ask people to look into the Innovations Waiver and why our state cannot find funding for it. And if you get enough people talking, eventually they have to do something. So, that’s kind of the goal around it. Autism Awareness is great, but some of the families like us really need help.

Jeff
We talked a little bit about that, too when we first connected for just kind of an introductory phone call, and how frustrating it has been for so many families. There is the example of like, people who are affluent can get help, and people that are at the really bottom end of the income scale, have access to some help as well. But gosh, there’s this huge pool of families in the middle that are struggling to find assistance and get access to support and resources. Would that be accurate? Did I describe that accurately?

Erik
Yeah, and I mean, people are leaving the state because of it. I mean, people are forced to make a choice where they have to move to South Carolina, where they offer the services, or even Virginia where there’s not as many children that are on the spectrum so the resources that they have are enough for them. And that stuff we’re looking into too. It’s getting very expensive to live and when you have an autistic child, it’s very, very expensive to get the therapies that they need in order to be successful. And I think on a state level, on a government level, you know, there has to be something done about it.

Jeff
I appreciate you sharing that. Innovations Waiver, I would definitely encourage listeners to do some looking into that and digging and learn some more about the resources and access to resources that families battling autism really need. Suzanne, before we close, can you share for our listeners how they can learn more about Luhrs Wicked Wicks?

Suzanne
Yeah, to learn more about Luhrs Wicked Wicks, they can give us a follow on Instagram. And our Instagram handle is just at Luhrs Wicked Wicks, or Facebook, you search Luhrs Wicked Wicks, we’re the only one, or our website. We try to keep all of that really current. And those are going to show whatever events that we’re going to be at. Come talk to us. You see a Luhrs Wicked Wicks sign or banner or anything, come talk to any of us, we love to talk about this stuff. I could sit and talk to somebody about autism all day long. I know I’ve missed out on many candle sales because I’m talking to the parent of another autistic child, and somebody comes up to talk to me about candles. And I’m like, okay, yeah, one second. You know, they want more candle info and I’m and I’m on the autism tangent. And it just is what it is. So, you know, we want to talk about autism, we want to talk about candles. I’ll teach you about candles. We’re doing candle making classes now, which is a new thing. You know, the only other candle making class you can get in Charlotte is down in South End, and it’s quite short. And now we’re doing candle making classes at our home or mobile candle classes if you can get seven or more people together. We want to be part of the conversation, we want to be part of the change, part of the thing that gets something done bigger than just our bubble. You know, our daughter is three years old. She has an eight-word vocabulary, that used to be a two-word vocabulary. And one of the things that she’s learning and trying to say is more. And I really just want to be able to do more for other families who are going through this. I’m fortunate enough that I have my own business that I can work from home to be with my daughter during her 30 hours of therapy a week. Other parents don’t get to do that. So, if I can do some work to help them so they can get more help, that’s what I think we want to do.

Jeff
That’s really well said and a really great way I think to close this episode and this conversation. Can listeners purchase online at your website?

Suzanne
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. We do free delivery to certain zip codes, like Huntersville, Cornelius, certain parts of Davidson, or free pickup from our home, and then we ship throughout the United States.

Jeff
Is it luhrswickedwicks.com?

Suzanne
Yes.

Jeff
Perfect. I’ll have the link, of course in the show notes too. Again, really well said, Suzanne. I appreciate you sharing that, and I think it’s a great way to close the episode. And I want to thank you so much for joining the podcast. I’m looking forward to sharing the story with our small but really enthusiastic and supportive audience. And hopefully, we can help bring some value to the work that you and Erik and the team are doing. So, thanks again to you both really very much for joining the podcast. Suzanne and Erik Luhrs, the founders of Luhrs Wicked Wicks. Suzanne and Erik, thank you again.

Suzanne
Thank you so much for having us. We really appreciate it, Jeff.

Erik
Yeah, thank you so much.

Jeff
Big thanks to Suzzie and Erik Luhrs for joining the podcast. Friends, you can learn more about Luhrs Wicked Wicks by going to their website at luhrswickedwicks.com and follow them on Instagram and Facebook at Luhrs Wicked Wicks. I’ll have that link in the show notes along with links to some of the local small businesses we mentioned during our conversation. As always, you can find the complete show notes for this episode and all of our episodes at the home for Lake Norman’s number one small business podcast, www.thebestoflkn.com. While you’re there, be sure to sign up for our free weekly email newsletter. We’ll send links to our latest podcast episodes, YouTube videos, and written articles on our website every Friday direct to your inbox. Signing up is easy, and you can find the form on our homepage at thebestoflkn.com. And it’s a really great way to show some support for the work we’re doing here at The Best of LKN. If you’re looking for some amazing local small businesses to shop or to work with, I recommend you begin by having a look at our sponsors. These local small businesses have been so supportive of the Lake Norman small business community and our efforts here at the podcast and they are worthy of your support in return. Links to our sponsors can be found on our homepage at thebestoflkn.com or in the show notes for this episode. Friends, that’s going to do it for now. I hope you enjoyed getting to know Luhrs Wicked Wicks with Suzzie and Erik Luhrs. Thanks so much for following The Best of LKN podcast. We’ll be back next week with another episode. Same time, same place. So, until then, cheers Lake Norman. Bye for now.

Narrator
We hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of The Best of LKN. For more information about this podcast, show notes, video episodes, and links to our featured businesses, please visit www.thebestoflkn.com. We publish episodes weekly, so be sure to subscribe and stay up to date. Until next time, cheers Lake Norman.