The sweet smell of success

Meghan Diemel

Contributor

November 3, 2025

STURGEON BAY – According to a popular adage, necessity is the mother of invention, but Jackie Nelson, owner of Door County Wildflower Candles & More, said finding joy in a creative outlet certainly plays a part in budding entrepreneurship as well. 

Nelson said she started creating her own bath and body products in 2014 to address her sensitive skin. 

Alongside the deodorants and soaps she made, she said she started making candles to complete the self-care gift sets she shared with loved ones.

Though not yet a business, Nelson said creating candles for her 2016 wedding revealed there was still more to master in candle making, as a few imperfections showed up on the big day.

“We saw on Pinterest that you could break down any candle, melt it, stick any wick in and it would be great,” she said. “Well, that’s when I learned Pinterest is not always right. They definitely got that one wrong, because at my wedding, I felt embarrassed with how badly the candles were burning. They didn’t have any scent. They’d burn out right away, [and] tunnel. So, they were pretty much useless, but they did look cute.”

After that, Nelson said she started doing more research.

“[It was] kind of a challenge now – I wanted to do this right,” she said.

For the next four years, Nelson said she experimented with materials and scents, while also working her full-time job as a pharmaceutical meeting planner for Merck.

After being laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, she said she dove deeper into candle making, steadily building confidence in her craft, methods and herself in this new entrepreneurial role.

When presented with the opportunity to sell her candles in a retail space, Nelson said she embraced it wholeheartedly and moved forward with determination. 

“They did very, very well,” she said. “A couple other people started asking if I would sell them, and sure enough, it just sort of grew on its own.”

Sustainable, clean ingredients for the home

Nelson said she established her LLC in 2020, and though she was eventually hired back in her former position in the pharmaceutical industry in 2021, six months later, she recognized that juggling both roles was unsustainable.

Thanks to the pandemic assistance program, Nelson said she was able to maintain business growth, allowing her to confidently navigate smaller home-based sales events while steadily growing her wholesale partnerships. 

She said her choice of the materials she uses for her candles also helped her product stand out from others in the market and provided another boost to the product’s marketability.

“I use coconut wax, which most candle makers don’t use, because it is the most expensive wax out there,” she said. “It’s actually [a] coconut-apricot [wax blend], but it’s the most sustainable wax, and sustainability is kind of at the heart of my company.”

Nelson said the coconuts are harvested by hand by Indigenous Tribes and others in South America, and the wax burns cleanly without phthalates or the suspected reproductive toxins found in some other waxes. 

“It also provides the best scent throw, so you get the most scent out of your candle, both when it’s cold and unlit and when it’s lit,” she said. “So, it gives the best sort of effect.”

Additionally, Nelson said the wax burns at a low temperature, preventing sparks and flare-ups. 

“And with the natural additives I use, it keeps the wick tame and burns nice and evenly,” she said. “Coconut wax does burn a lot longer than soy paraffin, too, so you get a long burn time out of them.”

Providing a sense of calm, nostalgia

Using upcycled containers like old teacups, glassware and festive ceramic knickknacks, Nelson said she breathes new life into her candle vessels.

She said she also rigorously tests the wicks, vessel sizes and scents to ensure her products meet the highest quality for her customers.

Finding vessels, Nelson said, is also not a problem, as there is no shortage of upcycled glassware.

She said people have now started donating collections to her to use, trading a candle or two for the donation. 

Nelson said she’s also open to doing custom fills in vessels that customers would like made into candles.

“Recently, I did a custom fill for one of my mom’s friends,” she said. “Her mother passed away, and they had a teacup set in their hutch growing up, through the ’60s and ’70s and whatnot. And there were eight kids in the family, so my mom’s friend brought me the teacup set and had a specific scent for each one. And then at the funeral for her mother, she gave a teacup to all her brothers and sisters with a specific scent. I love doing things like that.”

When producing the final version of each candle, Nelson said the time can differ due to the variety of vessel sizes, though it typically averages around 20 minutes per candle.

“I spend quite a bit of time doting on each one,” she said. “I always say they’re my babies, at least for a little bit. Each one is individually decorated – even the teeny, tiny ones I sell – [and] there’s no hint of mass production in them. [It’s] not a quick process, but I think it pays off.”

Nelson said the most popular scent among customers is birch bark, which even outsells her Christmas scents.

Sunflower, she said, is another popular scent, and she’s currently exploring new cherrywood and applewood scents.

Nelson said her candle making has always been driven by a desire to bring happiness, evoke a sense of nostalgia and offer comfort in an increasingly stressful world.

“If it brings a little bit of joy and happiness to people and makes them smile or think about someone or something, then that’s what I like,” she said.

Honoring her heritage, lifelong home 

Nelson said she sells her candles at farmers’ markets throughout the summer as well as the holidays, and considers the Christkindlmarket on Broadway the most successful sales opportunity of the year.

She said her wholesale accounts also keep her busy, and she’s thankful for them.

Her genuine love for the Door County area and the tangible role it plays in her product, Nelson said, also helps drive the business forward, from both a materials and marketing standpoint.

“In recent years, probably the last 15 years, there’s been a huge explosion in marketing for Door County, and a lot of [businesses] will use the Door County name,” she said.

For a while, Nelson said simply having the Door County name on a product was enough to guarantee sales.

But now, she said both locals and visitors are becoming more discerning, and ultimately, only the best products continue to stand out.

“It’s not just the Door County name that goes into my product,” she said. “It’s that my flowers and all the natural elements are actually harvested in Door County.”

Nelson – a fifth-generation local, whose great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents were raised on the Door County Peninsula – said she visits her family’s acreage near Ephraim twice a week to harvest materials for her candles.

Moreover, Nelson said her connection runs deeper than the wildflowers and plants she incorporates – aiming to capture the very essence of the outdoor atmosphere that visitors experience in Door County. 

“It means a lot to me to make these candles, because they’re all scented with scents you’d find in nature in Door County,” she said. “It’s got a prominent, authentic Door County touch to it, I guess.” 

As the business approaches its sixth year of operation, Nelson said she enjoys working for herself and making her own rules.

She said for her, entrepreneurship means she doesn’t have to live up to someone else’s expectations, she’s able to make her own schedule and she’s the boss – no one else. 

“I love working for my own dream, not somebody else’s,” she said.

Check out doorcountywildflowercandles.com for more information about Door County Wildflower Candles & More.