Taharia Randolph sits in front of her Body and Soul Experience products. (Photo courtesy of Body and Soul Experience)

Last in a series looking at Black-owned start-up businesses in the Far South Community Development Corp. Marketplace in Chicago

Taharia Randolph struggled with anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With everything that was going on, I had suicidal thoughts,” Randolph admits.

Joining with like-minded individuals, she learned holistic tools, like positive affirmation, journaling and meditation. When group discussion turned to new hobbies, someone mentioned candles.

“I was intrigued,” Randolph said. “My three daughters were battling anxiety, being locked out of school (during the pandemic).”

Randolph and her daughters began creating candles for fun. They started to share their creations with family, then friends.

“We wanted to uplift others, so each jar had a positive affirmation on it,” she said.

Jessa Anderson and her daughter make candles at Body and Soul Experience. (Photo courtesy of Body and Soul Experience)

She began having candle-making workshops.

“I was seeing it through from beginning to end,” Randolph said of candle-making. “I was using candles as a pick-me-up. I was writing positive affirmations on each candle.”

Randolph turned her passion into a business. Body and Soul Experience is an aromatherapy and scented candle company, specializing in holistic remedies to reduce anxiety and depression through candles, journaling, meditation, and candle-making sessions.

Body and Soul Experience is sharing space with four other new Black-owned startup businesses, along with four returning vendors, at the Far South CDC Marketplace, 837 W. 115^th St., Chicago.

Randolph said her business got off to a tough start.

“Opening a storefront was harder than I expected,” she said. “I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about capital.”

With her opening struggles in the rearview mirror, Randolph foresees her company being a beacon for the world down the road.

“I see us being global, not just in the United States,” Randolph said. “We need to uplift one another, to spread the light, to spread the information about the tools to put in daily practice. I want everyone to have a better journey in life.”

One of Body and Soul Experience’s candles. (Photo courtesy of Body and Soul Experience)

Randolph also plans to be a life coach.

“We all need someone who cares, who we can share our story with,” she said. “We all need to lift one another up. I can incorporate different tools to help people.”

Randolph said she is using the Marketplace as a storefront and as an area to fulfill online orders.

She said the Marketplace space is the manifestation of a dream.

“I put it on a vision board at the end of last year, on New Year’s Eve, that I would have retail space and it manifested as a storefront.”

She said she would like to see more people coming through the Marketplace to see her offerings and those of her fellow startup business owners.

“We need more traffic in there,” Randolph said. “Energy flows where energy goes. We need more eyes on our products and more word of mouth.”

She also sells her candles at various festivals.

“What stops them is the affirmations,” Randolph said. “It’s what resonates with you. I have a lot of individual affirmations.”

Amber Goodman (right) and her sister make candles at Body and Soul Experience. (Photo courtesy of Body and Soul Experience)

She said her aromatherapy and scented candles, such as eucalyptus and lavender, help reduce anxiety and stress.

Randolph supplies email subscribers with 10 positive affirmations on a weekly basis. She also posts blogs on mental health.

“I am a mental health advocate. Mental health issues have increased,” Randolph said. “One in five people have a mental illness. In the corporate world, it is one in three.

“We have a health pandemic right now. We have individuals still living with fear. You never know who has PTSD.”