Today we’d like to introduce you to Allison Jones.
Allison, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m Allison: Believer, wife, mama, expat, mental health expert, millennial, AKA, self-care advocate, content creator, and so much more! Thanks to my husband’s basketball career, we’ve lived in five different countries and a few different U.S. cities, but Atlanta is and will always be home. My husband, DeQuan, and I met just before our freshman year at the University of Miami and have been married since 2014. We welcomed our little broke bestie, Harper, this past summer, and being a new mom has been my favorite adventure yet. Momming is my main job these days, but I’m also a small business owner. My company, Kintsugi Candle Co, was born out of my own experience with a brain tumor.
It was in the middle of March 2018 when I had my first migraine. My husband and I were living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he was playing that basketball season, and we had decided a month or so prior to start trying for our first child. It was a beautiful spring day, and although I wanted to get out and about and enjoy it, I knew something wasn’t right from the moment I woke up. Later on that day, I was hit with dizziness, numbness and tingling in my hand, and a terrible headache. These symptoms are all normal migraine symptoms, and I assumed that the hormonal changes of coming off of birth control had triggered migraines (especially because my mom is plagued with chronic migraines herself). I continued to have these headaches off and on, once a week or so over the next month. When we returned to Atlanta in April, I decided to go ahead and see doctor just to hopefully get medication that would keep the migraines at bay. My doctor reassured me that these were probably just your normal migraine, but she ordered an MRI just to be safe.
About a week later, I got a scan done, and the technician informed me right away that something wasn’t right – she couldn’t tell me the details, but she did see a mass on the scan and I should contact my doctor right away. I found out that I had a brain tumor, and just a few days later, on April 26, 2018 at just 27 years old, I had a craniotomy to remove a benign meningioma. During my recovery, I made my protecting my mental and emotional peace a priority like I never had before. I was all about self-care, and I realized quickly that aromatherapy played a huge role in my personal regimen. Because of my personal experience, Kintsugi Candle Co. was born to honor the beauty in the broken and inspire others to share their personal stories of resilience.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My road as a small business owner has not also been a smooth one, especially due to the volatility of my lifestyle. My husband plays professional basketball, and his career has taken us to a few different U.S. cities and multiple different countries for months at a time. To date, we’ve lived in Italy, Japan, France, and Israel. A few months after I founded Kintsugi Candle Co., we moved to Israel for the basketball season, so I had to run my business remotely with the support of family and friends, which was really challenging because I’m a super hands-on person (and a little bit of a control freak). I definitely think my absence has impacted the growth of the company and although I’m thankful for my husband’s career and our lifestyle, at times during Kintsugi Candle Co.’s first year, I did find myself wishing that I was home so that I could invest more time and energy into my business.
On top of my physical absence, I became pregnant with my daughter while we were in Israel, and my pregnancy and transition into motherhood took the majority of my attention. I’ve finally settled into my new role as a mompreneur, but it hasn’t been easy.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Kintsugi Candle – what should we know?
Kintsugi Candle Co. is a brand that is devoted to honoring the beauty in the broken. A few years ago, when my husband and I lived in Japan for a basketball season, I was first introduced to the concept of kintsugi. Kintsugi is the Japanese practice of repairing broken pottery with gold. My interpretation of kintsugi is that items are made more beautiful because of their cracks, and not in spite of them, and I feel that this is something that can be applied to people as well. Like broken pottery put back together with gold, we are made whole again in spite of our trials and tribulations and are more beautiful and unique having been broken.
It was because of my desire to help others honor the beauty in their brokenness that Kintsugi Candle Co. was born. During my recovery from brain surgery, I started to prioritize self-care like never before. While I’ve always been a self-care advocate, during this time, it wasn’t just something that I practiced because I wanted to. It was something that I literally had to practice in order to survive. The two things that proved monumental for me were 1) owning my story and sharing it in order to take control of the narrative and 2) aromatherapy. I began using a variety of essential oils and fragrances that helped me to reach whatever mood I was looking for. If I was feeling keyed up, I chose something relaxing, like lavender. If I was feeling down, I chose something uplifting, like patchouli. If I needed something comforting, I turned to a scent like fig or clove. I experienced first hand how a fragrance can transform your outlook in an instant and make a bad day a little bit better, and that was something that I wanted to share with the world. I joined my newfound love for aromatherapy with my desire to help others honor the beauty in their brokenness and own their stories of resilience, and Kintsugi Candle Co. was born.
Kintsugi Candle Co. has evolved into a lifestyle brand and we sell candles, apparel, and accessories. Each item is adorned with a quote that speaks of perseverance and triumph to inspire each of us to celebrate our stories of resiliency and prioritize self-love through authenticity. I also share monthly blog posts and weekly vlogs about my own “broken beautiful life,” including my authentic experiences as a new mom, wife, small business owner, and expat.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
AUTHENTICITY! Hands down, I think that authenticity is the most important characteristic to my success. I pride myself on being transparent and sharing my story with others in hopes of inspiring them to share their own truths. On top of authenticity, I’m a huge proponent in finding the beauty in the broken, or, in other words, searching for the positive in less than positive situations.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kintsugicandleco.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allisonmathisjones/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllisonMathisJones/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/kintsugicandleco/ & https://www.facebook.com/kintsugicandleco
Image Credit:
Alexandria Murray
Sarah Vitel
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