Tangela Sanders has always had a connection to fragrances.
For the last 15 years, she’s been using fragrances to create custom-made candles made to look like a martini glass or Starbucks coffee mug.
Sanders said she and her husband, Inglewood native Brian Sanders, first began making candles in their apartment and then sold them at local farmers markets and fairs throughout LA County.
After using Instagram to promote their business, Tangela Sanders said the couple opened the Fragrance of Elegance brick-and-mortar on Crenshaw Boulevard in May.
The store hosts birthday parties and classes that include self-care Sunday, date night and private sessions. Customers can make their own candles, body scrubs, soaps, lotions and perfume. Lovie Yoakum recently hosted 18 guests at the shop celebrating her birthday on Oct. 4.
“I’m turning 40 and my theme is ‘melting my 30s away’ so what better way to do it than melting and making candles,” Yoakum said.
Tangela Sanders, who also works as a certified trauma-informed life coach, said the classes are about creating customized candles and self-care.
“I add some of my training to our classes and people usually find the candlemaking process to be healing and a form of expression,” Sanders said.
On the fourth Friday of each month, Fragrance of Elegance hosts a free Cherry Blossom Poetry Session in partnership with Wisdom’s Sisters, a faith-based support group for women founded by Sanders.
Sanders said the mission of Fragrance of Elegance is to plant seeds of hope and healing while allowing people to come together and create something unique in their own community. Being in Inglewood is especially important because that’s where their creativity and business idea first began.
“I had a childhood friend come in here with her mom for her birthday,” Brian Sanders said. “It was a big deal because they knew us when we first started. We had an apartment in Inglewood and we used to hold candlemaking events there. She was at the first event.”
Sanders also said he’s encouraged as a small business owner by the amount of support they’ve received from people he grew up with in Inglewood.
“A lot of people worry about gentrification and all that stuff but a lot of people have been extremely supportive of us here,” he said.
