Woman who lost job sets up bum-shaped candle business – now she's earned £500k

dailystar.co.uk:

coronavirus lockdown ruined many lives and careers back in March 2020. For one woman, she was one of the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their job after the hospitality industry went down.Gaby Jones, 26, spent time thinking of her next career step which is when she began crafting candles.READ MORE: 'I was a secret escort – all was going well until I recognised client from work'She had just £300 in her bank account when she told her boyfriend she wanted to make candles, reports MyLondon News.Setting up in her boyfriend's aunt's kitchen, Gaby, from Chiswick, London, used £300, which is all she had, to set up her business.Gaby created her first Caïa Candle mould, named after the Roman goddess of fire and women, which celebrates the female form.She bought the raw materials, melted the wax on the aunt's oven and destroyed countless frying pans and pots in the process.Gaby said: "We wanted to make a massive candle that no one's done. "Arguably, people would really say you should start smaller as that would be cheaper to make but we wanted to make a statement. "We got our first mould made which took all of the £600, it was really expensive.

It was a big risk. "After we sent them out, the reaction was amazing. Within three days we made our money back and were actually profitable."Two weeks later, Gaby received an email from Selfridges where she did her first order.

She started the business in June 2020. Within three months, she was taking boxes down to Selfridges worth around £7,000.The iconic "big bum" candles as Gaby describes them have popped up all over the world.

Stocked in 14 department stores globally, including Selfridges, Harrods, Flannels and many more, Gaby has made an impact.Even celebrities are getting in.