One local woman-owned and operated business incorporates aesthetic creativity along with political activism by donating a portion of its proceeds to current social movements.
Elma Avakian, a 2019 San Jose State alumna with a bachelor’s degree in business marketing, started her
home-based business Femôme in July to expand her activism work during the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I just thought, ‘Hey let’s do something crafty that’s also super cute, but also gives a portion of the proceeds back,’ ” Avakian said in a Zoom interview.
Avakian sells candles that she makes in the kitchen of her home in Campbell. Her main advertising forum is her business’ Instagram, which features various pictures of the candles and links to the shop website where customers can purchase the candles.
She said she stopped working full-time for Google as an email marketing project manager to invest in her business.
“Every free moment that I have I am making candles,” she said. “My whole kitchen is basically a candle factory.”
To make the candles, Avakian said she must repeat a tedious process of melting wax in bulk, adding chalk dye to reach the ideal color, pouring the wax into molds and allowing it to set for at least three hours. On average, she said she repeats this process three times a day to make seven candles from each batch.
Avakian donated $800 from her first wave of orders to Black Women’s Health Imperative, an organization that targets pressing health issues which affect Black women and children in the U.S.
She said although she plans to continue donating some of her profits to other organizations, Black Women’s Health Imperative will be a repeating recipient.
“African Americans are discriminated against in the health care industry,” she said. “The whole vision of these candles is at any given time, when there’s a world crisis, I will transition to different organizations, but I will always go back to Black Women’s Health [Imperative].”
These issues the organization addresses inspired Avakian to mold the candles into the shape of a feminine body to symbolize the Black women who face discrimination. She said the shop currently offers two colors of the candle: beige and brown, but she wants to expand the range of skin tones and body types for candle orders.
Avakian is now donating to provide aid in Armenia, a cause particularly special to her because of her Armenian heritage.
“There is a war happening in Armenia where Azerbaijan and Turkey are attempting to commit an
Armenian genocide and [Armenia is] a very poor country, so all help is needed right now,” she said.
Avakian donated $1,600 so far that goes toward purchasing supplies like medicine, sleeping bags and clothes for soldiers in Armenia. She plans to donate an additional $2,000 to Armenia Fund, an organization that will distribute her donations to communities in Armenia for humanitarian aid and infrastructure development.
Briana Leviste, a 2018 San Jose State alumna, has ordered from Femôme twice and said the added bonus of supporting current social movements made it easy to continue purchasing the candles.
“I ordered one [candle] the first time when Avakian was donating to the Black Lives Matter movement and I loved it so much [that] I went and bought two more for some friends and at that time proceeds were going to support Armenia,” Leviste said in a phone interview.
Marina Urroz, a customer and friend of Avakian’s, said she made two purchases from Femôme because of the quality of the candles, along with the fact that the candle proceeds are donated.
Urroz commended Avakian’s hardworking drive and motivation to help causes bigger than herself.
“Her entrepreneur mindset along with her big heart and love for others is a killer combination, which when put together leaves those around her inspired and eager to be a part of the action,” she said in a text.
Femôme orders are shipped to a wide range of locations including Hawaii, New York and Canada.
Avakian’s business’ success has been a surprise to her because she expected to ship about 10 orders in July and has now shipped approximately 300.
“This was a huge gut feeling for me,” she said. “I thought it would do well and it’s going amazing. I can’t even fathom the volume that I’m doing now.”
