SAN ANTONIO – Starting, building and keeping a business can be a daunting task for anyone, especially for a child. But over the past 5 months, 8-year-old Madison Ayers has filled more than 1,000 orders for candles she makes from scratch.
Madison is the owner of Candle Pop Co., a home-based candle business she runs with help from her parents in San Antonio. She selects the scents, colors and jars, buys the materials, melts the wax and helps market her creations at local farmers’ markets.
“You take off the lid and pour it in here about, like halfway,” Madison said as she carefully measured the wax.
Her mother, Jessica Miele, said the idea sparked after Madison watched her older brother earn extra money by helping neighbors with their trash.
“She was like, ‘Well, Mom, I want to do something,’” Miele said. “She started really small, you know, a little 10‑pound thing of wax, and it just kind of snowballed from there. She’s basically working six to seven hours like an adult.
“That can get a little hard for her because she’s only eight, you know, but once the markets pick up, she gets energetic about it.”
Madison admits the toughest part has not been the hot wax or long hours.
“Talking to people, especially people I don’t know,” she said, has been the biggest challenge. “Before I started, I was really shy, and it’s really brought me out, so now I can actually speak to people”.
Even though she’s years away from getting her driver’s license, Madison has already started saving for a very specific goal.
“Her goal right now is she’s saving for a car when she’s 16,” Miele said, laughing. “And then she says she’s going to buy me a house.”
Madison said she plans to keep Candle Pop Co. going “for like a long time,” and her parents hope her story inspires other young entrepreneurs.
“Just get it started for them and watch it explode,” Miele said. “It really does bring kids out, and it teaches them.”
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