Simply Scent Candle Co, Houston

After Shanquita Greggs lost her job as a flight attendant, she didn’t know what she was going to do with her last $467 paycheck. Once she caught the holiday episode of Martha Stewart’s TV show, she had her answer. “I decided to take [the paycheck] and invest it in myself…to do something that I love every day.” Needless to say, It paid off.

That doesn’t mean it was all wine and roses from the get go, though. Shanquita started off by selling the candles she made in her grandmother’s kitchen from the trunk of her car, fueled only by a dream and the lovely scents emanating from the back of her vehicle. Eventually, however, she was able to make that dream a reality and turn Simply Scent Candle into a full-fledged operation, replete with a brick-and-mortar store. There, shelves brim with all manner of candles, reed diffusers, and room sprays that emanate unique fragrances such as strawberry lemonade and, fittingly enough, wine and roses.