Introducing the Ladies

The idea to start Ellie Mae came to me while I was sitting in a Philadelphia coffee shop waiting for a reporter I was meeting. For a couple of years I had been making candles and giving them as gifts and I felt I was finally ready to take them to market. I just couldn’t quite figure out a name for the company or names for each of the scents. I had gone through iterations of trying to put names like “Boys Have Been Here” and “The Baby Spit Up on me,” things that mothers could relate to and bond in. But it wasn’t happening for me - I thought maybe I just wasn’t clever enough. Then it hit me…

Nine months prior we had said a final goodbye to our dear friend Ellen. After a nearly two-year battle with melanoma the fight ended - it was Christmas Eve. I had spoken to Ellen the day before, although I did most of the talking. Through tears and a broken voice I rambled on about how much she meant to me and that all of us would be there to help raise her children. I finally stopped with my rambling speech and she said, “I love you, too.” As if I hadn’t been crying enough.

In the days that followed we all gathered to remember Ellen and pay tribute to her. The words of love, the photos, the laughter overflowed as everyone remembered this incredible woman. Some of us grew even closer and some of us reengaged with each other.

So as I sat in that coffee shop on the September morning it hit me what I needed to do. I needed to name the company after my dear friend and I needed to celebrate the incredible women I am blessed to have in my life. Each candle is named for a special woman in my life. Each time I introduce a new scent I am reminded just how lucky I am to have so many amazing girlfriends.

As women, we spend a lot of time knocking one another when we should be lifting each other up. I am a stronger, better woman because of the amazing ladies who surround me. They make me laugh and cry, they are there to hold everything together when my world is falling apart so I don’t have to worry about the pieces. They make me a stronger human being, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Here is to celebrating those in our lives who make us better even if they aren’t trying.