Misiyo Candle Co.

Misiyo Candle Co. is a Canadian candle brand and Edmonton business. Their candles are made with a mix of beeswax and coconut wax and feature custom scents.

You can visit their retail shop in Edmonton called Misiyo Slow Living to shop candles and a collection of curated products from other Canadian brands.

What inspired you to start your business?

Since studying business in university, I’ve always loved the idea of social enterprise as a sustainable way to give back and do good in the world. So, after travelling and volunteering in Rwanda made a big impact on me personally, I decided to create a candle company that would give back to a non-profit there with every candle sold.

How do you describe your business?

I would describe Misiyo as a fresh take on clean home fragrance. We make candles using our own blend of locally-sourced beeswax and coconut wax, which is something a little different than usual in the natural candle space. We chose beeswax for it’s air-purifying properties, sustainability and beauty, but it’s a trickier wax to work with. So it feels like we’ve done things the hard way, which I am really proud of. We are true artisans, blending our wax and fragrances for each candle batch we pour.

As well, I am really particular about our scents which I think sets us apart. Some scents come together in a few weeks, and some take months of tweaking to get right. My team and I love smell testing (over and over again) and seeing how a scent comes together. I think that attention to detail, combined with our wax blend, makes ours some of the best-smelling candles out there. And yes, totally biased on that!

We’ve expanded into reed diffusers this year and also have room sprays in the works for a summer release. As a team of four women, we all wear a lot of hats to keep things running, including our new candle-making space and the retail store we opened in 2024, Misiyo Slow Living. Teamwork is key to our success for sure!

What’s your bestselling product & why do you think it’s so popular?

Our Wild Honey + Yuzu candle is a year-round favourite and our bestselling scent.

I think Wild Honey + Yuzu is so popular because it’s a fresh and energizing scent. It’s not overpowering and it’s versatile. Yuzu is definitely having a moment of popularity, so the citrus notes of clementine, satsuma and yuzu are something people are loving, no matter the season. It makes your home feel clean, refreshed and cozy, all at the same time.

What’s your personal favourite product?

I am really enjoying our reed diffusers right now! I love having gentle fragrance in different rooms in my house that lasts for months with little maintenance. I just flip the reeds every few weeks to refresh the scent and that’s it. I have the Wild Honey + Yuzu in my bathroom, the Bonfire + Balsam in my office (I’m a woodsy gal at heart) and the Coconut Milk + Vanilla in my guest room. I definitely enjoy burning our candles most evenings in my living room, but I love the little refresh I get when I enter another room, and that I can customize it for how I want that space to feel.

What’s your favourite local Alberta business?

I love this French-Canadian restaurant tucked away in Beaumont, AB called Chartier. It has so much character and the food is amazing – really fresh, local and high quality. Going there for brunch is one of my favourite things!