Check Out Beatriz Rivera’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Beatriz Rivera. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Persephone’s Temptations started out as a thought, an idea inspired by my love for Greek Mythology and a much more eco-friendly living. Originally a hobby but as the pandemic hit and I lost my job at the time I had as a retail manager, I had to branch out into ways to help provide for my family. Together my fiancé and I started to take the chance and began to research into how to make this small dream of making this hobby into a career a reality. I grew up with the love for candles but had a hard time finding eco-friendly candles within looking to make my own, I also discovered other DIY projects such as soap making and more. The idea of one day owning a small business from products I created by hand always kept me going although the idea was quite scary. 

We learned about LLC’s and made the choice to become one, we began our platforms and domains and officially launched March 2021. Since then, we have been able to create and sell many candles, body butters, soaps, and more! I designed all of my labels with art programs and printing them with our small printer. It’s incredible to see how little you need to begin and how fast you begin to grow. We began to participate in different local Artisan Markets in the Valley and were welcomed and loved by so many. 

When meeting other artists and consumers the main question would come up “How do you make this?” which inspired us to begin a YouTube Channel with tutorials and a bit of an inside look on how we create our products. We don’t hide anything about what we use to create our products because as a consumer or learner we want to be upfront about what we use. I always loved the idea of helping others achieve their dreams and hope to inspire and help many! 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Getting to where we are now has not been the smoothest, it’s been quite a bit of a learn-through error. When going to Artisan Markets we quickly learned the wax we were originally using for our candles would melt in the 115-degree weather Arizona summers tend to have so we had to adjust to a high melt point. Not to mention our entire stock of lotion bars, body butters and chapsticks don’t survive that kind of outdoor setting unless we are in a perfect 78-degree climate away from sunlight. Needless to say, we had to make a few changes and couldn’t offer much variety of what we planned to sell throughout most of the year. The other struggle we came across was more weather-related as a lot of our products couldn’t handle shipping in the heat and had to cut back on offering certain selections at certain times. Some Markets we had been part of would get cancelled due to weather or low consumer appearance so finding a reliable market was also a rollercoaster. Luckily, we did learn from these situations and have a better plan for the future, and love where we are at this point in time. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a lifetime artist, been known for my creativity with drawing, sculpting, and DIY projects, and my hunger to always learn more and story tell. I travel everywhere with a pocket-sized sketchbook for any ideas I may have, it’s dangerous for me to step inside a craft store or book store as I will try to give myself too many projects to handle or too many books to read. I specialize in creating unique Greek-inspired candles, each comes with its own characteristic with a unique background of its inspired being. I research into what mainly resembles each god, goddess, forest or creature from color, fragrance, stones (if any), and more. I’m mainly proud of my candles and how much I continue to improve them. They are the most fun to make and most consumers don’t want to light them to keep the original look. What set’s me apart from others is the different take, I don’t use clip art for my designs I draw them out myself, my care cards for the candles contain original art and original storytelling almost collectable material. 

How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
I’m very open to collaborations with ideas on candles, soaps, or even fun tutorials on YouTube or even getting together for shared spots at Markets in the Valley. Support comes in many ways, the best kind are typically the free kind, many can support us by following our social media accounts (Instagram, Facebook, etc.) and sharing our content, liking, and even subscribing to our YouTube channel. Over on Instagram, we like to offer giveaways when we reach milestones in follower counts! We sell on our main website: www.persephonestemptationsllc.com and on Etsy. 

Pricing:

• $9-15 4oz soy wax candles
• $25-30 11.5 oz candles embedded with flowers and real stones
• $5-9 Handmade soaps
• $7 Bath bombs
• $1-20 other self-care products

Contact Info:

• Email: persephonestemptations.contact@gmail.com
• Website: https://persephonestemptationsllc.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/persephonestemptations.llc
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PersephonesTem1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOy5ZGTkPZhMXLa9etyeGA
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PersephoneTemptation?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Image Credits
Persephone’s Temptations LLC