Founder, Chesapeake Bay Candle and Bliss Living Home
Washington, D.C.
www.chesapeakebaycandle.com
www.blisslivinghome.com

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Few contemporary entrepreneurs are taking imaginative leaps into educational and cultural initiatives.For Mei Xu, an interior décor maven and home fragrance designer in Rockland, Maryland, her multi-cultural activism is changing the topography of business and changing lives.Mei Xu is owner and creator of the multi-million dollar business Chesapeake Bay Candle™, a wholesale provider of home fragrance and home décor www.chesapeakebaycandle.com, and Blissliving™ Home www.blisslivinghome.com, an online boutique and catalog business which offers interior lifestyle products.

What I learned from Mei: Know who you’re talking to and how to talk to them. Take one success and use it to create another.

Desire to Live the Dream

“I came to the United States in 1992 with my husband David Wang to pursue my graduate education at the University of Maryland. But I always had a passion for interior lifestyle design. Driven by a desire to live the American Dream, and to create beautiful designs for the home, I decided to start my own company. This convinced me to create and market my own line of modern home fragrances and home décor.”

Home Studio Start-up

“After returning from Germany’s Ambiente consumer goods fair in the winter of 1994, David and I turned our home into a candle design studio. We experimented with vibrant color pallets and provocative fragrance pairings – and created a presentation of stylish candles unparalleled in the American market at the time. I decided to then use my own money and funds from friends and family to start Chesapeake Bay Candle.”

Phone Calls and Perseverance

“After countless phone calls—and with a little luck—we arranged appointments with buyers of the most renowned retailers in the country. The resonance was breathtaking. Buyers were fascinated with our presentation; no one had seen candles in modern pop colors such as lime green and mango that were featured in our line. The modern, organic designs paired with complex, provocative fragrances were designed to match our vibrant color story, and proved to be compelling.”

A Name Inspired by Nature

“While I presented my premier candle line to retail buyers, the company needed a name. Inspired by the surrounding beauty of the Chesapeake Bay, I decided to pay tribute – naming the company Chesapeake Bay Candle.”
Bring on the adventure
“Over the last three years we were growing at approximately 20 percent, and now we’re experiencing an average annual growth rate of 40 percent. To take it further, I was ready for another adventure to complement my existing business.”

Diversifying for Fun

“I wanted to create a brand marketed directly to consumers that would broaden the product—with a focus on the bedroom—a place in the home where you spend most of your time that is often neglected when it comes to décor. So in 2005, I launched my second brand, Blissliving™ Home, with high-end, exclusive products and designs. And so Blissliving was born. Today, it is available through approximately 25 premium specialty stores around the world.”

Investing From the Inside

“Financially, I am investing part of Chesapeake Bay Candle profit into Blissliving. What started as a creative candle design experiment in my Annapolis home quickly developed into a global enterprise.”

Strategic Alliances = Fast Growth

“Recognizing the power of scent as a progressive marketing tool, the Bryant Park Hotel in New York City approached Chesapeake Bay Candle to propose a long term strategic alliance. Since October 2006, Chesapeake Bay Candle’s Black Fig candle is the hotel’s signature fragrance and can be found throughout the hotel’s public locations. Chesapeake Bay Candle works with approximately 25 retail partners; we’ve Target, Kohl’s, IKEA and Pier 1 Imports by our side. It helped us grow into one of the largest home fragrance and décor companies in the United States. It paid off when Target awarded Chesapeake Bay Candle “Partner of Excellence” for our great design inspirations and dependability in execution and operations.”

Understand the Challenges

“My biggest challenge was to understand the American system and retail environment. As an Asian woman business owner, it sometimes felt that I had to work twice as hard to succeed to earn everyone’s respect. So I relentlessly focused on building business and global operations.”

Globe-Trotting for Inspiration

“I grew up in China and came to the United States when I was 24 years old, so I’ve a passion for world cultures. With my multicultural background, I travel the globe for design inspirations–from Paris to London, Shanghai and Tokyo to New York–wherever my travels take me. I look for the latest interior lifestyle trends and home fragrances, and find inspiration in the arts, the streets, and pop culture. It’s important to provide authentic cultural experiences and innovative design elements in both my businesses.”

Taking Success Overseas

“My desires for myself my businesses are supporting foreign language education in the United States and China. The goal is to get a better understanding how American schools teach Chinese language to American pupils. I invested substantial monetary means into a partnership between two exemplary foreign language education programs: Washington D.C. based Sidwell Friends School, and the Hangzhou Foreign Languages School in Hangzhou, China. I spend my personal time traveling with teachers from both schools to visit other private schools with programs in foreign language education. This experience has equipped Hangzhou Foreign Languages School to provide better Chinese language education to American students who want to study Chinese language and culture in China.”

Motivational Mantra

“Focus on what you are best at, find your niche. It is impossible to succeed in something that is not close to your heart.”

Launching Tips

“Pursue what you are good at and become a specialist in your area – do not be a generalist. If you follow your heart, you will succeed.”

This Featured Lady was profiled by Chicago based editor, writer and educator Tisha Nemeth-Loomis