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High charity goals for High Cotton Candle Company

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Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle.

Walking into Tracey Hogan’s Brook Highland home, the smell of candles fills the air. Just inside the front door, the room to the right used to be her office but has been transformed into her storefront. Organized bins store all her ingredients, and shelves hold her many varieties of unique candles wrapped in white boxes and tied with a bow.

It’s been just over a year since Hogan acquired the rights to High Cotton Candle. It was last February when she became a small business owner. With a degree in finance and background in sales, she knew she could run a company but had to teach herself the candle-making process. 

“I had no doubt I could figure it out,” she said. “I did a bit of research, but I felt like I knew how to do it and started doing it,” she said.

Hogan has seven lines, which include Signature, Clean, Floral, Cravings, Celebrations, Autumn and Holiday. She continues to experiment and create more. Her most popular fragrances are Southern Hospitality, Amazing Grace, Flannel, Southern Sangria and Gulf Coast Getaway. She created the Black Label line over the summer and features more masculine scents.

One of her favorite parts of owning a candle business is smelling a scent and being able to recreate it as a candle or room spray.

“If I smell something I like, such as men’s cologne or my favorite perfume, I’ll go try to recreate that. I’ll just start pouring oils until I get the same fragrance then test it in soy. That’s the happiest feeling, being able to make my friends their very own candle. It’s fun hearing everyone’s story and why they’re picking that fragrance for a certain person.”

It’s a process just to get one candle made. Once the wax is mixed, it has to be poured, the wick cut and placed, stickers and warning label applied, boxed and tied with ribbon that coordinates with the specific candle line. Hogan mixes and hand pours all the candles in her home office. Because they contain wooden wicks, essential oils, and come in reusable glass cubes and recyclable wooden boxes, Hogan has future plans of becoming certified organic.

High Cotton Candles are currently sold in over 20 local stores throughout the Birmingham area. From her online orders, Hogan has shipped her candles all over the United States and even to other  countries. Monogramming has also become a huge part of her business, and she gets many orders for bridesmaids’ gifts and corporate gifts for employees. Several companies also brand Hogan’s candles, which she pours and they put their own label on it. 

Her main purpose for running the business is to make money to support her passion: animal rescue groups. She currently donates to seven regularly, some local and others regional and national. Ten percent of every item she sells goes directly to the charities. She is in the process of making a section on her website dedicated to each charity, providing a link where direct donations can be made, whether or not a candle purchase is made or not. 

“The scope of my giving is all in relation to how big my company is,” Hogan said. “If my company gets bigger, the checks I can write get bigger. That’s where my heart is. I feel the need to save as many animals as I can. I don’t care how hard I have to work, or how many candles I have to sell, to help animals is why I’m here.”

Hogan’s goal for this year is to use her platform to get into school systems to educate children and pass literature on to their parents about adopting pets from shelters. She also hopes to go before Gov. Robert Bentley and lawmakers to get laws changed on animal rights, especially regarding backyard breeders.

“I found out a long time ago that I have a big voice. I get loud when I’m passionate about something,” Hogan said. “I am the voice for the ones who don’t have a voice for themselves.”

High Cotton Candles

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