SPRING HILL, Fla. — When Mariah Cason isn’t going to school to be a physical therapist she can often be found making candles in her Spring Hill backyard.
However, she doesn’t want to take any credit — she owes it all to her mom.
“At first she didn’t start it off as a business, she just kind of did it for fun, she was an ICU nurse and around the holidays she would just give it to her friends and family,” said Cason.
Cason remembers when she was just eight years old, stirring up that gooey wax with her mom until it was just right.
“Her making candles was always new because you can always choose a new scent, a new color and all that kind of stuff and she just loved doing that,” said Cason.
When her mother wasn’t testing out the newest scents, it seemed like she was always battling cancer. Patrica Cason died in 2018. Mariah was just a freshman in college.
“I wanted to keep her memory alive because she wanted to do it and I kind of wanted to go in her footsteps and I wanted to make candles for a purpose,” said Cason.
She named the business Barn Owl Candles.
“I just like barn owls and thought it was a cool name,” said Cason.
Five percent of every candle sold goes to patients at the Moffitt Cancer Center, a place where Mariah spent a lot of time growing up, right by her mother’s side.
“It means the world to them especially when they have to pay $800 for medications or chemo and stuff like that,” said Cason.
She said it’s impossible to make a candle without thinking about her mom.
“The whole time, because she is the one that started everything,” said Cason. “Every time I sell a candle I want to make someone happy and I want to make a difference.”
You can purchase Barn Own Candles at Barnowlcandleco.com or on their Facebook page. Cason’s long-term goal after graduating is to open up her own brick-and-mortar candle store.
