"Maybe some women aren’t meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free till they find someone just as wild to run with them
~Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City, "Ex in the City", 1999
The Soy Natural Candle Company, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
In the spring of 2008, Michelle Murray was a stay at home mother of three, who spent her weekends working at St. Luke’s Hospital, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After spending the last ten years in the radiology department, Michelle longed to become an entrepreneur and do something different. Her husband Kenyon, virtually stumbled upon an opportunity to own a home based soy candle company called “Barn House Candles”. Looking for a way to spend more time with her family and friends, Michelle knew this would be a chance of a lifetime and a way to unveil her inner creativity.
In May of 2008, Michelle bought the company formerly known as Barn House Candles. Taking nothing from the previous owner’s unique company name, Michelle decided that her company needed a name to portray her “sassiness”. Where most of us come up with our greatest ideas, “Soy and the City” was born in Michelle’s morning shower. Being a Sex and the City fan, her business had to have a product that portrayed this hit show’s confidence, beauty and elegance. Her first task was to create a candle that would be the cornerstone of her business and bring to life her vision. With that, Michelle came up with the “Soytini”.
Soytini: a candle that looks and smells like a vintage martini made of natural soy wax.
While on vacation with her family and friends, Michelle unveiled her new ideas. She enlisted the help of her girlfriends to do some “research”. Michelle wanted nothing to stand in her way of capturing the right color, fragrance and appearance to create the perfect Soytini. Not one to let her friend do research alone, Prudence Johnston jumped on board to help. A partnership began that enabled their creative juices to get flowing and over a period of several weeks Prudence and Michelle were able to bounce new ideas off of one another. Being a stay at home mother of three as well, Prudence often pondered what she could do that would be exciting and take advantage of some of her untapped strengths. Both ladies being Leos, it seem as though destiny was calling for the two of them to create a partnership that would enable Soy and the City to reach its potential. Today these ladies are ready to bring some “sassiness” to a great Iowa made product.