Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsea Selby.
Hi Chelsea, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started Witch Baby in 2013 as a new mom with my baby strapped to my chest after getting fired during my pregnancy. I wanted my own income, I didn’t want to work for someone else, and I wanted to build a better life for my daughter so on October 13th of 2013 I opened our Etsy shop which has since grown into a full blown production. Now it is my family business that my husband Joe Randazza and I run together. We at one point operated 3 physical storefronts in New Jersey and currently we operate out of an old ravioli factory in Roselle Park New Jersey and we retail to over 60 stores around the US and Canada – 10 of which are in New Jersey.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I have a background in cosmetology and degree in holistic medicine, but not business so of course there was a lot to learn in operating my own business. I started the business when I was 25 years old so in so many ways I also matured with Witch Baby. I was still figuring out who I was while figuring out my own business. Of course when you do anything that requires you to grow and learn there will be struggles. One concept I’ve really latched onto is the idea of failing forward. If it’s too smooth and easy you aren’t learning and growing. I have really come to appreciate and learn from every challenge our business has ever faced as an opportunity to do better and be a stronger leader and business owner. As we have also operated through and during a pandemic, an economic downturn, inflation, and tariffs we’ve faced a lot of challenges over the last 13 years and many of them have only made us more stable and flexible when it comes to facing adversity. Perhaps I am channeling my ancestors when I say this, but my affirmation to myself through all the adversity we have faced over the years has always been “smooth seas never made a skillful sailor”.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Witch Baby has become a leader and visionary in our field of more mystical and spooky offerings of fragrance and bath and body. When we first began there were no products like ours on the market. Many items were only offered during Halloween and they were cheaply made – lacking the depth and the elegance that we offer to a underground community year round. We’re well known for our crystal embedded body butters, coffin shaped bath bombs, elegantly handcrafted soaps, and crystal bath bombs. Our unique scents create worlds out of scent of haunted graveyards, woodsy witch’s cottages, enchanting holiday nostalgia, and scents that weave through our lived experience with a touch of witchy magick. Now we’ve spawned an entire industry of witchy and macabre indie and handcrafted makers around the globe.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
My best advice to anyone starting out is to create the thing you want, not what you think people want. Your authentic self expression and yearning for the thing the market has not yet created is your path to success. Some people might think they’re the only one interested in their idea, but chances are if they like it someone else will too. The key is finding the people out there who are looking for the same thing you’re making.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.witchbabysoap.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/witchbabysoap
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/witchbabysoap
