#awinewith Lisa Stephens: reinventing at 50 with the world's first scented rechargeable candle
✨ Thank you to IP Australia for supporting the SPARK podcast and women in business ✨
"The world shut down, and now I'm here to light it up again." Lisa Stephens owned two F45 gyms and two Pilates studios when COVID closed all four. Now, in what she calls "about the 50th chapter of my life", she's building Aroma Hug: the world's first scented, rechargeable candle, a flameless candle with real scent throw that's safe around pets, kids and forgetful candle-lovers. This is the episode for anyone in the messy middle: prototypes that don't work, manufacturers on the other side of the world, no marketing budget, and a founder who refuses to stop moving.
Where do great product ideas actually come from?
Lisa always used battery-operated candles at home (two dogs, a cat, and "stupid 20-year-old boys, you can't trust them" with a flame). Then one day in a Noosa homewares store, her daughter-in-law walked straight up to a traditional candle for a sniff: "Lise, this is my favourite scent." The penny dropped: people put up with the safety and health downsides of real candles for one reason, the scent. She went home to her husband and said, "I think I've got a really good idea." And because scent is personal, Aroma Hug is deliberately open: swap the scent vial, or use your own.
Why does a "simple" product take years to build?
"Everything that looks simple is complicated," says Lisa, pointing at the Cool Cabana: looks effortless on the beach, hides years of design. Two years in, she's on her fourth or fifth prototype and a third manufacturer. The dealbreakers are the details: the mechanism has to be silent (a candle isn't relaxing if it clicks), the scent throw has to fill a room, and it has to work with a remote, no apps, no careful positioning, no "but I can't turn it on!" Because as she puts it: "You only have one chance to launch properly."
How do you fund a launch with no budget?
There were no savings behind this one, so Lisa is building it lean: her husband's restarted accounting practice funds the prototypes, and she's working with a US company that prepares products for crowdfunding on platforms like Kickstarter. The strategy is to build the audience first: interested customers put down a couple of dollars to reserve roughly 40% off at launch, which builds a list of genuinely committed buyers before a single unit is manufactured. Patents were out of reach financially, and her lawyer's advice was pragmatic: get to market first, because "the first one out will have the credibility."
What is it really like starting over at 50-plus?
Lisa is candid about the parts nobody posts about: teaching herself social media from scratch ("I wouldn't be on social media if I didn't have to be"), putting her face on camera ("people are cruel!"), Facebook ads nearly breaking her, and the $70-million-to-billion-dollar-exit headlines that make you wonder if you're doing it wrong. Her coping strategy became a SPARK catchphrase on the spot: just post and ghost. And her resolve is total: "I've worn a lot of different hats in my life, and this has to be the final one. I've got to see this through."
Lisa's one piece of advice for women in business
"Just keep moving. Don't overthink too much. Take that first step, and then take the next step. Two steps forward, one step back, just keep moving. And on the really shitty days? Go to bed, pull a pillow over your head and tell everyone to go to hell. Then get up the next day: okay, done that."
Meet Lisa Stephens, Founder of Aroma Hug
Lisa Stephens is the founder of Aroma Hug, the world's first scented, rechargeable candle: flame-free, silent, with interchangeable scents and real scent throw. A former phys-ed teacher and marketer who went on to own two F45 gyms and two Pilates studios with her family, she's now building her next chapter one prototype at a time, with a pre-launch waitlist ahead of a planned crowdfunding campaign.
You can find her here:
Full transcript
Danielle: Oh my god, so good! Lisa, welcome to SPARK TV!
Lisa: Thanks, Danielle.
Danielle: Cheers! You've brought a wine, I'm a happy gal! I don't get too many people showing up with wines these days.
Lisa: Are you joking! You didn't have to ask me twice.
Danielle: No, same! You know, all of the work commitments and family commitments, I'm like, come on, people! We're amongst friends.
Lisa: It's the end of the day, honestly.
Danielle: Yeah. Oh, I love it. Let's start out by telling everyone who you are and what you do.
Lisa: Okay, well, my name is Lisa Stephens, and this is about the 50th chapter of my life: now I'm an entrepreneur. I love it. I'm developing the world's first scented, rechargeable candle.
Danielle: Wow, I love this. I should have my candle burning, but I think that misses the brief. Talk to me about a scented, rechargeable candle. What does this mean?
Lisa: Well, a couple of years ago I lived up in Noosa, and I was doing styling of homes and things like that, and I've always loved candles. I've always loved the ambience of candles. You put a candle on and it's like... it's like wine.
Danielle: It is like a wine! Instant relaxation.
Lisa: It's like, right, the day's over, now I can breathe, I can chill, I can relax. And at the time, I had quite a few battery-operated candles in our place, because we've always got animals, we've got two dogs and a cat. And before that, we always had kids at home, or teenagers, or stupid 20-year-old boys. You can't trust them.
Danielle: Can't trust them with a flame, I tell ya.
Lisa: So the battery-operated candles were the safest way to go. And then one day I was shopping, looking in a homewares store with my now daughter-in-law, and she walked straight up to a candle in a jar for a sniff, and it was like, "Lise, Lise, this is my favourite scent, I might get this." And I thought, why would you still be using traditional candles? And then I realised: it's the scent. That's why people still buy traditional candles, even though there are all the downsides, all the safety issues, all the health issues. They want the scent. I went home to my husband and I said, I think I've got a really good idea. And that was it.
Danielle: It is a brilliant idea, and it's so true. I think about myself as a candle user, and I put it on for the scent. I have one sitting on my office desk, and invariably I get up to do something, and I forget that I've left the bloody candle on, and then I get in trouble from my husband when he gets home.
Lisa: Yeah, it's a real thing, it's a real problem. But the other thing is there are so many beautiful scents out there now. You can use a scent while you work to help you concentrate, a scent in the bedroom to help you relax and sleep, uplifting scents, romantic scents. They're all scents that we will develop. But with this candle, you can use your own scent too, because a scent...
Danielle: ...is a very personal thing. Yeah.
Lisa: It's not like I'm going to tell you what perfume to wear. We didn't want to be cynical about it and make it so you have to use whatever scent comes with the candle. The idea is that you can use your own scent too.
Danielle: I think it's genius. So where are you up to? You said you were developing the product. You're like, hang on, let me have another sip of wine before I answer!
Lisa: Does it show? Look, I've been going for about two years now, and you would think it's a simple concept, and that it would be a simple build. But everything that looks simple is complicated. When we were on the coast, I saw, oh, what are they called, Cool Cabanas, everywhere. Everywhere! They look so simple, and they are simple. We bought one, you go to the beach, you put it up, it's simple. But there must have been a lot of design behind that. Suddenly all anyone saw was 50 Cool Cabanas on the beach, and we didn't see all the frustration and everything that he went through. So where I am is at the frustrating stage, where I think I'm now onto my fourth or fifth prototype. And it looks so simple.
Danielle: That's gorgeous!
Lisa: So it's a candle and a base, and you take off the candle, and there's a scent vial that goes in here. And it's meant to look like a real candle, like an elegant candle.
Danielle: It does! I'm looking at it going, that is a real candle. I mean, obviously I haven't looked at the flame part.
Lisa: And this is just the first one. We'll have all different designs, but you have to start with something, right? I started with something that I like, and something that's fairly neutral, that would go into most homes. My husband keeps telling me about this design he's got for a Valentine's Day candle, and it just terrifies me.
Danielle: That worries me as well!
Lisa: So there will be different designs, but we have to start somewhere. It looks so simple, but then there's all the mechanics behind it. And I'm at the stage where it's been going for two years. I have to get it right. I'm not going to give up on it. So I'm expecting the next prototype, unfortunately Chinese New Year is getting in my way...
Danielle: Oh no, of course, yes.
Lisa: I'm expecting the next prototype by the end of February. Hopefully then I will have a proper working prototype. Because right now, I've got something that looks like it's meant to look, but it's not working the way it should. It can't make noise: a candle's not relaxing if it's going click, click, click. And it's got to fill a space. You can't have to be right up against the candle to smell the scent, there's got to be a scent throw that is sufficient. The scent transition has to be easy. It's all got to be easy.
Danielle: Yeah, you don't want the end user to think it was hard at all.
Lisa: It's meant to be a product that is ambient and helps you relax, so it's got to be that. And you only have one chance to launch properly and get the product right. So that's what I have to do.
Danielle: Wow. And I do feel for you.
Lisa: I have never manufactured in China before.
Danielle: I've had a product-based business once before, during COVID, where packaging was coming from China, but we were buying it locally, so there were always delays and bits and pieces, but we weren't doing much custom work. But I'm working on a little welcome pack type thing for SPARK, and one of the items I tried to produce locally, but it's so expensive, so I've started looking at offshoring. And as I was saying before we hit record, it's taken me six months to get a sample. And I'm not even that happy with it, and to your point, I'm not going to put out something I'm not happy with. But I'm like, that was six months of wasted time.
Lisa: I know. And you have to remember that it's not wasted. You're that much closer.
Danielle: Yes.
Lisa: But when you get it, and you open it, and you just think, oh my god, you know?
Danielle: Yeah, I know! It's infuriating.
Lisa: Yeah. And then you're doing social media, because I've got people signed up who are interested in getting it, and you're trying to stay connected with those people. And I had someone say yesterday, "Seriously, when are we going to get it?" Desperate!
Danielle: Totally! Well, also, how freaking good is that, having customers already? Like, give me your product!
Lisa: I know, it's fantastic. But at the same time, you're like, I hear you. And I feel it.
Danielle: Oh my god, it's insane. So how have you gone about actually working with the Chinese manufacturers? Have you been over? Is everything via email? What's that process even like?
Lisa: Okay, so I got this guy in Australia, in Sydney, to build the first prototype, and basically this was what we built together. That was done by email. It helped that this guy, and I kid you not, looks exactly like Bradley Cooper.
Danielle: Whew! You're not mad about being on a call with him, then.
Lisa: I said to him one day, has anyone ever told you you look like Bradley Cooper? And he said, yeah.
Danielle: Oh, must be such a tough life.
Lisa: Anyway, really great guy. He does prototypes and tries to figure out how a product can work. Then he had a manufacturer in China he'd worked with in the past, and he put me in touch. He was a really good guy, but we went as far as we could with him. It gets to a stage where you just go, well, I can't keep going backwards and forwards. We couldn't get the candle quiet enough, that was one of the biggest things, and it didn't have sufficient throw. So then I started googling myself, and you go down a lot of dry gullies. We found someone else, and after about three different prototypes with them, I just thought, that's enough. We've done that now.
Danielle: And I guess you get to a stage where you're like, if you're not getting it, you're not going to get it, so why keep going down this path?
Lisa: And I'd get a prototype and it wouldn't turn on straight away. And she said, oh, well, make sure it's positioned... you had to position it so carefully. Like, no, no. I'm not going to be in a situation where people are going, "But I can't turn it on!"
Danielle: You've got to hold your hand in the air and press the button at the same time!
Lisa: It's got to be easy. And with that one, I had to download their app, and I just thought, no. Let's use a remote: you press go, and it just comes on.
Danielle: Yeah, 100%.
Lisa: So now I'm on to someone else. This manufacturer is quite big, and they're all in the space of producing diffusers, because this is essentially a diffuser that looks like a candle. And they've all had to sign non-disclosures and things like that. But they're sort of like, oh wow, because, you know, "we were looking at doing something like that." So that's where I am, dealing with that.
Danielle: Oh, god.
Lisa: And people say to me all the time, have you got it...
Danielle: Patented, or something?
Lisa: And we don't have the money to patent it.
Danielle: Yeah, it's a pretty expensive process, isn't it?
Lisa: It's a very expensive process, and it's very specific. A lawyer said to me, listen, just get it out as soon as you can. Because the first one out will have the credibility. It's like Cool Cabanas. You can go and buy the equivalent of a Cool Cabana almost anywhere now, but people still buy Cool Cabanas.
Danielle: Yeah, there's a brand recognition in the original, isn't there?
Lisa: There is, and brand recognition, if it's good, is worth a lot. But it doesn't matter what you do, it's going to be copied.
Danielle: Oh, absolutely, and I think that's the world we live in now, isn't it? It doesn't matter if you're a product business, a service business, a creative business. You can't even post something original on Instagram, because people are like, that's a good idea, I'll do that. I mean, I do that! I screenshot posts that I like and think, oh, I'll go back and do my own take on that.
Lisa: You know what they say? What is it? Something like, copying is the...
Danielle: Imitation is the highest form of flattery, or something. Which, I don't know, I'd question that. When it's your baby!
Lisa: I know, I know. Anyway, I'm not at that stage yet. But, so, you mentioned COVID. This sort of came out of COVID. All our businesses were shut down during COVID, totally different businesses, so this is like a rebuild, late in life.
Danielle: So what were you doing before said candle business?
Lisa: Okay, so at the time COVID happened, we owned two F45 gyms and two Pilates studios.
Danielle: Oh my god!
Lisa: It was a family business. I've got two sons who are personal trainers, my career way, way back was as a phys-ed teacher, and my husband's an accountant, so we were all working in it together. And those four businesses were shut down.
Danielle: Oh my god! How was that?
Lisa: It was crushing. We just couldn't believe it.
Danielle: Are they still going?
Lisa: One of the F45s isn't, we just walked out. And one is, the one we started. It was very, very much our baby. My oldest son, who is now 29, actually had his 21st birthday there. And then we sold it, and we sold him with it!
Danielle: Perfect!
Lisa: Because that's the sort of parents we are. He worked in another business for just over a year, but he misses it so much he's starting back there on Monday.
Danielle: Oh my god, that's so funny.
Lisa: Yeah, so we've still got friends from there, and we're very attached to it. But COVID happened, and suddenly it was like, oh my god, what are we going to do?
Danielle: Do you still have the Pilates studios?
Lisa: I sold those. We sold them all as things were getting back to normal. But in the fitness industry, it just didn't go back to normal. We all talk about COVID, but COVID for the fitness industry was at least another year, 18 months, because everyone was so freaked out. It's normal now, we go to our local F45 now. But it was just insane. It was like the Black Plague. You had to have marks on the floor, and no one could get any closer to anyone else. Our grandchildren will not understand it. We lived through such an amazing time. The whole world shut down. It was insane.
Danielle: Yeah, I was thinking that the other day. I don't know where I was, but it was quite crowded, and I was like, oh, this would have freaked me out for a minute there. But now it's like it never happened.
Lisa: It is. So, you know, the world shut down, and now I'm here to light it up again.
Danielle: Oh, look at you! I love that!
Lisa: I just thought of that!
Danielle: Oh, that is so good. Spark some inspiration! I like it! Oh my god, we can't get together for more than one wine, this'll go nowhere.
Lisa: Maybe it's the vino.
Danielle: That's right, I'll take it. It's the creative juice, you know?
Lisa: Oh, absolutely, wine helps every time.
Danielle: That's incredible. So, you were talking about building your social media and customers and email list before having a product to sell. Why are you doing that? What's your strategy?
Lisa: Okay, well, we were building this out of nothing. We had no savings or anything like that. So I heard about going down the crowdfunding route, which is quite common in America. I started working with a company in America that specialises in getting businesses ready for crowdfunding, on Kickstarter or Indiegogo or something like that. And I just kept thinking I was getting closer and closer to launching. Every time I'd think, oh, well, I'll launch by March last year, and the time would come and go. But one of the things they stress is getting interest beforehand, so that when you do launch, you've got a chance of achieving your goal. So people basically put down a dollar or two, just to say, hey, we think this is a really good idea. And for doing that, when you launch, they get a significantly reduced price, with us it's something like 40% off.
Danielle: Oh, wow.
Lisa: So it's quite significant. You're trying to build a list of people who are genuinely interested. They put down $2 and say, hey, keep us in the loop.
Danielle: That's cool. Do you have that set up on your website, or is that on a crowdfunding platform?
Lisa: My website right now is directed to this company, LaunchBoom, who are helping me. And the money doesn't come to me, it's collected by Stripe, it's all very secure. But people still get worried about putting their details in a computer. And the other thing is, I'm going to be launching in America. That's the crowdfunding side of it, but I also want to do it in Australia. So I'm trying to do two different markets, and I'm trying to keep the social media up, and it's been a challenge for me, because I didn't grow up in the age of social media. Even when I had the kids, that's when Facebook came out. And I was never, ever, which I'm proud of, by the way, I didn't ever put anything about my kids on Facebook. They can thank me for that. It wasn't a conscious effort, it was a conscious decision. If one of them won a race, I just thought, who cares? "We're proud of you! Good, well done." Who the hell cares about whether my son won a race?
Danielle: "If you can tell the rest of the world that, that would be fantastic."
Lisa: It drives me mad. So the thing is, I wouldn't be on social media if I didn't have to be right now. And putting myself out there, actually putting my face on social media, that has been another whole challenge. Because we're never happy with the way we look. And people are cruel!
Danielle: Oh my god, people are the worst. I'm having a... oh my god, no, there's a little bug that flew into my wine. That's depressing.
Lisa: Just tip it out!
Danielle: Yeah, that's right, get it out of there. My husband says, oh, it's just extra protein.
Lisa: Such a husband joke.
Danielle: It is such a husband joke. But yeah, it is funny. I'm having a content day today, because we're about to launch the next round of the grants, and I swear to god, I've said these same Q&A things a hundred times, and I still hate it with a passion, you know? You look at yourself and you're like, look at that mark, and why does my face look like that? You're just so self-critical. And it's like, when you look at other people online, you don't even think about that, you just listen to what they're saying. So no one's going to think that of me, they're just listening to the answers about the grants, everything will be okay. But you really have to talk yourself into it.
Lisa: I know. I just have to push post, and not look at it.
Danielle: Yeah, totally. Post and ghost, I say!
Lisa: Post and ghost, I like that!
Danielle: Just go, hopefully you resonate with my message, and I don't want to hear anything else. Oh, that's hilarious.
Lisa: So, you know, the whole thing has been challenging.
Danielle: I think it's a really smart approach, though, building an audience before you launch. Especially with a product where you've probably spent a bit of cash getting these prototypes, and then you're going to have to buy inventory, and then you're going to have to market it. Products are a beast. So you want to launch to customers.
Lisa: We've been on the back foot financially all the way, you know? So my husband has now started his own accounting practice again, late in life, and he's supporting us, giving us money as we require it for Aroma Hug. Because we both believe in it.
Danielle: It is incredible, isn't it? And maybe one of the least talked about things: funding your business venture. Sometimes you've got to work, or go back to work, or one person in the partnership has to work. It's really challenging.
Lisa: People say to me, you know, why haven't you just gone on Shark Tank?
Danielle: Oh, sure, it's so easy, you just go on Shark Tank!
Lisa: Seriously!
Danielle: Unsolicited business advice. Especially from people who don't run businesses.
Lisa: That's right. It's always from people that don't run businesses. Love them all.
Danielle: But so incredible that he does believe in the vision, and is willing to do that. I know we do our fair share of man-bashing out here, but men are great, and my husband has supported me through my business ventures as well. Very lucky.
Lisa: No, he's been great. And our kids go, "But Mum, why didn't you just go and get a job?"
Danielle: "I like the pain!"
Lisa: Like, you know, I used to be in marketing. Marketing has completely changed. And honestly, once you hit a certain age, you can't get a job either, by the way. You just can't. It's just terrible, that's another whole story. So, stay in the workforce. I say that to anyone: when you have kids, keep up your skills, because otherwise, if you ever want to go back in...
Danielle: Well, particularly with something like marketing, it totally changed. I'm an ex-sales, ex-marketing person, and you're so right. I almost got sick of it. I was right in the social media era, and every year a new social media platform would come out that you'd have to learn, and I just got over it. I was like, when will this end?
Lisa: What about Facebook ads? Oh my god, I swear I nearly had a breakdown.
Danielle: Yeah. Anything to do with Facebook. Literally this morning, I can't log into Messenger on my phone. It's just decided, even though I'm getting the verification code and putting it in, it's like, nope, something's wrong. Every part of Facebook infuriates me.
Lisa: Honestly. And when you're in this position, you don't have a budget for marketing, for advertising. You just have to do it yourself. I think that's the hardest part for founders.
Danielle: Yeah, you really have to wear every hat, learn every platform, learn the next new thing when it comes out. And we're talking about marketing in isolation, but as a founder, that's literally everything, isn't it? You're currently learning product development...
Lisa: Absolutely everything. Or MailChimp!
Danielle: Oh, god, yeah. Yes, I use that too.
Lisa: It's just like, god, there's meant to be a button on the right-hand side, but now they've hidden that button behind something...
Danielle: Yeah, and it's never-ending, isn't it? I think business owners obviously share the war stories, but there must be some part of us that just loves the struggle. We just live for it.
Lisa: I don't know! But I'm in the middle of it now, so we've just got to keep going.
Danielle: Oh, I love it, and that's it, isn't it? You do just have to keep going. So, you're hoping to get the next prototype end of Feb. If that's all looking good, is this the precursor to launch?
Lisa: Yes, yes. I'm very reluctant to say it, but it'd be fantastic if I could launch on Kickstarter in April, and do a lead-up to Mother's Day. What a perfect present.
Danielle: Yeah, that's a great idea.
Lisa: So we shall see. Once we get the working prototype, then it's got to be manufactured, obviously, and you've got to have the money for the manufacturing. We'd have to start the manufacturing before any money from Kickstarter comes in, so I have to find the deposit for that.
Danielle: Wow, isn't it full-on? And it's so interesting, I think we started the conversation this way: oftentimes you're only hearing the story about business when someone's in market, has got some traction, doing the thing, telling the big shiny story.
Lisa: And it doesn't happen like that.
Danielle: Exactly. And it's why I love having these conversations, because you've got to get real about what it actually takes to get there. And it is really challenging some days. Or every day.
Lisa: I just saw something today about how someone went from $70 million in debt to a $1 billion exit in 45 days.
Danielle: Oh, bullshit.
Lisa: That's the heading I've got on my computer right now!
Danielle: Oh my god. Yeah, I don't think so. I'm sure it's their 100th business.
Lisa: There's all that hype out there, and you sort of think, god, am I doing this right? But look, for me, this is it now. I've got to see this through. I want to see this through. I've worn a lot of different hats in my life, and this has to be the final one.
Danielle: Wow. Well, I love it, and I can't wait for you to email me and say, oh my god, it's the perfect prototype, we're launching on Kickstarter, we're going to share it everywhere. And then we're going to have you back on the podcast so you can tell everyone how that next piece of the puzzle went.
Lisa: I just want to say good on you for what you do. I can't even remember how I came across you... oh, I saw the grant thing. That's amazing, what you do. I applied for the grant, but it was, like, the final day, so not a lot of time! But, you know, supporting women in business, I take my hat off to you. It's amazing what you do, and I'm very pleased that I've found this community. I'm just starting in it, and I'm very pleased that I'm here, and I hope it'll be a long-term thing.
Danielle: Absolutely. Well, we hope so too. We want to ride on your tales of success!
Lisa: Yeah, well, that'd be nice! Anyway, kudos to you. I saw your email the other day about your previous business.
Danielle: Mmm. And that's it, 2026 is the year that I share more of my 15 years in business. Because I'm always on the asking end, always talking to people about what they're doing and how it's going, and I was like, I think I'm ready to start sharing pieces of my story this year.
Lisa: I'd like to know your product, just quietly.
Danielle: Yeah, no, I'm happy to tell everyone. Essentially I'm creating a bit of a welcome pack for some of the members in SPARK. To align with this year, we're really leaning into the CEO operating rhythm, and it's basically a physical binder in a beautiful box with the SPARK logo. But getting something that's high quality, embossed correctly, and arrives not damaged... even that is a challenge. And I'm not even doing anything creative at all! It's a friggin' binder!
Lisa: Absolutely! And that's it, you know? And it's all about the boxing and the unboxing now, that's a whole experience.
Danielle: Gotta be Instagrammable.
Lisa: Yeah, these are all the things that I've learned.
Danielle: I love it. Oh my god, you're amazing. Let's wrap up, I love to end the podcast with this question. So, reflecting on your time in business, even if it was the F45 businesses, or this one, what would be a piece of advice that you would give to another woman on her business journey?
Lisa: Just keep moving. Keep moving, don't overthink too much. You've just got to keep moving forward, because otherwise you're not moving at all. Just take that first step, and then take the next step. Two steps forward, one step back. Just keep moving.
Danielle: I love it, and I couldn't agree with you more. You've got to just put one foot in front of the other most days.
Lisa: And do you know what? On the really shitty days, just go to bed and pull a pillow over your head and tell everyone to go to hell.
Danielle: Approved!
Lisa: And then get up the next day with, okay, done that.
Danielle: So good, I love it. Thank you so much, Lisa, it was an absolute pleasure to have you on the show.
Lisa: Well, it was lovely having a glass of wine with you.
Danielle: Yes, cheers to us!
