Meet the Makers: The Women Behind Thistle Farms’ Handcrafted Products
At Thistle Farms, every product tells a story of overcoming, healing, and new beginnings thanks to the meaningful employment it provides. Behind each candle or lotion is a woman who has journeyed through hardship and found strength in community, becoming a living embodiment of our belief that Love Heals.
Meaningful employment for a Thistle Farmer is the opportunity to build a financial foundation where she is in charge of her decisions, work to achieve major personal and professional goals, and to support not just herself but her loved ones and all her Thistle Farms sisters, past and future.
For LaShonda, like so many others, working at Body & Home is a chance to take the lessons learned both on the manufacturing floor and in life before the program, and pass them along to others so we can keep the candle lit for those still looking for a way home.
"There are women out there who are struggling, just like I did, and they're trying to find their way here. So when I work, I think about those women who are coming into the program after me. It's our duty to make sure they get here, and it's a really good feeling to know that once they do, I can train them as a Team Leader and help them grow—just like others did for me when I got here."
— LaShonda, Manufacturing Team Lead and 2023 Graduate
Val, who struggled with addiction for 40 years before finding her way to Thistle Farms, takes immense pride in seeing the products she helps to create spread the love she’s received into homes all across the world:
"I work in manufacturing and make the bug sprays and room mists, mostly—and I love, love my job because the products go all over the world, and they've got part of me in the products. I'll see one of our room sprays on social media and I can say, 'That's me! I made that!' I get such a great feeling out of that because I never thought I'd be sober and in a job that I love."
— Val, Manufacturing Team Member and 2020 Graduate
This sense of ownership and pride transforms lives, and gratitude is woven throughout. The work becomes exercise of reflection while pouring love into each step, as Shamika describes:
"Working on the labeler is almost like a meditation as I'm pulling the products through and getting them labeled. And I think a lot about the process that it took to get to the final stage of labeling: all the love that was put into the recipes that were used to make this product, making sure that it's the right texture, the right consistency, up to our standards. So, when it finally comes to the labeler, I get a little bit of that love that was put into it from everybody along the way and add in some of my own before it makes its way to the customer."
— Shamika, Manufacturing Team Lead and 2024 Graduate
That end product that ends up on the shelves of our Shop in West Nashville or those of our wholesale partners across the country, or what arrives on your doorstep after order online is representative of a future of each woman’s own making – something that felt out of reach for many while living on the streets or caught in the cycle of addiction and exploitation. Josette, who now owns her own home, reflects on how her work allows her to sustain the life she fought so hard to build:
"Every time I make a product, I think about how grateful I am. I've got my own home now, and this job means I can handle things like plumbing issues and all the things you deal with as a homeowner. So I pour with my heart and try to hope that the next ladies see that light. It ain't all sugar and spice staying clean, but so far I've made it almost eight years. It's a challenge, but with Thistle Farms and all my sisters, I can do it."
— Josette, Manufacturing Team Member and 2019 Graduate
Pouring with heart is exactly what Ty, now Director of Body & Home, did when she started her journey at Thistle Farms. It was a simple task: making candles. But that job turned into a journey that has resulted in career growth and homeownership – milestones that we celebrate loudly and proudly:
"When I first started working here, pouring candles, I followed my supervisors around everywhere they went. I watched how hard they worked out on the floor. I came early and I stayed late, and I came on the weekends. I learned all I could because I wanted to make the best candle ever. That’s what made people start seeing things in me—stuff that I didn’t see in me, but they did—and they began offering me opportunities. The candle's how I got to where I am today."
— Ty, Director of Body & Home and 2015 Graduate
It may seem a small thing to decide to purchase a candle from Thistle Farms instead of a big box store, but that act is powerful. In doing so, you are one more hand in this work to break the cycles of exploitation and clear the way for another woman to walk her own path toward stability and healing. In doing so, you are receiving the love of each woman who has entered our program and is paying that forward to others because love is the most powerful force for change in the world.
