Meet Brittany Furnari Kesoglides | Owner of Nose Best Candles

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brittany Furnari Kesoglides and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brittany, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Nose Best began during the pandemic, with no career opportunities in sight and while I was in my early twenties so it felt like a time to reset and go against the grain. Along with my best friend and co-founder Cristian, we decided to pool together our goverment stimulus checks and start up a little candle side hustle that in the years that have passed became full time jobs and resulted in becoming a storefront in 2021. The process came very organically and natural because it was my full creative energy going into handmaking a product I cared about and it felt freeing to be out from behind a 9-5.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My name is Brittany Furnari. I was 23 years old when the pandemic closed down my livelihood in hospitality as an event planner and all prospects of my original career seemingly dissipated over night. The 2020 lockdown in NYC definitely had an ominous feeling to it. My friends from college and even my roommates and boyfriend at the time all turned in their apartment keys and headed home to their families all over the country. I wasn’t a transplant though so I wasn’t leaving the city but I also wasn’t risking seeing my family who lived close by out of fear of contracting or infecting my loved ones with COVID-19. I stayed locked away in my apartment on 147th street from March until July where I spent more time alone then I ever had before in my life. My days were filled with home workouts, cooking my meals, and zoom calls with family and friends. It was hard to stay above the anxiety of not knowing really what was safe or when I would be able to see my dad or friends again. My silver lining during this time was planning the advent of Nose Best Candles. My best friend Cristian and I had developed the concept at a bar in October 2019 and shook on making it happen withing the next year after a few rounds of drinks. We had no idea that the pandemic while taking away so much would inevitably give us the time and resources to make it happen. He lived about 40 blocks from me during the lockdown and we would take long walks to each other just to socially distance outside and start planning the equipment fragrances and look of our candle brand until we took a risk and pooled our stimulus checks together to actually purchase everything we needed to start up a candle business at home. We had never poured or made a single candle before that moment and we had little to lose at this point so even in the worse case scenerio we at least would’ve come out of the experience with a new hobby we sucked at. At this point in time Nose Best was simply a return to kid like creativity. We would drink wine and play “guess this smell and make long lists of funny names that would have us in knots laughing for hours as we passed through one of the most historical pauses of modern life. I found something that meant more to me than just candles in the process and my best friend and I ran with it. Many friends and family members were having online discourse around not being able to purchase candles from their favorite places who halted production or had trouble shipping during this time because of the crisis. I decided to fill this void with simple handmade candles. However, we were having our own experiences every night on zoom or facetime with friends drinking cocktails and listening to music or sharing our favorite Netflix binge watch series together. Thus the niche of Nose Best Candles was born. We designed candles that also had a curated Spotify playlist and mocktail recipe included with them through a QR code. We created a multi-sensory experience around the candles that transcended distance and allowed friends and family alike to share a night in with the exact same ambience. My skillset and love of event planning found a home in this new venture. Now after 4 years in business, a storefront located in Bushwick, a growing production facility and team, contracts with stores like Urban Outfitters, and collaborations with museums and other retail outlets alike- I hope to start sharing my story and discussing with others the power of the entrepreneur spirit. Starting any business from scratch is no small feat. We seized the opportunity presented by the lockdown to pursue a risky passion. As any good business owner we exhibited a willingness to embrace uncertainty and turn it into something positive. Nose Best not only provided me with a creative outlet but also became a source of joy and connection for others during a difficult time. We  filled a niche in the market and catered to the needs of our community in a time of need. I hope Nose Best continues to grow and thrive, serving as a testament to all of our resilience and ingenuity in the face of adversity.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Since moving to Burbank with my husband in January of 2024, we still feel like tourists!

When friends come to visit we usually take them to our favorite restaurants and focus on getting in some good hikes and shopping.

I love visiting the Santa Monica Pier for a sunny day. And in Burbank, hiking the Wisdom Tree Trail is very challenging but ultimately rewarding when you feel how sore you are the next day. We bring friends to Castaway in Burbank for beautiful views and some delicious lobster mac and cheese and wine.

I have been loving the thrift scene of Magnolia Blvd- always finding a new vintage or thrift shop that not only impresses me with style but also price. Many of the pieces come straight from movie or tv show wardrobes.

Outside of the area and one of the places to shop vintage is definitely Venice Artist and Fleas! Such an amazing collection of small business owners and makers alike!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate this shoutout to my husband Demitri Kesoglides aka DJ Sanity because I found that many people in my life held a lot of reservations while I made my transition out of corporate into pursuing Nose Best full time. My husband and I were only together for a couple months at the time and he could see the light it brought to my eyes and that I was in alignment with my true calling. So special thanks to him for believing in me when it was just a few candles made in my Harlem apartment with very poorly designed labels. Also, a must read for any entrepreneur is the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. It was crucial in shifting my mindset and lifestyle to meet the needs of my growing business. I actively use the advice from that book in my every day life.

Website: https://www.nosebestcandles.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nosebestcandles_

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-furnari-571424b2/

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@nosebestcandles