Meet Kyra Bell | Owner of Kanebelle

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kyra Bell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kyra, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Kanebelle looks way different from when I started it in 5 years ago. In 2019, I lived in Japan and decided to turn my hobby of making jewelry into a small side business. For the most part I just needed extra money and hoped it would help. There were so many things I had learned that first go round but ultimately I had to close shop not long after moving back to the States. For two years I thought about how I should go about reopening Kanebelle. In that time, I became passionate about candle making and decided to research the process. The more I learned, the more I wanted reopen Kanenbelle and make it into a candle business. After much thought I decided to combine my passions of candle making and gaming/nerd culture but I had some trouble getting it started. It was actually the release of a long awaited game that pushed me to reopen. As the developers spoke more about the game, I felt motivated to make candles based on the characters and locations. I started with 5 but now I have 20 different scents all inspired by various games, movies and TV shows.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m an employee by day and a small business owner the rest of the time. Juggling both isn’t easy but I’m happy to do what I’m passionate about. One of the main lessons I learned, is to go with the flow. I start each new experience with the understanding the I can only change how I react and not outcomes or reactions of others. When it comes to Kanebelle, I make sure to just take a moment to be grateful and enjoy each moment/experience. Being able to combine all of my passions has been great!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m still new to the city so I’m not sure. There is so much to do here and every time I go out I have a new experience.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I want to thank my family and close friends who were here with me along the way. Many of them listened to me as I talked myself out of reopening my business. When I decided to go ahead, they often had to hear me talk about the candle making process over and over again. I’m really grateful to everyone.

Website: https://kanebelle.com/

Instagram: Kanebellehi