Tuscaloosa entrepreneur highlights mobile candle‑making classes, market sales and business milestones

Yolanda Knox, owner of A Ray of Sunshine Candle Company, spoke during the public‑comment portion of a local meeting to promote her handmade candle business, its mobile on‑site classes and recent milestones, including having the business name trademarked.

Knox said the company makes scented soy vegan candles, wax melts and room and car deodorizers and offers both recreational and professional candle‑making classes. “We specialize in handmade scented soy vegan candles, wax melts, room and car deodorizers,” she said. Knox said she and her team also run mobile, on‑site classes for events, sororities and other groups and that about 80 percent of the business’s income comes from sales at the Tuscaloosa River Market.

The company, Knox said, grew from a personal interest in non‑toxic candles after she linked migraines to chemical fragrances. “A Ray of Sunshine Candle Company was born,” she said, describing years of research and testing to find a recipe she would use and sell. Knox said she has sold at the Tuscaloosa River Market for about four years, called the market “home,” and described it as the city’s only year‑round farmers market.

Knox described two class formats: lighter, social candle‑making sessions and a professional six‑hour class intended to teach participants how to start their own candle business. “I am proud to say that I have done about 15 people [in the professional class] and out of that, 6 people have started their own candle company,” she said. She also described the mobile setup: “We can actually pack up everything and bring it to you, all the supplies, the staff, everything you need in order for your event.”

Knox recounted applying for a BeyGOOD small business grant and later being invited to a Goldman Sachs program she described as the “1000000 Black Women in Business” program; she said she was accepted and attended orientation in New York. “I actually am the first woman from Alabama to be accepted into the Goldman Sachs ‘1000000 Black Women in Business’ program,” she said. Knox said the program paid travel expenses and that she was chosen to speak during a graduation event.

She provided contact information for bookings and purchases: a phone number, (205) 523‑5246, and a website she identified as arrayofsunshinecandlecompany.com, and said the business is on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok under similar names. Knox said the business name was trademarked last year and that she intends it for her grandchildren: “A Ray of Sunshine Candle Company belongs to my family, for my grandchildren to take over.”

The remarks were made during the meeting’s public‑comment period; no council action or vote on the business was recorded during the segment.