“Y’all stop playing,” a shirtless man says into the camera, the reflection of a ring light outlining his pupils. “Come fuck with these candles.”

Looking cozy but cranky in a red sweater, a young woman with a full head of curls cracks a smile. Entrepreneur Kanae Branch was trying to record a promotional video for a raffle she was doing on Instagram, and after multiple takes, the 21-year-old was frustrated. That’s when her boyfriend Marquis stepped in and told her to hit the record button. 

“We got a variety of fucking scented candles. We got the fall scent, pumpkin spice latte shit. Got that ‘Tai Land’ with the mix of island smells,” he says of Branch’s company, Zipora Scents, half of his face cut off by the top of the frame.

Users on Twitter, one of the social media channels where Branch ended up posting the video, immediately recognized the Prince George’s County couple as D.C.-area residents. “I know a moe when I see one,” a user tweeted, referencing the regional colloquialism for “friend” or “dude” that Marquis used as he opened the video.

https://twitter.com/KanaeZB/status/1308534271133601797

If Marquis’ only objective was to pull his girlfriend out of her funk, he succeeded. “You’re wasting your time, not our time,” he says in the video, addressing potential customers as his girlfriend’s mood visibly shifts. And after Branch hit “tweet” on September 22, sharing the video with the world, her company exploded. 

The video racked up 1.8 million views and 88,000 likes on Twitter. People applauded Marquis for supporting his girlfriend’s business, and asked how they could buy Zipora Scents’ organic, homemade candles, sprays, and wax melts. “Legit placed an order cuz of this video,” tweeted one user. “We Stan a supportive man! gotta purchase now!” tweeted another. 

“It was not even planned or anything. It was just us in our home, just working and trying to create content and stuff like that,” she says. “That went viral, and then my sales went up, up, up.” 

How far up? So many people decided to follow her boyfriend’s directive that Branch estimates she went from making roughly $1,000 to $2,000 in sales per month before the video went live to $35,000 in the weeks afterward. 

The peak from September has since dropped off a bit, but she’s still doing so well that the candle company has become a full-time job. Branch was able to quit her part-time gig working at L.A. Fitness to focus on her business. The part-time student also dropped two classes from her schedule at Prince George’s Community College. 

Even before the video, Branch had been doing pretty well since launching Zipora Scents in May. The first-time businesswoman was promoting her candles every day on Twitter, where she says she gets the majority of her sales. “I DM everyone. I mention everybody. I’m always promoting, so I was doing good with that,” she says. 

Branch was making enough money to support herself, and to enjoy the fruits of her labor. “Things were good. I had moved out of my grandma’s house. I had gotten a car before that video. Like, I was doing it, for real. I was just grinding,” she says.

But now, the business really feels solid. “A lot more people know about us,” she says. “I feel like Zipora Scents is going to be a household name sooner or later.”

The business is growing, helped along by purchases from celebrities and household names, like Blac Chyna and actor Giacomo Gianniotti. Branch says that feels good, but so does getting a sale from the personal interactions she has on social media. “Even a person that I DM and they buy it, my heart just is full when I get support like that from people I reach out to,” she says. 

Going viral was a “life-changing experience,” Branch says. So many orders came in after sharing the video that she had to rush to get more supplies, which took a while to arrive. A shipment got lost in transit, further delaying the process of filling orders. “But after that, we were on it,” she says. She’s keeping up with the influx in orders, and is feeling confident about the upcoming holiday season. 

Thanks to the boost in sales from her viral video, Branch was able to bump up her prices across the board by about $2. She’s also planning on increasing her range of products, too, starting with a larger double-wick candle. Currently, Zipora Scents offers single-wick, eight ounce soy candles for $22.50. 

And while many business owners struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic this year, Branch found that the demand for products she’s selling didn’t wane: She actually found it serendipitous to be in the business of self-care during a moment when everybody is spending a lot more time at home. It’s not a bad idea to make sure the place you’re occupying around the clock smells nice, whether or not you choose to change out of your sweatpants. 

Branch says staying at home during the pandemic has also given her more time to dedicate to making candles and content for social media.

Zipora Scents is also a Black-owned business that launched around the same time as a national reckoning over police brutality and structural racism against Black people swept D.C., and the country, this summer. 

“I was right in the middle of that, so I feel like it really did help,” Branch says. “If people were not really looking to support Black-owned, or not really focused on that, it probably would’ve been more slow in the beginning.”

She says people seem to appreciate knowing who they’re supporting. Branch actively promotes her business by recording videos, and seeking out and engaging potential buyers. She recommends other businessowners do the same. 

“Continue to engage with your followers, because when you do that, that’s when you get repeated customers,” she says. “People won’t forget you.”