Annya White-Brown

Annya is the founder and CEO of NaturalAnnie Essentials, a candle bar and candle studio based in Bridgeport, CT. Heavily influenced by her Jamaican culture, she has mastered the ability to use scents to transport others to a tropical place. 

Annya’s journey into entrepreneurship began in 2015 when her first daughter was born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. Since then, she has grown NaturalAnnie Essentials out of her kitchen to now selling her soy candles in over 600 retail stores in the USA, Canada, Ghana, and the Caribbean. 

Annya is passionate about operating her small business and is especially fond of Marketing as she has grown her company from the ground up. Annya has worked with a number of reputable companies such as TikTok, Maker’s Mark, and Michael’s to name a few, sharing her craft and her marketing strategies. 

Prior to becoming Connecticut’s Candle Queen Annya worked in IT Research at Gartner where she managed Gartner’s North America, EMEA, and APAC Dedicated Vendor Briefings accounts. Her role included presenting clear and concise actionable direction to companies like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Cisco and HP on how to deliver effective vendor briefings and building strong relationships with analysts, sales and the vendor/analysts relations community.

When she is not chasing her two daughters around her candle studio or mentoring new candle makers, she enjoys kicking back with her family and traveling back to her home country Jamaica. 

To schedule a virtual counseling session with Annya,
contact (203) 353-1750 x133 or info@ctwbdc.org