Eugenya Maier enjoys creating things from scratch—whether cooking for her family or painting on canvas. After spending too much time in supermarket aisles examining ingredient lists on bath products for her two children, she started making her own.

The hobby evolved into EKK Candle Art, in which she makes candles and other all-natural products. The WholEmollient line produces body washes, lotions, shampoos and more for adults and children. “I’ve always tried to look for natural products,” she says. “I thought I could make something unique.”

Everything Maier makes is free from artificial chemicals and fragrances. Starting with lotions, it took her several months of experimenting with different ingredients to find the right balance, but then she decided to get serious about starting a business. She launched EKK about a year ago.

She’s built the business the old-fashioned way, so to speak: She traveled across Southwest Florida, even up to Tampa, and gave away free samples to hotels and retailers. “It was hard, just walking [in] cold, but it worked,” she says.

Several hotels, including The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, started offering her products. She further built the business by attending farmers markets and then letting sales grow by word of mouth. She’s found social media a less effective way to build her brand; nothing can quite beat the connection made in person.

It’s been a career twist for Maier, who started out in graphic design and painted in her spare time. But she finds a lot of what she does has a similar creative process. Many of her candles look like small sculptures, molded to resemble sea shells or teapots. “It’s hard to get your art out there,” she says. “This is just a different way to do it. I try to incorporate my art into my candles now.”