Recent Grad 101: Cat Giles
In our Recent Grad 101 series, we catch up with recent Chatham alumni who are now pursuing their field of study in real time. Cat Giles ‘15, MSUS ‘17 works full time as a Curatorial Assistant at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History but has recently founded her own sustainably sourced soy candle company, Forgotten Glass. Read on for this insightful Q&A where Cat tackles everything from candle-making to revising your dreams—
Tell me a little bit about what you did immediately following your Chatham graduation and how that led you to where you are now.
Catherine Giles: I stayed on to get my master's degree after undergrad at Chatham and I had the opportunity to volunteer in Honduras. When I was in Honduras, we were on a mountain, and I stayed there for about six weeks. The purpose was [understanding], here's what ecological conservation looks like when you're actually doing it. There was a strong collaboration between college students who were performing their research while demonstrating to high school students what research is like. I was what's known as a light track specialist, mostly because when I was in grad school I worked with moths. Moths have a positive phototoxic response for the most part. That's a big fancy word that means, if you have a porch light on, they're going to come to it. It's debated about why they do that, but it's mostly understood to be something to do with the full moon, lunar light, how they circumnavigate the globe, and figure out how to navigate in total darkness.
Moths mostly come to lights because they think they are surrogate moons. That’s how you can obtain specimens for a museum, and that's exactly what I did. The specimens are [we collected] were deposited in the London Museum. When I got back to the States, I had been volunteering at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and they had an opening on staff. My supervisor shoulder tapped me and said you should apply for this. I applied, and ended up getting hired.
That's still where I currently work during my normal day job. When the pandemic rolled around, I got furloughed and I was like, This really sucks. All the problems with Pennsylvania unemployment are all true and all my experience—awful. I was like, I need to do something. Sarah Weinshenker introduced me to Yankee Candle a couple years ago and I loved it. Being the son that my dad never had, I've always been very handy. I love crafting and I knew that I could make candles. I started looking it up and getting more into it. And then I realized if I tried to make this a real thing, it could potentially help me in case I ever get furloughed again or in case I ever lose my job. I can always fall back on a side gig. I applied for my “Doing Business As” (DBA) in early 2021. I'm currently taking one of Chatham's Concept to Launch classes through the Center for Women's Entrepreneurship to make sure I'm crossing all my t’s and dotting all my i's.
I want to know what the process of making a candle looks like from start to finish. Can you walk me through that?
CG: Oh girl can I. My whole premise is to use glassware that I have laying around. A couple years ago, Allegheny County stopped recycling glass. I didn't like that, and I don't like throwing it away. I had been holding on to glass and I was like I need to do something with it. I estimate how much wax it's going to take to do a batch. That's the most economical way to do it. I usually do them in five-pound batches. I order supplies from Candle Science. They have locations in North Carolina and in Las Vegas, but they do carbon neutral shipping. I have what's called a Presto pot; it's an electric wax melter. I weigh out my wax, and I put it in there to melt it down. I usually melt it to 200˚F, so that I can boil out any leftover moisture that could be in the wax. Then I cool it to 180˚Ft. That's when I add a fragrance oil. There's a specific ratio—it's usually 1.1 oz of fragrance oil to every pound of wax. I wait until it cools to 135˚F, and then I pour it into containers. They have to cure for two weeks. The longer that they cure, the better, but it takes, at best, two weeks. [This ensures] that the fragrance oil and the wax have enough time to adhere to each other. It gives you a better, stronger fragrance.
How do you choose the scents you want to create?
CG: I use Candle Science a lot. They're fantastic. I started experimenting and doing stuff in 2016. Candle Science used to have this sale, where all of their 1 oz fragrance oil bottles were 99¢. I ordered them en masse, smelled them, and started keeping a record. [For instance, I might write], This one is pumpkin souffle and it smells sweet like a dessert. Being a Virgo Sun, Moon, and Rising, I started categorizing things and writing them down. I have a color-coded system to go with fall scents, winter scents, food scents, [et cetera]. It's all record keeping, and understanding what potential holidays are coming up. I just launched my spring line on Saturday, and sold out of one of the fragrances yesterday. I did fresh, light scents with floral mixed in; that's what speaks to me when I think of spring.
Can you tell me a little bit about the CWE class you're taking and what you're working through there?
CG: It’s all on Zoom, which is fantastic. The first session talked about a business canvas. There are nine components to your business canvas. It covers your value proposition; what you can bring to customers; your customer relationships; how you acquire customers; the channels that you use to reach your customers; the key activities that you perform as a business; your partners; your suppliers; your cost structure; and your revenue. There are 25 people in the class from all walks of life. There are so many women and they're so cool. Last night, we had two guest speakers: one was a lawyer who spoke to the law side of starting a business and the other was an accountant who explained how you file your quarterly taxes.
Tell me about how Chatham affected or informed your career path.
CG: I would say it had a lot to do with the Chatham connections that I made. I got into candle-making because of Sarah. She was a fellow undergraduate that I really vibed with. I was able to get my full-time position because of an internship that I did through my master's program. I followed in the footsteps of another Chatham graduate when I was doing my tutorial and then when I was doing my thesis. She also worked at the museum in the same position that I was in. It's the friends we made along the way.
Do you have an aspirational destination that you want to land in your career?
CG: I'm very grateful to have a full-time job where I can do this on the side because that means that I have extra money to spend. If I forget to order a fragrance, I don't have to take out loans or ask for money. [Eventually, I’d like] to do this full time and I would love to work with former felons, as a way to get them back out into the workplace post-incarceration. I would love to be working in a building that's run on solar.
One of my goals is to use reclaimed glassware [donations]—glassware that you would throw away or that your mom would throw away. Say you have a really cool jar and you don't know what to do with it—I want to put a candle in it. I'm going to try to set up something on my website for people that want to donate glass, so that they can see what kind of glass I accept.
I want to make candle-making as sustainable as I possibly can for the Pittsburgh area. I'm starting super small so that I can hone my craft, get better, and deliver a top-quality product.
Do you have any tips or advice for current students who are looking to explore their careers in college?
CG: You should find someone that you want to be and look at what it takes to get there. Go on indeed.com to see what it would take to get there. In terms of starting your own business, I would recommend looking at the CWE’s resources. Don't forget that Chatham is in your back pocket even after you graduate. Don't distance yourself so much from Chatham that you forget that there are people there that are willing to help you, and want to see you succeed.
Inspired? Check out all that the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship has to offer or explore the Masters of Sustainability program on our website.
