Often in life, we get sidetracked by survival. We put our dreams in our back pockets and focus on what needs to be done in order to make ends meet. This year, we’re focusing on getting back to our true intentions. We speaks to three women who changed their lives, all through the magic of intent.
Roxanne Cornellissen, 43, lives with her two sons, Dantè, 8 and Caleb, 10 in Potchefstroom. Roxanne worked in corporate for decades before starting over again with an entirely new slate, by launching her candle business Wooden Wick Candle Co.
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I’ve always been a creative person at heart, but I was never able to transfer my creative side into a career path. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my fair share of attempts. From a brief stint as a ‘YouTuber’ back in the day, to starting an impromptu eyelash business. Unfortunately, the latter ended in a massive box of leftover eyelashes and a single mom wondering, what now?
For years I forged on, working an office job, but I felt frustrated and unfulfilled. Barely making enough financially to support myself and my two boys on my own, I relied on my mother, who was (and still is) a school principal.
Things carried on this way for years, until in 2020, when I decided to upcycle an old marmalade jar from Woolies with an old candle that had been laying around. Call it my passion for creativity, or a spontaneous curiosity about candles, but my next move would be one that ultimately changed my entire career path and life forever.
I took my candle, melted it over high heat, removed the wick and poured the wax into the marmalade jar. Then, I stuck the bit of wick back into the poured wax and let everything cool. When the wax had set, I tied a ribbon around the jar, and voila! Suddenly I had this new avant candle for my bedside. I was quite chuffed with myself, and grew akin to the candle-making endeavour.
In 2020, I set aside money from my bonus and bought candle wax and imported a few molds. I quickly became a pro! I enjoyed every moment, from picking out new molds to pouring wax and impatiently waiting for my candles to set so I could marvel over my latest creation.
Fast forward two years later, and I have my own business and factory, specializing in sculptural decor candles. How did I get here? It’s all thanks to intention. For years, I sat idly as life passed me by. This time I wasn’t going to. When I realized the gap in the market for something I had created, I wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip me by.
Within the first few months of making candles, I launched my business, Wooden Wick Candle Co. online. Not after long, I got my first huge wholesale order of 5000 candles! I haven’t looked back since.
In November 2021, I finally gained the financial freedom to resign from my office job and focus on my newfound passion full time. Now my biggest intention is to pay it forward. My biggest supporter in life has always been my mom. She has had my back from the get-go. I was never able to repay her in the past, but now I am. I will make sure that she never has to lift a finger or stress about anything financial ever again.
I’m so grateful that I now get to live my creative dream. The meaning behind a candle is fitting to my story. After feeling like I was in the dark for so many years, my candles brought me light.
My little story, although not as significant or big, brings hope. There’s always a way out of your situation, it all starts with you setting your intention. I started my business at 37, when I had already believed there was no hope for change. But there always is. What’s your next move?
Madeleine Abrahams, 43, lives in Edenvale with her husband Rodney, 55 and their children, Abianah, 15 and Caleb, 12. Madeleine took up studying and started her new business, Moksi, at 40.
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Growing up, I always wanted to study design but ended up taking a corporate route after school, leaving studies on the backburner. Suddenly, life was all the way with me! First came a wedding, then a husband, kids, multiple promotions and climbing of the corporate ladder and then, bam! I’m at 40 with no degree.
It’s not like I hit 40 and woke up wanting to take up studying. I had recently been inspired by my boss, Bain, who had just completed his MBA in his 40s. I knew an MBA would be out of my own reach, but if Bain could take up studies, then I could too.
Then came a whirlwind of research. What should I study? Which degree will translate best in my career and equip me with a well-rounded approach to business and finance? I finally settled on a Bachelor of Business Administration, specializing in marketing management. I enrolled with IMM and took up my part-time studies in the middle of 2019, at 40!
Finding a good study flow didn’t take long. Every morning, before the rooster’s crow, I would wake up and get through an hour or two of hitting the books. Starting the day before the rest of my brood meant that I wouldn’t need to sacrifice quality time with family, for my studies.
Then, as fate would have it, a question presented by Bain at the airport during a business trip at the end of 2020, marked the start of my biggest career move yet. He asked:
“What would you do, if you could do anything?”
For years, I had wanted to become an entrepreneur and start my own business in the creative industry, perhaps the only thing stopping me was a lack of confidence because I hadn’t studied prior to my 40s.
I confidently responded to Bain.
“If I could, I would start an online platform that supports and encourages local creatives, crafters and artisans.”
If I could pin down the moment where my true intention was set, then this was it. In hindsight, the commitment to my studies couldn’t have come at a better time. Sometimes in life, the path will already be laid out for you, the only thing left for you to do is be clear with your intention.
Fast forward to a year later, and I am now the co-founder and CEO of Moksi, an online platform where crafters, artisans and creatives sell their work.
A convergence of factors led Bain and I to starting Moksi together, but if I hadn’t taken up studying at 40, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to take up any of it, or even mention my dream to anyone else. Here’s your reminder to aim for the stars no matter your age, and don’t keep your intentions in your back pocket for too long.
Candice King, 41, lives in Joburg North with her husband Vince, 52 and their two daughters, Maria, 14 and Kira, 16. Candice owns her own breakthrough life coaching business after recovering from breast cancer.
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My story started with a breast cancer diagnosis in 2014 and leads up to the present where I have been in-the-clear for nearly seven years. My cancer journey, although tough, changed my life for good and forced me to make a decision that would change everything.
I was diagnosed with stage 2b breast cancer in October, 2014. This was a tumultuous time for myself and my family. A few weeks after I had received my diagnosis, my mom passed from stage 4 lung cancer. It felt like the end for me, and I thought I was going to die. Like anyone who just hears they have cancer tends to feel.
My two girls, then 6 and 4, thought I was going to die, too. They had just seen cancer take their granny. I was gutted, and felt lost, but I tried my best to keep my kids informed and make the heavier moments, like shaving off all of my hair, lighter for the family. When the time came, we blasted music and celebrated my new punk rock hairdo, not a frown in sight.
Anxieties and concerns about my condition were heightened. When you receive a cancer diagnosis, the waiting is the most difficult part. The wait for the oncologist, the wait for the medical aid to kick in, the wait for further diagnosis, and the wait for treatment. It was nerve-wracking, but in December 2015, I finally started treatment. Not exactly a brighter prospect, but a step in the right direction.
Over the next year, I would sit through 16 rounds of chemo, or ‘the red devil’ as patients call it. It made me violently ill, and I would stay in bed for days after the treatment, trying to recover.
In September 2016, by the grace of all things good, the tumor in my breast had shrunk down from 5cm to 1cm, and the doctors were able to remove it. I had come out the other side and was a changed woman, but something didn’t feel quite right.
At the time, I realized how alone it felt after returning from the brink. Anyone who has made it through a major life trauma will tell you about the bitter sense of loneliness that drudges up, when you feel like you’ve got to do something with the experience that you’ve just gone through. It needs somewhere to go.
That’s when I decided I wanted to be a part of the solution. I wanted to help the women out there, who like me, needed to find solid ground after life traumas, so I took up studying as a life coach.
I enrolled for various courses, big and small, from life coaching to modules about emotional intelligence and an enneagram practitioner’s course. This journey took four years of self-discovery and learning, but it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself.
What I learned in life coaching, helped me in my own journey, too. I found a place for myself in the world of self awareness and development, and after four years, found myself ready to assist and be there for others who needed it, so I quit my corporate job and opened my life coaching business.
When I was able to start helping other women who felt as lost as I once had, I discovered my true purpose. Going on this journey with others gives me an immense sense of pride, when I see how my help and guidance translates into the lives of others.
If you’ve been dealt a bad hand of cards, you’ve got the ability to turn things around for yourself. Ask yourself, what’s the next meaningful chapter that will bloom from the burial of another? Out of the fire rises a phoenix!
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Feature Image: Getty
