After five years in business, Camily Lovell’s advice for retail newcomers is to expect challenges.

When she launched online business Strange Bird in 2020, offering aromatherapy candles, she thought the candles would be a good blend of her interest in art and science.

She is a clinical supervisor of addiction rehabilitation centre, Pathways Bermuda. She learnt about aromatherapy during her mental health training.

“The business was my Covid baby,” she said. “I wanted to use aromatherapy as a basis for supporting a grounding experience. If someone is feeling anxious or looking to regulate their emotional space, aromatherapy is a technique that can help.”

Among her first challenges were the candles themselves. She disliked making them and did not feel she was good at the process.

“I suppose I would eventually have gotten good at it, if I kept with it,” she said.

Instead, she switched to making colourful, aromatic soaps, thinking there was more creativity in the process.

“Soap also stimulates our sense of touch as well as smell,” she said. “There is no taste, though. You cannot eat any of my products.”

She added facial-care products. Strange Bird is now a sensorial skin care business. It is named after her childhood nickname.

“My mother always used to say I was a strange bird,” she laughed. “I was a quirky child.”

Along the way, she received guidance from the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation.

“One of the greatest thing I have taken away from them is the power of networking and connection,” she said. “The BEDC does an excellent job connecting entrepreneurs in the community. Every event with them has brought me some type of connection opportunity.”

In 2022 she won the BEDC’s Rocket Pitch competition in the eco category.

Strange Bird, an online business, now offers 36 different products including accessories such as soap saver bags. The entrepreneur believes flowery, descriptive names get in the way of the experience.

So while products have bird-related names such as Odd Feather, and Preen and Polish, the scents themselves only have numbers.

“I wanted people to focus more on their own senses,” she said. “Chanel No. 5 does it, and it works. So far I haven’t seen any confusion with people mixing up different products.”

One of her challenges has been giving the business enough attention to grow. Not only does she work full time, she is also doing an online degree.

“My advice to anyone starting out is to reframe your challenges as opportunities to learn new skills and strategies,” she said. “Give yourself grace and compassion when you do not get things right the first time. Something does not have to be perfect to be worth it. Success is in the eye of the beholder.”