Happy Camper Candle

Accessories – New York - NYC

Hi! My name is Tara McGonigal Coppola. My company, Happy Camper Candle, began as a passion project as a way to create thoughtful, handmade holiday gifts for friends and family. With some startup guidance from good friends in the business (thanks Rena and Jason!) and countless hours of research and experimenting, I started to make candles at night and on weekends around parenting, coaching, teaching bagpipes to children and my full and part time jobs. It was a full year of little sleep but great fun! Before long I had resigned from my position at a local university (a career I cherished because of the amazing people I worked with and for) to pursue candle-making full time, realizing two lifelong dreams. First, I always wanted to be part of the creative, small business sector where the local coffee shop serves as an office (Babylon Bean and North Fork Roasting Company are two favorites) and second, I wanted to work from home where I could be more available to my two children, sharing my work and creativity with them. Operating Happy Camper Candle satisfies both those goals. Each candle is carefully crafted by hand in my home studio on Long Island where I grew up with my entrepreneurial, creative mom, surfing, NYC firefighting dad and three sisters. The candle scents in my Retro Collection are inspired by the beaches stretching from Rockaway to Montauk, where my sisters and I learned to swim before we could walk. They reflect the farms of the beautiful North Fork where we spent days picking apples or the perfect (tallest!) Christmas tree. Some are crafted to bring the scents of our favorite local coffee shops home to you, from the aroma of freshly brewed espresso to the scent of wood and leather from the prized corner booth. Others are designed to transplant you to the woods, hiking and campfires and lakes, a love for tent-life born from early days spent at Hither Hills which has grown into annual trips with my friends, kids, and neighbors to Vermont and upstate New York. Each candle is inspired by a memory of my years spent on Long Island with my parents, sisters, neighbors and cousins and the adventures that took me beyond here. The journey to owning my own company was not traveled alone and one of my favorite sayings is "the journey is everything". So many people were generous with their time and expertise to help me find my own, unique way into this business, something authentic and truly "me". From the design and business advice from the talented Tracy Koch, Linda D'Avino, Kelly Mark, Alexa Suess and Rena Wilhelm to my friends, neighbors, family and cousins who were sounding boards for all my brainstorms (Mumsy, McGoo, Sas, Erin, Meags, both Scotts, Kasey, Kyle, Mary, Angela, Donna, Danny, Bri, Molly and Matt), I couldn't be more grateful. Likewise, I'm so thankful for the shops that believe in my company and have opened their doors to me. I hope Happy Camper Candles bring you peace and happiness wherever you are 'parked' in life!