Liz Lehman has been practicing medicine as an anesthesiologist for nearly 20 years. Caring for patients using basic medical school principles: See the problem, find the solution.
The healing method worked for Lehman until she became a patient. Lehman, who was seriously injured in 2017, is currently At age 56, I started making candles and turned my hobby into a side job. It kept her busy and tapped into her childhood memories.
She quickly retired from anesthesia work to focus on her next endeavor. Her passion is candle making. In 2019, she launched her wellness brand after 26,000 glass bottles were delivered to her home in the Lutherville community in Baltimore County. aluminate life.
This is one in a series of casual conversations I have from time to time with small business owners in Maryland. If you or someone you know would like to participate, please email reporter Bria Overs at [email protected].
Aluminate Life products are sold in hundreds of day spas and retail stores nationwide. Lehman said her story shows that it’s never too late to pivot your career and change the direction of your life.
Another lesson: All candle owners should trim their wicks.
When did you know you were ready to leave your medical career behind and start a small business?
Liz Lehman: I’ve always been a very active person, running, doing yoga, spinning, and going on hikes. Try lots of things to bring you joy. I didn’t listen to my body and just kept pushing. I badly tore my hamstring while doing a yoga pose that no woman my age would do.
The doctor said, “If this continues, I will need surgery.” The universe really forced me to sit still.
So, I was sitting on a frozen water bottle trying to heal from a muscle strain, feeling sorry for myself, and was sitting at my computer, when a blog appeared. I hadn’t read many blogs before, but I knew it was about candle making.
I have loved candles since I was a child. Those of us who grew up in the 1970s had far fewer safety issues and concerns. My mother was burning candles everywhere and I was always sticking my finger in the candle or pulling it out.
I read that blog and thought, this is great, I have to do something because I won’t be able to move for another 4 months. That day, I ordered a candle making kit. To be honest, that’s how the whole process started. It was just an experiment in the kitchen.
It seems like one of the reasons you started making candles was because of an injury and not listening to your body.
I was still in the kitchen when I decided to turn this into a business. My husband helped with packing candles and labeling them. I had to reduce my anesthesia time from over 40 hours a week to 32 hours a week. I would wake up at four in the morning and make candles all weekend and at night. My hands started to hurt.
I am now convinced that illness occurs when we are not mentally and energetically balanced.
I thought it was because I was 50 years old that it hurt, but the pain in my hand got worse and worse. The short story is that my arthritis did not improve and I was about to need surgery. The day came when I couldn’t put the patient to bed. I lost strength in my hands. The pain was extreme. I scheduled surgery to fix it, but it didn’t work. I then had three different surgeries on my left hand.
How did it feel when the way you thought about healing changed so much from the way you had been trained?
I think I have always questioned and rebelled against the status quo and the system. I grew up in a fairly paternalistic household in the ’70s and ’80s, so I didn’t ask too many questions. You just did what you were told or what you were supposed to do. A kind woman doesn’t ask such questions.
In a way, I kind of ignored the little nagging voice inside me that said, “This isn’t the best way to do it,” or “This is wrong.” I ask a lot of questions now, and to be honest, I feel like I’m able to reach more people now that I’m a candle maker than when I was a doctor.
How did you turn candle making from a hobby to a business?
It started with research. Because even though I’m not a medical professional, I have a very scientific mind. Let’s be honest, candle making is a lot of science.
I hadn’t done much research on the products I was using in my home or around my children, so I was appalled to hear how many harmful substances were in the candles I was burning.
I knew from the beginning that I would use natural waxes. It’s the cleanest combustion possible. We don’t use synthetic fibers and want to be sustainable. There were a lot of what we would now call trials and lessons learned.
What’s next for Aluminate Life? What do you hope to achieve in the future?
I want to continue to expand and leverage products that enhance other elements of people’s well-being.
But the next move will be towards animals. Pets suffer from a lot of anxiety and physical and mental discomfort, so this is a product line that can help our pets as well.
COVID-19 didn’t help them either. My dog used to fly alone, but then he got coronavirus and now he gets very anxious when he’s alone.
Also, by sharing my story, I hope to expand my platform to share that everything is possible. Just because you started your career in your 20s and 30s doesn’t mean you need to continue on it. We’re not one-trick ponies, so it’s okay to pivot and change directions.
you can do it all. And when you turn 50, you can explode your career and start something new.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
