episode 048: Sean Blishen

Sean Blishen is a bright soul, her personality and smile light up any room. After working in fashion retail and then healthcare, she turned a candle-making hobby into a full-fledged business, launching Kilig Candle Co. Her Filipino mother immigrated to Canada from Singapore in her early 30s, after working there as a nanny. She applied to move to Vancouver and Los Angeles—the approval from Vancouver came first, giving her a new life in a new country. She met Sean’s father at a dance and, nine months later, they were married with Sean coming later, an only child. She grew up in Surrey, where her friend group was mostly Caucasian and Indian. She had a massive shift in cultural pride during a Vegas trip, while joining her mom to watch the Miss Universe contest that year, where one of the finalists was Filipino. After stints working retail at Aritzia and in luxury retail in the UK, she came back to Vancouver and found herself in healthcare at St. Paul’s Hospital and residential homes. A major car accident forced her physically to slow down, and she began making candles in the kitchen to stay busy—and soy and vegan-based Kilig Candle Co. came to be. In this conversation, we discuss her mother, grandmother and uncle’s immigrant story and her deep connection with each of them; the unconditional support her father gave her during the start of Kilig Candle Co., making deliveries together every Saturday; what the word ‘kilig’ means in Tagalog; what she loved about working in healthcare and the consistent life lesson she learned when connecting with the elderly; her relationship with her body and mental health after the car accident; the process of candle-making and why people choose a certain brand in a saturated market; how sense of smell evolves throughout life; founding the Girl Gang pop-up & exciting horizons for Kilig; and much more.