Meet Josie Ginoris | Hippie Soul

We had the good fortune of connecting with Josie Ginoris and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Josie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?

It started with the idea to help others find peace in their lives, whether in loss of loved ones, self worth, guilt or overall past traumas. I didn’t know how I would do it, I just knew I wanted to do something to change the world, something BIG I could accomplish in small ways. After all, the small stuff adds up!

It started from within, self reflection and self awareness. I’ve suffered from past traumas and thought what if I could help others by sharing my story. How does that become a business? I found that taking time to reflect, meditate and find opportunities to be grateful via the ritual of lighting a candle has helped me find peace along the years.

I have an obsession with candles so why not make my own?! I started to self educate and experiment and found myself creating them with so much intention as if I was giving each candle a breath of life.

With each oil I blended and each batch I poured, I started to name them along with the intention and message I wanted to relay. So very quickly it went from these ideas I had in my head to change the world to becoming a business.
We are perfectly imperfect and to truly embrace that and help others embrace it, is one of the main drivers for me on my entrepreneurial journey. Every aspect of my creative process and every post I put out comes with the intention of love, inspiration and healing.

Hippie Soul was founded on three core principles; to love, inspire and touch lives. It goes beyond our candles, we like to think that our candles are a byproduct. Our mission and vision is a focus on feeling, how you feel when you light our candles and provoking positive intentions and interactions for yourself, your life and those around you.

The concept of I am you, you are me and we are ONE.
If I can impact ONE person to love themselves, understand their worth, face their fears, lessen their pain, inspire them to chase their dreams, give love or be an advocate for others, then I’ve gotten that much closer to my mission.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What keeps me busy professionally is the constant focus of bringing my purpose to life by way of the 3 foundational principles I mentioned previously to LOVE, INSPIRE & TOUCH lives one candle and one message at a time. In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m still figuring that out every day and it evolves as I think of new ideas and find new inspiration to keep growing my business. So much time and effort goes into creating each blend and testing everything prior to putting it out there. I create all of our social media content which keeps us extra busy. Always trying to think ahead and working on new ideas. Any entrepreneur can attest to the countless hours of work that goes into owning your own business. Basically any and every aspect of our business is what keeps us busy professionally. It’s nonstop and we love it!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

My happy place is the one and only Florida Keys, the place I call home and where I founded Hippie Soul. When my best friends visit, it’s always about slowing down and soaking in the sun, salty air, bare feet and the island vibes. We start with warm greetings and cocktails as we sit in our patio overlooking the Atlantic and just enjoy the view and each others company. Definitely some good music in the background. We play our favorite playlists which consists of Fleetwood Mac, 80’s jams and often sprinkle in a little yacht rock. Friday dinner at The Fish House is always a must, where they know our name and treat us like family. We rarely have to speak our order, because they already know what we like.

We take boat rides to some of our favorite local spots, Snappers, The Big Chill and Lorelei or Square Grouper, where we sip our cocktails and talk about anything and everything we can think of. We usually end the weekend with Sunday brunch at The Green Turtle to see our favorite bartender, Sara. I could go on and on but these are just some of our usual favorite spots. Keys life is the best life!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This shoutout is dedicated to the love of my life, my husband Jason. I’ve watched him go from working in a corporate world to taking a leap of faith to pursue his dream of owning his own business. I’ve watched as he built his business from the ground up through persistence and never giving up even when the feeling was there. He has inspired me to follow my purpose and in a lot of ways helped me connect with my entrepreneurial spirit, something I never knew I had in me. He has been my biggest supporter throughout my journey. I’m truly blessed and so grateful to have him by my side.

Website: Hippiesoulcandleshop.com

Instagram: @hippie_soul_candle_shop

Twitter: Hippiesoul1111

Facebook: Hippie Soul Candle Shop

Image Credits
Glopink Studios, Miami FL