Meet The Business Woman Behind The Crystal-Infused Candles Calming The Chicest Homes
Jacklyn McCulloch is reshaping the mindful living space through ultra-chic, eco-conscious candles
“I always create business ideas from solutions that I want to solve myself,” Jacklyn McCulloch tells Bazaar Arabia. The founder of Inner Alchemist and its big sister, The Candle Company, who has evolved her home-grown concept into a thriving B2B enterprise, now collaborating with major maisons internationally. What began as a simple passion project – creating candles that wouldn’t trigger her asthma – has since expanded into a brand rooted in rarefied luxury, crystal-infused energy and eco-conscious innovation. “I remember the exact moment – I was sitting on my sofa, about to watch a movie after having just lit a candle, and I was struggling to breathe,” she recalls.
Grounded in personal wellness, her unwavering enthusiasm, and the power of manifestation, Inner Alchemist was born from Jacklyn’s desire to ease her own health challenges, yet in doing so, it quietly charted the course for her future. Few could have predicted that crafting a crystal-infused candle for personal relief would move the needle on her career path.
Jacklyn’s entrepreneurial spirit has always been omnipresent. Suspended from school at just eight years old for trying to start up her own mini-business, little did she know that this early daring would become the backbone of her future enterprises. “I started researching all the ingredients, what is actually put into candles, what was triggering my asthma, and then I simply started making some at home.” Soon, requests flooded in for bespoke candles and crafting workshops – but it wasn’t until she was contacted by a renowned house that everything changed.
“I initially thought that it was some kind of scam, and didn’t reply to the messages for a while. In no time, I found myself making custom, crystal-infused candles for Christian Louboutin’s Ramadan collection launch,” she explains. “I do like to think that I manifested it, as I received the news while on holiday in Italy, after much meditation and gratitude journaling,” she says with a smile. From there, the business snowballed. Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu and Piaget were soon knocking on her door for customised candles.
Despite being in such high demand, Jacklyn remained true to the core principles of her vision even when it meant turning down several opportunities. “They may have been lucrative, but they didn’t always align with what the brand stands for.” She believes that, “every decision compounds. If you compromise once on quality, communication, or positioning, it subtly shifts your identity.” For Jacklyn, one guiding principle is clear: “burnout dulls creativity,” and thus product integrity is her guiding star as the business continues to grow. Ensuring a seamless client experience is equally essential to her. “I want to take their stress away,” she emphasises, echoing the very aim of her creations.
When pressed on how she switches off – if at all – she lets out a soft chuckle. “As you probably know, Ramadan is always a busy period in Dubai, so it’s rare that I do switch off. I normally work until I can no longer keep my eyes open.” She does, however, still try to set some me-time aside each morning, to go on a long walk. “You could say that is my switch-off time, although it tends to be when I get all of my best ideas.”
What has been the steepest learning curve? “Learning that I can’t do everything myself. Starting off as a one-man band, I was stretched so thinly across multiple departments, I realised there was business I was missing out on.” For her company to grow, she needed to let others bring their talents to the table, and she learned to always brace herself for the unexpected. “One day you’re on top of the world and the next day you feel dreadful. But it’s important to not let it affect you, because even if you’re at your lowest point, the next up is just around the corner.”
Given that her products are non-toxic and vegan – or as some would call them, clean, Jacklyn notes that: “in today’s market, ‘clean’ can mean almost anything – which is part of the problem.” This is the term that frustrates her the most. “It is undoubtedly overused, and there should be more regulations around it.” She regularly goes down a rabbit hole tracing the exact provenance and green credentials of her raw materials. “Suppliers’ claims don’t always hold up – for example, you can’t actually get organic soy wax. So for us, clean means measurable, it isn’t aesthetics.”
Despite the bohemian underpinnings of her business, Jacklyn is like any founder at the top of her game; relentlessly focused on the data. From worrying about burning ratios to high-pressured production timelines, there’s a great deal of action behind the perceived peace. Jacklyn meticulously refines and ruminates on how her candles perform – the soot factor, the quality of the wax and how it behaves when actually burning. “Luxury isn’t just about how something smells in a jar. It’s about how it diffuses in a space. How cleanly it burns. Those details separate something decorative from something truly luxurious.”
On the cusp of The Candle Company launching its first direct-to-consumer candles and reed diffusers, along with re-launching Inner Alchemist as a luxury wellness brand, Jacklyn wishes she could tell her younger self to “work smarter instead of harder.” For the female entrepreneurs following in her wake, she adds: “build foundations before you build noise. Treat the operational side with as much care as the creative, and always protect your energy. Starting over is vulnerable. You’ll question yourself constantly, so remaining regulated and grounded is just as important as the strategy. Softness and structure can co-exist; intuition can build industry.”
Photography: Ksenia Sartakova
Note: This content was created prior to February 28, 2026
From the Harper’s Bazaar Arabia March 2026 issue