A year after Mihalopoulos died in October 2020, her husband, Frank, gifted the business to the Austin Street Center<\/a> \u2014 a deep-rooted nonprofit that provides shelter and services to people experiencing homelessness. <\/p>\n Now rebranded as Austin Street Home<\/a>, the products serve as the agency\u2019s first social enterprise.<\/p>\n Breaking News<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cKnowing that 100% of the proceeds will go back to supporting the mission, to helping people transition toward finding stability in a home, it\u2019s just such a great way to feel good about your purchase,\u201d said Nakita Johnson, who leads Austin Street Home\u2019s retail strategy and sales. <\/p>\n Through her consulting firm, The Gem Factor,<\/a> Johnson brings decades of experience in premium and luxury retail to the project, she said, having worked with brands like Neiman Marcus and The North Face.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seemed like a great opportunity, and synergy, for me to pursue, working with mission-driven organizations to create sustainable impact,\u201d Johnson said. <\/p>\n Local businesses, of course, require a different approach. But Johnson believes that for either to succeed, the goal is the same: designing a quality product. <\/p>\n For Austin Street Home, that means the candles are made of high-quality ingredients, including a soy wax blend, lead-free cotton wicks, natural fragrances and essential oils. The candles are also made locally, hand-poured at the shelter\u2019s South Dallas<\/a> campus. <\/p>\n \u201cThe beauty is, this was its own viable business before it was gifted to Austin Street Center,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cSo there\u2019s no compromising on the quality of what the product is.\u201d<\/p>\n Austin Street Home products are made of high-quality ingredients, including a soy wax blend, all-natural cotton wicks, natural fragrances and essential oils.<\/p>\n Jason Janik \/ Special Contributor<\/p>\n The candles and diffusers come in a variety of scents<\/a>, categorized in collections called \u201cclassic,\u201d \u201cluxury\u201d and \u201czen.\u201d There are also seasonal candles on a rotating basis, like this year\u2019s \u201cdulce pumpkin\u201d and \u201ctwisted holiday coffee.\u201d They range in size from 3 ounces to 100 ounces, spanning from $9 to $120. <\/p>\n In addition to online orders directly from Austin Street Home, the line can also be found in businesses and pop-ups across the city. <\/p>\n The 14-ounce candles are currently displayed at the entrance of Ruthie\u2019s Cafe<\/a> on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, what Johnson called \u201cthe perfect partnership.\u201d <\/p>\n As part of The Good Foundation<\/a>, Ruthie\u2019s is a social impact initiative that aims to provide food and employment opportunities to underserved communities, including those transitioning out of the justice system. All of their net proceeds go to the St. Philip\u2019s School and Community Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Ruthie\u2019s is doing is a great example of what collaboration in the community can look like,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI think it provides more visibility and trust.\u201d <\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s goal for the year ahead is take that visibility a step further, forging more relationships between Austin Street Home and corporations that can help elevate the mission.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about building and empowering a collective community,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd in turn, that fosters the greater ecosystem, of doing good in general.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brand was a gift in and of itself. It started more than 20 years ago as Xela…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":477387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,7712,9604,21678,316,7265,68910,256,9207,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,34157,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-477386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-fortworth","11":"tag-entrepreneurs","12":"tag-equity","13":"tag-home","14":"tag-homelessness","15":"tag-inspired","16":"tag-philanthropy","17":"tag-small-business","18":"tag-texas","19":"tag-tx","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-uplifting-news","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115802368073994322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Austin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SWSD2IJ6GFFVRBGFM42PVIU7SE.jpg\")
<\/p>\n