Meet Our Queen Bee
My name is Lisa Graham and I mind your beeswax.
I grew up in rural southern Alberta where I worked on the family farm as well as at a local apiary. Working at the apiary helped me get over my fear of bees (kind of). Yes, I was afraid of bees when I started working with them. I came to Calgary for university.
During my studies, I volunteered to make rolled beeswax candles. I loved it so much, I found a beeswax sheet supplier so I could make more. The result was way too many candles to burn in a reasonable amount of time. When I started selling the candles on Kijiji, I found many people had a hard time finding beeswax sheets. Something so simple shouldn’t be so hard to find and access! Thus, I started carrying beeswax sheets.
Fast forward a couple years. I decided to try my hand at running a business. I knew I could put my software engineering to use to help people find what they needed online! From there, things expanded. I started offering supplies including solid beeswax, wicks, and more. I started to teach workshops. I also had fun experimenting and grew the product line.
I love sharing my knowledge of bees and beeswax with others. It’s important to respect the process from the hive to the finished product. It’s not a huge leap to bring art and science together, and I love highlighting the interdependence.
There are two things that make my day. First, I love the excitement of a customer who has finally found what they’ve been looking for. Second, it’s priceless to teach someone to make a candle and see how proud they are of their creation. It’s especially satisfying when they tell me how non-artistic they are to start.
Since coming to Calgary, I have been able to explore many new areas of interest including yoga. I’ve also gained better access to the fine and performing arts. Music is a huge part of my life and I teach and play flute as often as possible as a soloist and in ensembles.
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Our Company
YYC Beeswax is a Calgary-based company offering a range of ready-made small batch beeswax products and educational opportunities.
We exist to (re)connect people with their creativity and the beauty of nature. Growing up in rural Alberta, I was fortunate to live close to nature and observe the beauty of the Alberta prairies. It was a new adventure to move to Calgary for university and explore an urban environment. As wonderful as it was to have better access to the arts, I still missed the quality of nature found by living rural. As YYC Beeswax grows and evolves, I feel like I’m getting closer to balancing having the availability of art in the city and the rural beauty of nature. Every product we make and each time we educate, we aim to merge these two.
YYC Beeswax offers a variety of products with one rule – every product must contain something harvested from a beehive or themed accordingly. From candles to our extremely popular lip balm and food wraps to DIY supplies, you can tell we have fun creating. In addition to offering products, we also run workshops in which we make candles and teach our participants a bit about bees (sometimes we even have special joint venture workshops with other small businesses too!). We are also available for private events such as corporate team building, birthday parties, bachelorettes, and more.
We are happy to accept custom orders for personal, corporate, or special events such as weddings. Our high quality products are carefully hand crafted with locally sourced materials where possible.
Learn more about:
- How we give back
- The story behind some of our products and services
- Our people and products featured in the media
Our Vision
We like to think big! Watch as we grow to become:
- The premier source for accessible, high quality local beeswax products
- The international expert on fully enclosed, self-sustaining ecosystems
Our Mission
To provide high quality products and educational experiences to foster creativity and promote cross-disciplinary education for learners of all ages in a respectful environment while supporting the local community and environment.
Our Core Values
Lifelong Learning and Educating
Striving to improve as an individual and a community while educating others along the way.
Respect
Communicating effectively to deliver consistent high value with consideration for resources.
Family and Community
Strengthening ties at home and in the community to foster teamwork and build a stronger society.