For a while, Kelli Marie lived in Malawi, Africa. In this small country, they would experience "load shedding," or periods without power, which always seemed to occur just before nightfall. As a result, she had a nightly ritual of unlocking her home, getting a box of matches and her headlamp, and then going through the house to light all the candles until her home was GLOWING.

Living in Africa was an amazing experience—a crazy life for sure—days filled with the need to get two things done, and it took ten times as long to do only one! The sounds, the smells, the hustle and bustle of minibuses beeping their horns on the evening commute home, the sound of NeYo "sexy love" playing in the village while across the street she was without power...there was just something so calming about the "glow" that would fill her house with all the candles lit. Ever since then, whenever she would get the chance to light candles, she would, and it started getting expensive and not always liking the scent or how they would burn. It got her thinking, "I should make my own," and that was the birth of (Kelli Marie Design) KMD candles.