In this week's episode, we connect with Nsimire Godman, Founder of Raha Copenhagen. This Denmark-based creative shares how a humble background in Rwanda and a spark of creativity during the pandemic led her to create inclusive, aesthetically pleasing soy wax candles. Listen as Nsimire recounts her year-long journey of mastering the craft, overcoming challenges, and discovering a niche market in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.
As we know, entrepreneurship is best done with support and community, and Nsimire's beautiful journey to starting and running a business, is a good illustration of this. Her mother's financial savvy, her husband's business operations expertise and her mother in-law's artistic input have all been instrumental in turning her passion into a flourishing small-batch production company. Nsimire also shares how she also surrounds herself with allies and strives to create inclusive spaces for others who might not enjoy the same support she does.
Nsimire also shares that her soy wax candle business is sustainable by design - from reusing materials to keep her business eco-friendly to sourcing materials from eco-friendly suppliers and only making products to order....
As always, this conversation is Shades and Layers' style - lots of candor and humor.
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Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Hello and welcome to Shades and Layers
00:00:06
.
00:00:06
I'm your Kutloano Skosana Ricci.
00:00:08
Today, my guest is Nsimire Godman, F founder of Raha C
00:00:13
Kopenhagen.
00:00:13
Her small batch production company offers her customers
00:00:17
inclusive and aesthetically pleasing soy wax candles for the
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home.
00:00:21
Nsimire is based in the capital city of Denmark, where she also
00:00:26
runs her travel and fashion YouTube channel and Instagram
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page called Flights and Fabrics.
00:00:32
Her love for sharing all things creative, coupled with a
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pandemic-era hobby as well as mandated sick leave, led to
00:00:41
founding of Raha Copenhagen.
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She envisions the brand as something that will move beyond
00:00:47
lifestyle and include wellness and self-care.
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In our discussion, she talks about why wellness is such an
00:00:54
important tenet in the foundation of her brand.
00:00:56
She also shares her journey from Rwanda to Kenya, to
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Copenhagen.
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Here is Nsimire's story.
00:01:08
Nsimire Godman: My name is Nsimire Godman, that's my new
00:01:08
name , and I am the founder of Raha Copenhagen, which is a
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candle business where I produce candles in my own home.
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For now, at least, I call them very special candles because
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they are made of soy wax, which is much different to paraffin,
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which is the product we use on all kinds of candles.
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So that's basically what I do
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Kutloano Skosana Ricci: .
00:01:39
So before we get into the specifics, let's talk about how
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you came to this work and how you would describe it
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Nsimire Godman: yeah, it's a funny story and I think we've
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we've touched upon it earlier on .
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I love candles, I've always been into candles.
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I I feel like they give a certain mood, they give a
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certain calm environment around you.
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But I go way back with candles and it's like from humble
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beginnings, where I come from Rwanda originally and my family.
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There was a point in our lives where we weren't privileged in
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terms of our economics, so sometimes we won't have enough
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money to pay off our electricity bills, so we will use candles.
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So there have always been a thing in my life that I have
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around the house.
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Um, call it a trauma, whatever, but you, I just need a candle
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in my house just in case electricity.
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And as I grew older I figured, well, you can use candles
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positively rather than a necessary thing to have in your
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house.
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So I tapped into that because I love having, as I said, I love
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having a healthy environment and doing things that makes me
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happy and feels therapeutic.
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Makes me happy and feels therapeutic.
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So I started, just you know, collecting candles and one day,
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out of nowhere, I saw these candles that were molded
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differently than normal candles that we buy in the supermarket
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or the grocery stores, and I was hooked and I was like okay, so
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what is this exactly?
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Kutloano Skosana Ricci: What did it?
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look like.
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Nsimire Godman: It was like a bubble candle made in like this.
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Do you know these?
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What do you call them?
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Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Oh, rubik's Cube, yeah, rubik's Cube
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.
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Nsimire Godman: So I was like this is interesting.
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And then, the more I went into that rabbit hole of candles, I
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found out that there is a whole world of different shaped
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candles.
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You do not always have to buy those you know typical candles
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see everywhere.
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And then I've I realized, oh, hold on a second, these candles,
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I have to order them from another country, which will take
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forever.
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So what I did was just to start researching on how can I get
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these candles.
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And then I did my research and one day I was at a flea market
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and then there was this lady who was selling these candles.
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All of a sudden I feel like the universe was telling me yay,
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you've got what you wanted.
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And then I bought one of them.
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And then she told me about how she produced these candles and
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how fun it is to produce candles .
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And then I went home and I started trying myself to produce
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candles, to have candles at home, and I got hooked on that,
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even though the process was just terrible.
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And then I used YouTube to just kind of guide me into how to
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make a candle not just any candle, but candles out of these
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different shapes and molds.
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And that's how it became a thing for me to um, to tap into
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that and, um, yeah, last story, yeah became a hobby, sure?
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Kutloano Skosana Ricci: and how long did it take you to, you
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know, conceptualize what kind of candle you want to make, which
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would be different from what what was on offer on the market,
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to actually starting to have a product that could be sold it
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took me a long time.
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Nsimire Godman: I think I started I I.
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It took me one year to to finesse as I say like to make a
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candle that was presentable.
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Of course, I'll make candles every now and then, as you know,
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a little gift for my friends, family and whatever.
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But once I feel like I had a grip on on how to produce a
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candle, I was like, okay, maybe could be fun to have to actually
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right.
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So these things that I am producing, because I was so
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proud of myself and my husband was very, very encouraging.
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He was like you know, you can make a business out of that.
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And I was like I know nothing about business, I'm just here
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for my own hobbies.
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But then the more you know I make candles, the more you
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search for knowledge and you're like what kind of wax is
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possible to get what's healthy?
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What's healthy, what's good?
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There's so many things to learn about candle producing.
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So, on my journey, once I figured out, okay, there is good
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candles and there are bad candles in terms of your health,
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in terms of your indoor environment, how, how you want
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to use your candles it was like, oh, okay, maybe I can find a
00:06:49
market for this kind of product.
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And since I live in denmark, um , it became much easier, very
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quick, because first of all, we live in a small country, so the
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choices will be very like narrow , uh, in terms of what kind of
00:07:07
candles I would like.
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For example, I had seen these body-shaped candles in my skin
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tone and I was very sure that I would never find them in Denmark
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.
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Completely sure that I would never find them in.
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Denmark, so that became A motivating thing, Okay.
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So I was like this is something that looks very aesthetically
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pleasing and I know people out there who loves candles or loves
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interior design.
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They would love to have something that resemble their
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personality or how they look.
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So that was one factor that I wrote down while writing that
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like what should my brand represent?
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Diversity, so far, so good.
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So it started with these body shapes.
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Yeah, I was like I want you know everybody's talking, okay,
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just to draw like some comparison.
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Everybody's talking about makeup and how we struggle to
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find the right color for every shape color shades out there,
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yeah, yeah yeah, that was the same with my candles.
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I was like I see it, I see it in the US, I see it everywhere,
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but it's not here in Scandinavia .
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I'm not going to find a candle that looks like me or my sister,
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because my sister and I we have two different, you know, shade
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of tones.
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So that's where I was like, okay, okay, so I have these
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ideas about how I want it to look like, so let's go with that
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.
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And then the next thing I went for was the wax, because there
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are so many different waxes out there there are beeswax, there
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are paraffin, there are soy.
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I wanted something that was representative of the aesthetic
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that I was going for.
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I want something that looks very aesthetically pleasing,
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beautiful to look at.
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And that was soy for me, and luckily because soy it's a
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creamy kind of wax.
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It gives this very air blush look.
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So I was like, okay, I got something.
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And the good thing about soy also is that it's healthy.
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It's from soy beans um sure, please.
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It gives like a clean burn.
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And that's where I also like okay, I've got something,
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because my mother-in-law she's actually allergic to candles.
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She cannot have candles that are made of paraffin because
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that disturbs her health issues.
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So once I introduced her to soy wax she was like, oh my god,
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I've never heard of this.
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This is I can have it in my house and it's cozy, I like it
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so you solved a lot of problems with this soy thing so once I
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figured out that I wanted to make some aesthetically pleasing
00:09:50
candles that are healthy for your indoor environment and also
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tap into the sustainable part, yeah, so I wanted to touch on
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that because you have the representation element, but
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there's more to talk about as far as that goes.
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Kutloano Skosana Ricci: But you know the sustainability element.
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You know where does that land for you and how does it manifest
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in the way you, you produce your product well the fact that
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I live in scandinavia.
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Nsimire Godman: I feel like sustainability just comes easily
00:10:20
to us and we're very privileged to have the resources to, you
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know, have a sustainable life.
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That doesn't mean that it's highly costly, so it just comes
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naturally to me to just have like, if I can live a
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sustainable life, of course I'm going to do that, so I wanted
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that with my candles as well.
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And how it manifests into my business is I produce a very
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limited amount, so I don't want to waste anything.
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I produce the the amount of candles that my customers order,
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so I don't over produce.
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I don't.
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I don't have anything on my.
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Do you call it uh?
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Kutloano Skosana Ricci: in your stock you don't have like, yeah,
00:11:02
my stock, yeah, yeah, so small batch to order productions.
00:11:05
Yeah, yeah, yeah and also candles.
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Nsimire Godman: I can remelt them just in case.
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So it's like the sustainable part is there again.
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If I don't get to sell some of my candles or my customers are
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unsatisfied with the product that they received, I will
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remelt these, you know, the wax, and then mold something to
00:11:27
their satisfaction.
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So that way I'm sustainable.
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And when it comes to how I, you know I produce the candles, my
00:11:36
wicks, you know like, have to be eco-friendly.
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They're made of like cotton and yeah, there's so many things
00:11:43
that I just are more environmental friendly because,
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yeah, it also taps into the modern day person who likes to
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enjoy themselves.
00:11:55
So I have to think that in my producing of candles as well.
00:12:01
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, this is Shades and Layers.
00:12:05
My guest today is maker and founder of Raha Kopenhagen,
00:12:11
nsimre Godman.
00:12:12
Her brand celebrates diversity and inclusion in the self-care
00:12:15
journey.
00:12:16
Her home-based soy candle making business focuses on
00:12:19
sustainability, impact and community.
00:12:22
Up next, we hear all about that .
00:12:24
On her journey so far, have you actually run into any customer
00:12:29
problems so far?
00:12:31
Nsimire Godman: yeah, um yeah, yeah that was the first time and
00:12:36
I was like, oh no, um, where I sent some candles and because
00:12:42
it's, you know, like the pasta office and you know these are
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delicate, because they're like models, so they can be very
00:12:50
delicate in terms of like how do you place them or how to hold
00:12:53
them, so they, they broke actually on in in the process of
00:12:56
, uh, delivery so the customers received some broken candles and
00:13:01
I was like well, you know what, you keep them um or otherwise,
00:13:05
you can just send them.
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I'll pay um for the shipment and then I will remelt them for you
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um in terms of some new ones.
00:13:14
So in that way I try to really keep my my sustainability in
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check.
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Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, yeah, uh, because also this um
00:13:23
packaging, right.
00:13:24
So, yeah, yeah, how how do you package your goods?
00:13:28
Nsimire Godman: yeah, that's also like it's all recycling and
00:13:32
I don't know like I.
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I'm so lucky to have people around me who has been
00:13:38
entrepreneurs and in business in different areas.
00:13:41
My mother-in-law used to have a business.
00:13:45
She used to sew like small bags and she will send them to her
00:13:49
customers.
00:13:50
So basically she has these boxes that have been lying
00:13:54
around for forever and she don't use them for anything.
00:13:57
So we reuse them and send them to our customers.
00:14:01
And also boxes that I receive from ordering all kinds of stuff
00:14:06
, whether it's my supplies in terms of waxes or wicks or
00:14:10
anything.
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If they're reusable, I can reuse them and I do tell my
00:14:14
customers these are like reuse boxes and that's how they look.
00:14:17
They look very tarnished and everything sometimes, but I make
00:14:21
sure that the the packaging is inside is very presentable, but
00:14:27
we you recycling boxes because that, like the, if you buy
00:14:32
something, it's not the box that you're going to keep around.
00:14:35
You throw it out, maybe.
00:14:37
So I make sure that now we can reuse it.
00:14:40
Yeah and maybe my customers are going to reuse it for something
00:14:43
else, so that in the packaging as well, I make sure that okay.
00:14:47
So how can we do this very friendly and it doesn't have to
00:14:52
look messy, but still make my customer aware of like these
00:14:56
boxes are not something that I just buy somewhere, but
00:15:00
something that has been used elsewhere?
00:15:02
Oh, that's amazing.
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Kutloano Skosana Ricci: That's really great.
00:15:04
Well, it actually sounds like you have quite the support
00:15:07
structure around you in terms of getting this business going.
00:15:11
So tell me more your mother-in-law.
00:15:13
Apart from being allergic, she sounds like a great resource,
00:15:18
you know.
00:15:19
Nsimire Godman: No, she is.
00:15:20
She's a very creative person.
00:15:23
She's like, naturally creative.
00:15:25
So she also helped me in terms of of.
00:15:29
We had, you know, flea markets.
00:15:31
People stumbled upon our instagram page and they would
00:15:35
ask like, hey, would you like to be a part of a flea market?
00:15:38
Said yes, but I was like, okay, so we have to produce this
00:15:42
amount of candles and I am just a one-man kind of boutique, so
00:15:47
what are we going to do?
00:15:48
My mother-in-law was like, well , let me help you.
00:15:51
So she would produce in the daytime, because she has so much
00:15:56
time on her hands in the daytime, and I'll produce in the
00:15:59
evening.
00:16:00
So we had a little partnership going on, and she sometimes also
00:16:05
comes with ideas, because she used to make soap as well.
00:16:08
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Like I said, she's a very creative.
00:16:10
Nsimire Godman: So, like making creams and soaps, it's kind of
00:16:13
the same process as producing candles.
00:16:16
So she gave me all these kind of ideas and she would say, well
00:16:20
, we'll talk in terms of like how to do the next step.
00:16:25
One thing is watching a YouTube video and someone telling you
00:16:28
and the other thing is actually trying.
00:16:30
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, absolutely, yeah, absolutely,
00:16:33
yeah.
00:16:33
So, and um, I know when we did the pre-interview, you mentioned
00:16:37
that your husband also, um, has been helpful he has.
00:16:41
Nsimire Godman: He runs his own company.
00:16:43
So on that point I I used him to really help me with all kinds
00:16:49
of very practical stuff how to make a business plan, how to
00:16:54
like all these practical stuff.
00:16:56
I, oh, I forgot to say I am a social worker.
00:16:59
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
00:17:01
Nsimire Godman: So I've never touched anything that sounds
00:17:04
like business, anything that has to do with business.
00:17:08
I just I've never been there, I've never been an entrepreneur,
00:17:11
so it was a new world for me.
00:17:13
I just knew that I had a hobby and I was becoming good at it
00:17:17
and I'm still learning.
00:17:18
But I didn't.
00:17:20
I was like okay, so you just have to sell this.
00:17:22
And he was like no, no, no, no, no, no.
00:17:24
You have to register your company, you have to make sure
00:17:28
that you know, know all these, because there are so many rules
00:17:31
about selling something that burns you know, Absolutely yeah.
00:17:36
Yeah, so we had to get all these vouchers on like.
00:17:40
Uh, is it, you know, to make it legal to legalize my company in
00:17:44
terms of like, using all kinds of liquid products, oils because
00:17:48
I use scents as well and has to be environmental friendly in
00:17:52
terms of like, people, if they buy my supply, you know if they
00:17:56
buy my products they're not going to get allergic reactions
00:17:59
and you know.
00:18:00
Just all these practical, boring stuff.
00:18:03
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah yeah, but that makes things run
00:18:06
smoothly, right and you're not running into unnecessary
00:18:09
problems yeah, yeah even though, like I, we I'm still learning,
00:18:14
and he, he too as well.
00:18:16
Nsimire Godman: And my mom, my mom, used to run her own company
00:18:18
as well, so very surrounded with yeah, that's great, that's
00:18:23
great.
00:18:23
Yeah, yeah, yeah so she's always the one who's like she keeps me
00:18:28
in check in terms like you have to have, like somebody look at
00:18:31
your economy in terms of what you're getting in your income,
00:18:35
how much you use on your products.
00:18:37
Like, does it?
00:18:37
You know all these mathematical things that I have absolutely
00:18:43
no idea of.
00:18:44
I'm getting a grip of it as much as we talk, because
00:18:48
everybody's so excited about this thing.
00:18:50
Nobody knew that you could produce a candle.
00:18:53
So once I produced a candle and we started this whole like
00:18:56
let's sell them, everybody's tuning in.
00:18:58
You know, everybody in my circle is like so how is it
00:19:01
going?
00:19:02
So we like they're very excited .
00:19:04
So we do share conversations about like how is it going?
00:19:06
So we like they're very excited , so they do.
00:19:06
We do share conversations about like how to run a business and
00:19:09
especially how to run a candles business, because it's a bit of
00:19:11
a niche.
00:19:12
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, yeah, that's really cool.
00:19:14
That's really really great.
00:19:15
But let's talk about the brand itself raha copenhagen.
00:19:19
Let's start with the name and, uh, what does it stand for?
00:19:23
Nsimire Godman: Yeah well, Raha Copenhagen, I really wanted to
00:19:28
make both of my cultures collide together.
00:19:31
So I have roots in Rwanda and I'm born in Rwanda and my family
00:19:38
and I lived in Kenya for actually four years after the
00:19:42
war, back in 94.
00:19:44
And there Swahili kind of became my second language.
00:19:51
I have Kinyaranta and then I had Swahili and, um, my dad is
00:19:54
has roots in Congo and they speak Swahili as well okay yeah,
00:19:58
and so it has always been a language that has has been in my
00:20:02
subconscious.
00:20:04
And then, when I was thinking about okay, so what do I want
00:20:08
this brand to represent or this company to represent, I thought
00:20:13
of happiness and I thought of my origins and the story I told
00:20:18
you about how I see candles and what they represent for me.
00:20:22
And since I really don't, I feel like Swahili was just the
00:20:25
right, you know the right language to use.
00:20:28
In in this sense, I said raha, because raha in swahili means
00:20:32
happiness, yeah, so like the happiness that, like candle, can
00:20:36
bring you light, brings you right.
00:20:40
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: And then copenhagen, because it's my
00:20:42
city, that that's where you are.
00:20:44
Nsimire Godman: Happiness in Copenhagen.
00:20:46
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Oh, that's nice, that's really nice.
00:20:47
So who do you want to be happy?
00:20:51
Nsimire Godman: Well, yes, I want everybody who sees this as
00:20:59
an opportunity to indulge in some self-care to be happy.
00:21:02
To indulge in some self-care, to be happy.
00:21:05
I want people who has this mindset of like you know, when I
00:21:12
said that I used to think candles were things that you had
00:21:14
in your house just to make sure that you have some light once
00:21:18
the electricity is gone I want us to indulge in buying candles
00:21:22
for this, you know, just for the sake of buying candles, to feel
00:21:25
like you're content enough to use the small changes that you
00:21:30
have to buy some candles and they will bring you joy because
00:21:34
you're indulging in some sort of like.
00:21:36
It's the small luxury in life.
00:21:38
That's what my brand, I want my brand to represent.
00:21:41
Like the small, small stuff that you do not necessarily
00:21:45
think about.
00:21:45
You know, when you have you're having a candleless dinner with
00:21:48
your husband, or you're having candles around, when you're
00:21:52
having your friends around, it just creates something, um, and
00:21:56
it's not big, but it adds to your joy.
00:21:58
Yeah, and that's why, like, my target is just a vastity of
00:22:02
people, like everyone who is just want to indulge in that
00:22:06
little luxurious joy that you get when you purchase something.
00:22:11
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, so small, yeah, and I think it's
00:22:14
important to point out that you say it is a brand, which means
00:22:18
you've got a bigger vision for what you're doing so.
00:22:23
You know you've got the candles right now, but you know what's
00:22:27
the big dream?
00:22:29
Nsimire Godman: you caught me there.
00:22:30
Yeah, I could have.
00:22:33
Yeah, I could have chosen to call it something candle, but I
00:22:37
thought, well, we're going to expand this.
00:22:39
Um, yeah, the dream is to have something that has to do with
00:22:46
wellness, basically, just, you know, small indulgement in your
00:22:51
everyday life.
00:22:51
I might say I am not quite sure how you know my next step is
00:22:57
going to be, but I know that it's going to be more than
00:23:00
candles.
00:23:02
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, you mentioned wellness.
00:23:04
Why is that an important thing to you?
00:23:06
Nsimire Godman: I think, when I look at how I navigated in my
00:23:11
adult life and how to get a sense of self-awareness, one
00:23:16
thing came to my mind.
00:23:17
It was therapy and I'm not a therapist, so obviously I cannot
00:23:21
share my therapeutic knowledge with somebody but I also
00:23:26
realized that taking time out to take care of your body, your
00:23:30
mind and your soul really, really does great things to you
00:23:35
in terms of evolving as a human being.
00:23:38
And it might sound cliche, like lighting up candles or buying
00:23:42
yourself yourself flowers, but sometimes it really is that,
00:23:46
yeah, I had a period in my life where was the same period where
00:23:49
I was making candles?
00:23:50
I was in sick leave, actually because of too much stress, and
00:23:55
I started noticing, uh, with the help, guidance of my therapist,
00:23:59
in terms of, like, buying small things to myself, doing small
00:24:03
gestures for myself, such as buying flowers or rearranging my
00:24:08
living room or litting a candle , because I had so many candles
00:24:13
that I produced, and it just somehow it worked.
00:24:17
And it has nothing to do with, you know, capitalism, because I
00:24:20
know a lot of people do tend to talk about.
00:24:23
Well, capitalism is, you know, taking advantage of our mental
00:24:27
health.
00:24:27
I think it has something to do with realizing that you do
00:24:31
deserve to treat yourself.
00:24:32
It does not mean that you have to buy something, but you do
00:24:36
have to take good care of yourself.
00:24:38
That could be anything and that's why, yeah, it's a brand.
00:24:42
It could be anything.
00:24:43
It shouldn't be something that you buy into.
00:24:45
It could also be a collective of people.
00:24:48
We get together in the Raja Copenhagen city and, you know,
00:24:52
share some food or share some thoughts.
00:24:55
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: So yeah, no, absolutely Doing nice
00:24:57
things for yourself, I agree, I agree.
00:25:00
I mean, you can also be caught in this trap of feeling bad for
00:25:04
looking after yourself right.
00:25:05
Which is what you see all over media at the moment?
00:25:10
Nsimire Godman: Yeah, exactly.
00:25:11
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Great, so on the sustainability part,
00:25:14
just one final thing Talk to me about sourcing off your raw
00:25:18
materials.
00:25:20
Nsimire Godman: Yeah, well, again, I have been very, very
00:25:23
lucky that I live in a small city so all my raw materials I
00:25:28
get like I have one supplier that supply me with my materials
00:25:33
and I make sure that they're all like eco-friendly.
00:25:35
And I think most candle makers who are in the same path as I am
00:25:41
in sustainable candle business candle making they have the same
00:25:45
supplier because they supply.
00:25:47
There's only one supplier that I know of right, and that makes
00:25:54
it much easier for me to just know that I am getting the right
00:25:58
stuff exactly, yeah even though it took me.
00:26:01
It took me forever to get to a point where like, okay, this is
00:26:05
actually.
00:26:05
It is in tune with my vision in terms of sustainability.
00:26:12
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, yeah, great.
00:26:13
It's time to find out about Nsimire Godman's personal
00:26:20
journey to entrepreneurship on Shades and Layers, to
00:26:27
entrepreneurship on Shades and Layers.
00:26:28
We will then get into the rapid fire where we find out how she
00:26:29
envisions telling her life story , both as a book and as a film.
00:26:31
Here we go.
00:26:32
So you've talked a little bit about your journey in life.
00:26:36
First it was Rwanda, then Kenya , and now you're in Copenhagen.
00:26:42
Yeah, and you seem to have found your place, found your
00:26:47
groove, and this is a place that's notorious, as I have been
00:26:52
there for non-welcoming outsiders.
00:26:56
So you know, how have you found your place and how does one
00:27:00
thrive?
00:27:01
Nsimire Godman: I think it's hard.
00:27:02
To be quite honest, it is hard thrive.
00:27:08
I think it's hard, uh, to be quite honest, it is hard.
00:27:10
Well, I've been lucky again because I came here as a young
00:27:12
kid.
00:27:12
Um, but it's, it's a you've, you lived here.
00:27:14
It's a very close community, as if I can say like that.
00:27:18
So to get, to get your foot in, can be very, very tough, and
00:27:23
I've seen it, but you simply have to fight through.
00:27:27
I feel like you have to fight to get.
00:27:29
You know, like to get a seat at the table.
00:27:31
And if you don't, a lot of people around say if you, if you
00:27:35
can get the seat at the table, you built your own table, you
00:27:39
know.
00:27:39
But the first thing that really grounded me and makes me outlive
00:27:44
my, my dreams and my, my thoughts, it's having a
00:27:47
community.
00:27:47
Like, yeah, because you know, growing up and not having um, a
00:27:53
close community can damage you, but finding people who thrive on
00:27:58
you being happy and and the other way around, is very giving
00:28:02
, and I think I found mine.
00:28:04
It took me a long time, because I've been here for 20 years, um
00:28:08
, but once I finally found my community, I think it was much
00:28:12
easier to just say you know what .
00:28:13
Let's build our own table and just you know um start doing
00:28:18
things and every now and then you attend these events and you
00:28:22
know somebody introduce you to another person.
00:28:25
You know of color or just diversity is just becoming a
00:28:28
thing and you see people really creating things that I didn't
00:28:33
see 20 years ago.
00:28:35
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: It's definitely a different city,
00:28:37
yeah.
00:28:38
Nsimire Godman: It is definitely because I feel like this
00:28:41
generation is so fearless.
00:28:43
We have so many people doing so many things when, like back
00:28:47
when I was young, I didn't have like a young black entrepreneurs
00:28:51
to look up to here in Denmark and say oh, okay, I can do that,
00:28:54
but I feel like it has become a thing now.
00:28:57
It's like everywhere you look, someone is out there really
00:29:00
trying to get through, even though it is tough.
00:29:04
It can get tough, and it's also like having people who are
00:29:08
allies.
00:29:08
That's the most important.
00:29:10
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Like you , when you have no, absolutely
00:29:12
yeah, Because it's a very, very, very small number of people of
00:29:17
color.
00:29:17
Nsimire Godman: still anyway, yeah.
00:29:20
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Okay, so what didn't I touch on?
00:29:22
I didn't touch on the range of candles, so they all have
00:29:27
different interesting names.
00:29:30
Nsimire Godman: Yeah, yeah.
00:29:31
Kutloano Skosana Ri: Interesting names, interesting shapes.
00:29:33
So you've already mentioned the bustier, and then I saw there
00:29:38
was one which was wavy.
00:29:40
Yeah, tell me about each one in the range.
00:29:44
Nsimire Godman: Well, I started very small.
00:29:47
Like normally, when you see other candles business, they
00:29:51
have a range of different shapes , different looks and different
00:29:55
colors as well.
00:29:56
I still wanted to stay very grounded and I wanted to build
00:30:01
my brand very slow, like you know, it's slow, good, um, and
00:30:06
taking your time as well.
00:30:07
So I have, for the fifth is coming.
00:30:11
I wanted something that looks aesthetically pleasing in your
00:30:16
home, not just to burn, but it has to go with your um, into
00:30:20
your design at home, right?
00:30:22
So I I took something that can look familiar and something that
00:30:26
you can relate to and something that isn't very disturbing for
00:30:29
the eye.
00:30:30
So, yeah, there is the bustier, there is the time glass and
00:30:34
there is the ruby's cube, um, and then there is the wavy one
00:30:38
that looks like a flower.
00:30:39
Yeah, that's very pretty yeah yeah, and then we have the
00:30:43
rainbow that is coming as well.
00:30:45
So I gave them different names, also in Swahili, because I
00:30:52
really want to incorporate my Africanness in this.
00:30:56
So they all have something that is loving is happiness, because
00:31:03
, the thing is, the vocabulary in Swahili is just wide, so you
00:31:08
can say happiness in so many different ways.
00:31:10
You can say love in so many ways, so that's how I named my
00:31:14
candles.
00:31:15
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Oh, that's wonderful.
00:31:17
So we've talked about where you want to take your business, or
00:31:21
rather, let me say, your brand, right?
00:31:23
Nsimire Godman: Yes.
00:31:25
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: So let's go into.
00:31:27
You know how you see yourself.
00:31:29
We're going to do the rapid fire.
00:31:30
You've had quite the adventure.
00:31:32
So if somebody had to commission a memoir from you
00:31:36
today, what would you call it and why?
00:31:38
Nsimire Godman: Oh dear, I don't even know, but what would I
00:31:43
call it?
00:31:43
The blooming flower?
00:31:51
Yeah, why are you a blooming flower?
00:31:53
I think I uh, as as we grow, as we go on this self-discovery
00:31:56
journey, you find out that you're not that bad at it.
00:32:01
You know so many petals like uh on you that just keeps on
00:32:06
blooming, and sometimes you're so happily surprised and
00:32:10
sometimes you're just like, oh, this is a side of me that I
00:32:12
don't like, but you keep blooming, you look nice.
00:32:15
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Awesome, nice, nice, nice.
00:32:18
So you take that book and you turn it into a movie.
00:32:22
Who do you choose for the lead actress, lila Davis?
00:32:24
Through and through, no hesitation there.
00:32:24
Nsimire Godman: Through and through book and you turn it
00:32:25
into a movie.
00:32:25
Who do you choose for the lead actress?
00:32:26
Ooh like through and through.
00:32:28
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: No hesitation there, through and
00:32:30
through.
00:32:33
Nsimire Godman: I love her.
00:32:34
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: That's wonderful and if you had to
00:32:38
invite a famous black woman to dinner, living or dead, who
00:32:41
would it be, and why?
00:32:45
Nsimire Godman: Oh dear, there are so many, many.
00:32:46
Let's go with angela bassett um .
00:32:49
She's an actor.
00:32:51
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: I love her um you do I love her.
00:32:56
Nsimire Godman: She's like, she's my everything goal, from
00:32:59
fitness to aging, to whatever creativity, she's just
00:33:04
everything that's why you just described the reason that I just
00:33:08
want to sit and have a conversation with her about
00:33:11
being a woman, like how do you do it, you know?
00:33:14
Um, yeah, her definitely, she's amazing.
00:33:18
Yes, oh, we are aligned, there, definitely I would love to hang
00:33:24
out with her.
00:33:24
She she's the queen mother for goodness sake.
00:33:27
I know, yeah, definitely her.
00:33:32
So many other but her.
00:33:34
I was like she's a very interesting woman.
00:33:37
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely
00:33:40
Great.
00:33:40
So if people want to work with you, get in touch, follow your
00:33:45
work.
00:33:45
Where can they find you Well?
00:33:48
Nsimire Godman: we do have our Instagram and we have our
00:33:51
website.
00:33:52
So our website is rahacopenhagendk and we have our
00:33:58
Instagram, which is rahacph.
00:34:00
And, yeah, dm us, we are always ready to.
00:34:09
Just great answer I love it.
00:34:11
Kutloano Skosana Ricci: I love it.
00:34:12
Thank you so much, and that is all from me this time around.
00:34:16
Thank you for sharing your journey so generously.
00:34:21
If you want to learn more about and her brandige and her brand,
00:34:24
raha Copenhagen, please visit the show notes.
00:34:28
While you are there, please hit the share button and let
00:34:32
someone else know that Shades and Layers is the place to be.
00:34:35
Thanks again for your support.
00:34:37
I'm Kutloano Skosana Ricci and until next time, please do take
00:34:42
good care.