Meet Shawnae Belanger

We recently connected with Shawnae Belanger and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Shawnae, so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?

I keep moving forward, no matter what others say. Most of the time, their opinions come from an outdated version of me or from their own insecurities. Instead of asking questions or seeking to understand, they focus on negativity…hoping it will slow me down. It doesn’t. I just remind myself that what other people say about me is none of my business.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Right now, my focus is on finding balance… between running my business, working my day job, and being a mom. Each of those roles asks for something different from me, but they all feed into the same purpose; showing up fully, staying grounded, and building a life that feels good. It’s not always easy, but it’s honest. Every day is a practice in patience, presence, and grace… learning when to push, when to pause, and when to just breathe.

Making candles is like meditation to me. When I’m in that mode, I turn on some music and just zone out into the process. It’s peaceful and intentional. If I ever catch myself slipping into negative emotion, I stop immediately… because I don’t want that energy going into my work or into someone’s home. Everything I create carries a piece of me, and I want that piece to be light, calm, and real. My work is about healing through the senses and the spirit. I blend scent and emotion to create candles that do more than smell good… they feel like peace, renewal, or release. Each one is hand poured with intention, meant to remind people of their own resilience and ability to start again.

What I love most about what I do is how it connects people… how a scent can bring someone back to a moment of comfort, or how a simple flame can quiet the noise inside, and bring a little comfort when life feels heavy…
At the core is the belief that a healing flame will keep burning, the reminder that light always finds its way back no matter how dark the room. Getting out into the community with craft shows has given me a whole new kind of confidence. Connecting with people face to face, sharing stories, and seeing how something I’ve made can touch someone… it’s been powerful. It’s also made me realize how much I want to help people in my own community heal from the things they’ve been through.

That’s what led me to start Boundaries and Balance… a recovery meeting centered on cognitive behavioral tools that help codependency, emotional awareness, and personal growth. It’s a space for getting rid of old patterns, learning to hold compassion without losing yourself, and finding strength in helping others establish healthy boundaries. It all ties together every project, every conversation, every candle it’s all about helping people come home to themselves.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back, the three qualities that have shaped my journey the most are resilience, empathy, and self awareness.

Resilience came from surviving what should have broken me overcoming drinking and drug use after losing my oldest son, and finding myself again after parasitic mentally and emotionally abusive relationships that stripped me down to nothing. People said I couldn’t, but I did it anyway. I built myself back piece by piece, and in that process, I found a strength I didn’t know I had.

Empathy grew out of those same experiences. When you’ve lived through deep pain, you learn how to see it in others. It’s what drives everything I do from making candles that carry intention, to creating spaces for people to heal. I know what it’s like to hurt, and I know what it’s like to rise again.

Self awareness has been the real turning point also. Learning to call out my own bullshit patterns, my triggers, and my needs has been very freeing. It’s not always comfortable, but it’s honest. That kind of truth is what lets me keep growing, set real boundaries, and show up in healthier ways for the people I love.

For anyone just starting out on their own healing or creative path, I’d say this “Don’t let anyone else write your story but you. You are allowed to start over as many times as you need to. Growth isn’t pretty, and it isn’t fast, but it’s needed. Keep showing up for yourself, even when it’s messy. That’s where the transformation happens.”

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

Over the past year, my biggest area of growth has been learning to trust myself again. For a long time, I second guessed everything my worth, my choices, my voice. But this past year, I’ve stepped into a place of confidence that feels different. I’ve learned that peace doesn’t come from control; it comes from letting go, setting boundaries, and knowing when something or someone is not meant for us. I’ve also grown in how I handle emotion instead of reacting from pain or people pleasing, I pause, breathe, and choose my own self respect with integrity. That shift alone has changed everything how I parent, how I love, how I run my business. It’s been a year of owning who I am quietly not by proving anything to anyone, but by standing firm in who I am and what I know I deserve out of this life.