By Julia Brown

For some, it might be hard to imagine soybeans playing a role in ending human trafficking, but talk to Amber Runyon, founder of Eleventh Candle Co., and the relationship between the two makes a little more sense. Eleventh Candle Co. is a social enterprise in Worthington, Ohio, working to redeem, restore, empower and equip those vulnerable to human trafficking, abuse, exploitation and addiction, and bring awareness to human trafficking.

The company all started with a trip Runyon made to Ethiopia. She had been working as a hospice nurse who went on medical mission trips to countries like Kenya and Honduras. On a trip to Ethiopia, Runyon’s heart broke after she saw mothers selling their bodies to feed their children. After returning to Columbus, however, she became aware the problem was just as bad at home.

So she set out to make a difference in women’s lives. She realized that where society fails women is in employment opportunities. Oftentimes, women who are trafficked acquire criminal records and are seldom given employment opportunities once they escape trafficking. She decided to give them back those opportunities. Runyon Googled the cheapest and easiest business to start and saw one overwhelming answer: candle making. “So we started a candle company in December 2015. I didn’t even like candles then,” Runyon said, with a smile. Through their business operations, Eleventh Candle now provides trauma informed counseling and employment above minimum wage for at-risk individuals, supported by proceeds from its products, including its 100 percent soy wax candle collection.

Knowing very little about candle making, Runyon originally picked soy wax on a whim. She joked that she didn’t even know if soy wax really came from soybeans in the beginning. But she soon realized soy wax was a real crowd-pleaser. It burns cleaner, longer and more evenly than petroleum-based candles. In other words, soy wax was a triple-threat. But it had one problem: “It’s a very finicky raw material,” Runyon explained. Soy wax has a wide-range of defect level, anywhere from 15 to 95 percent.

Runyon tells her employees that she should be able to ice skate across the top of one of Eleventh’s candles because they should be so smooth. “As a company, we will not send out anything but the absolute best,” she said. But with soy wax having such a large defect range, it can be difficult for quality control. “We open up a box of wax and it’s like, is it wet? Is it not wet? Are we going to have craters? Are we not going to have craters?” Runyon said, demonstrating the high variability. “We’re hoping by working with you guys [OSC] we get a more stable and consistent product.”

After seeing Eleventh Candle Co.’s store in the Polaris Mall in Columbus and realizing the company used 100 percent soy wax, Barry McGraw, director of commercialization and product development at the Ohio Soybean Council, saw an opportunity to collaborate. After talking to Runyon, he wanted to take on the challenge of developing a more stable soy wax. Work for the project got underway in April and is estimated to take about four months.

Most large candle companies cannot rely on 100 percent soy wax if it has such a high defect rate. Instead, Runyon explained, companies any larger than Eleventh will resort to using petroleum-based paraffin wax or a soy wax-blend. In fact, just before McGraw reached out to the company, they had already started to look at alternative wax blends.

“Soy wax is a natural product, making it more prone to inconsistencies,” McGraw explained. “Petroleum is a popular alternative because it’s very standard across the board.” He elaborated that he currently predicts the chemical nature of conventional soybean oil is the root cause of inconsistent product quality.

If the Ohio Soybean Council can invest checkoff dollars into successfully developing a better soy wax, it could have huge implications for other candle companies, and even other products. “This could solve not just Eleventh Candle’s problems with their wax, but with other applications as well,” McGraw explained. Things like cardboard and food packaging are also coated in wax, but companies in those arenas have had to steer clear of soy because of the inconsistencies.

In addition to a more consistent wax, McGraw is also working on making a soy wax that can cool faster. Typically, Eleventh’s candles take about 24 hours to completely set, which requires careful production planning and timing. The company also allows customers to pour their own candles at their Polaris Mall location, a process which could also be improved with a faster setting time.

Another goal for Runyon is to source the wax specifically from Ohio soybeans. Currently the company gets their wax from plants in South Carolina and Georgia, but Runyon thinks that sourcing locally from Ohio could complete a chain that starts with helping Ohio soybean farmers, moves through an Ohio business and ends by helping local survivors of human trafficking.

The one way Runyon wishes she could connect more with farmers? “I would love to come shadow one of them for a day,” she said. “I would love to learn what makes a good soybean, what it’s like to be a soybean farmer in Ohio.”

Currently, the company operates two retail locations in Columbus (Polaris Mall and The Madery in Worthington), but they are planning to expand, adding 10 additional stores in the next five years. More information about Eleventh Candle Co can be found at eleventhcandleco.com.

To learn more about how checkoff dollars are being invested in product research, visit www.soyohio.org/council/ product-research or contact Barry McGraw at bmcgraw@soyohio.org.