Featured venture
SOREIA
A Mexican home fragrance brand. Candles and diffusers hand-poured in Mexico, in glass blown by a Mexico City workshop, developed over five months of planning, sourcing, and product development.
Delivery across Mexico. Wholesale and corporate gifting by WhatsApp.
The project
The minds behind the candles
SOREIA is the candle and diffuser company Aline Chamlati and I founded together. We began in February 2026 and brought Drop 01 to market in July, after five months of formulation, sourcing, and product development.
We built it on one principle: if you cannot explain why each product earns what it earns in each channel, you are not ready to sell it. The financial model came before the first sale, not after.
The product, Drop 01
Three scents, three formats each
Every scent comes as a 300g candle, a 500g candle, and a 100ml diffuser. Nine SKUs in total. Each scent has its own glass colour, so you recognise it across a shelf before you read the label.
Patchouli, deep and warm
The one that fills a room in the evening. Poured in Avio blue glass.
Black tea and wood
The first scent we chose, for how strong it is. The Carey amber glass says the same thing before you light it.
Santal 26, green and quiet
The one that works while you are still in the room reading. Poured in Humo smoked glass.
Where to buy
How to order
Three channels, whether you are buying a single candle or placing a corporate order.
Online store
Browse the full Drop 01 collection and order with delivery across Mexico.
soreia.mxSee new drops and behind the scenes, and send a direct message to order.
@soreia_mxMessage the SOREIA team directly for orders, wholesale, and corporate gifting.
+52 55 6497 1923Current prices for all nine SKUs are published on soreia.mx. Wholesale, event, and corporate gifting orders are quoted individually, as price depends on quantity and finishing. Send the SOREIA WhatsApp number your requirements and the date you need them, and you will receive a quotation within the same week.
What I built
Planning, product, and execution
Every candle is hand-poured, weighed, and recorded. That is the craft side of a business I also run with engineering discipline.
A business plan before the first sale
Before we poured a candle for sale, I built the business plan and financial model: a bill of materials for every format, net margin by SKU and by channel, and pricing that has to hold at wholesale as well as direct. It covers production, investment, and operating expenses in a single model, and I can account for every peso in it.
Product innovation
Raised fragrance concentration from 7% to 10% for a stronger scent throw without compromising burn quality, introduced a 3% production buffer to account for real operational loss, and renegotiated supplier terms for a 7 to 8% reduction in direct cost at equivalent quality.
Sourcing and setup
Identified the artisans, including the Mexico City workshop that blows our glass vessels, established the production and batch-record process, and opened the three sales channels: the online store, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Every sale has been recorded by date, channel, SKU, quantity, and price since day one.
The numbers
Drop 01 in numbers
The margins do not lie. If you cannot explain why each product earns what it earns in each channel, you do not yet understand your business.
The lesson
What this demonstrates
SOREIA is where I demonstrate financial literacy beyond revenue and expenses: gross versus net margin, break-even analysis, and pricing that holds up in a real channel. It is also where I demonstrate delivery. Moving from concept in February to a product on the market in July required formulation, suppliers, packaging, photography, a storefront, and a financial model, all of which had to converge in the same month.
These are the capabilities I bring back to my work in enterprise technology. Owning every decision in a small business is the fastest way I know to understand how commercial decisions behave, and it makes the conversations I have with enterprise clients about value considerably more grounded.