Nadira Tarboro

Phambassador Nadira Tarboro didn’t set out to own a Philly-themed candle company. She just wanted to get through the pandemic with a little fun. 

Nadira has always stocked her home with scented candles. She likes how different aromas can evoke a different time, place, or feeling. During the pandemic, though, her candle supply dwindled, because the stores where she bought them were all closed. That’s when she and her friend, Jocelyn Johnson, who’s also a candle lover, got an idea.

“We said, ‘why don’t we just start making them ourselves, and see how they turn out?’” recalls Nadira, who, by day, works in finance at CHOP.  “We’d never made a candle before, but we thought, ‘How hard could it be?’ ”

The duo were soon mixing waxes and fragrant oils in Nadira’s kitchen, creating fabulous scents, and naming the candles after their favorite neighborhoods – like Francisville, Brewerytown, Queen Village, and Society Hill.  Family and friends gave them rave reviews – and asked for more. 

“So we decided to turn this hobby into a little business and pay homage to the city that raised us,” says Nadira.

Thus was born The Philadelphia Candle Co., whose delightful products now honor 14 neighborhoods and are available online, at Ali’s Wagon in Fairmount, and at seasonal markets around Philly, where customers snatch them up almost as fast as the candle team can set them out.

“They constantly ask, ‘Why don’t you have a candle for this or that neighborhood? Where’s Roxborough’s candle?!’” laughs Nadira, 35, who lives in Southwest Philly. “They have that sense of pride in where they live.” 

Nadira gets it. 

She grew up in Francisville and Southwest Philadelphia, moving between her mother’s and grandmother’s homes, surrounded by family. The Philly of her youth was down-to-earth, hard-working, and generous, teaching her early on how to hold her own with faith, pride, and grit. 

“If you can make it in Philly, you can make it anywhere,” says Nadira. 

Programs like the Police Athletic League and the Educational Advancement Alliance opened her world — introducing her to mentors, scoring her a free laptop, offering her a day to shadow then-District Attorney Lynne Abraham. They inspired her to get her bachelor’s in poli sci and government at Morgan State, and an MBA from Eastern University. 

“Those early programs made me who I am today – they just poured opportunity right into me,” she says. “It makes me want to do the same for others.”

At work, that impulse drives her. For nine years, as a financial data analyst at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, she has translated numbers into digestible information that helps the hospital run more efficiently and, ultimately, save more kids’ lives. She thrives in that connection between purpose and precision. 

“CHOP doesn’t just care for kids inside the hospital,” she says. “They’re in the neighborhoods — doing wellness checks, giving out backpacks, running 5Ks to raise funds. You can see how deeply they invest in the city. I am so proud to be part of that.”

Faith and place keep Nadira grounded. She worships at Christian Compassion Church in West Philadelphia and sometimes at City Life Church in South Philly. When she needs solitude, she heads to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge near her home. “It’s peaceful there,” she says. “Every time I go, I see something unexpected — a rabbit, a heron, a turtle. It reminds me to slow down.”

On her block, small kindnesses inspire her: a neighbor mowing Nadira’s lawn, unbidden; another pulling in her trash cans when she’s away. “Those little acts mean a lot,” she says. “They make you want to pay it forward.”

Lately, Nadira has added another dimension to her busy life: earning her juris doctorate. In 2028, she’ll graduate from Widener Law School – a goal she once set aside. “For years, I let fear stop me,” she says. “Now I’m just doing it. Life is too short!” 

She’s not sure yet what kind of law she’ll practice, only that she’ll use it to serve the city she loves. 

“Everything I do,” says Nadira, “gets poured back into Philly. It made me who I am. I just try to return the favor.