Duke and My Grandfather
The following is a personal story shared by founder Teri Johnson about a special connection between her grandfather and Duke Ellington.
This is my grandfather, affectionately known as Daddy Ed.
He was an educator, a traveler, and a man of deep conviction. He and my grandmother spent their summers exploring Europe, bringing curiosity and elegance to everything they touched. What I didn't fully understand until later was just how profoundly he had shaped the world around him. My grandfather was an active participant in the Civil Rights Movement, and in 2013, he was honored posthumously by the state of Florida for his courageous role in the Tallahassee Bus Boycotts.
His legacy, his quiet strength, his commitment to justice, and his belief in a better world, was one of the seeds that grew into the Harlem Candle Company.
Then came a moment I will never forget. One evening in 2016, while searching through archival photographs of Harlem Renaissance icons, I came across an image that stopped me completely. There, in a black and white photograph, was my grandfather standing right beside Duke Ellington.
No one in my family had ever seen this photo. When I shared it with them, we confirmed without a doubt that it was him. In that moment, a deeper story began to unfold - one of jazz, music, and a family legacy I was only beginning to understand.
Seeing that photograph filled me with an overwhelming sense of clarity and purpose. I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be, building a brand rooted in legacy, honoring the icons and luminaries whose lives continue to inspire and illuminate our own.
When I launched my first four candles in 2015, I named one of them Ellington, now known as the Duke Luxury Candle - as a tribute to Duke Ellington and the timeless power of his music. And years later, our fifth perfume, Duke Eau de Parfum, carried that same reverence forward.
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