Self-Care Brand Wins Hearts with Original Scents
Darrien Moore - Owner of Self-Care brand “Fatbaby’s” enjoys a moment with her biggest helper - her daughter Darien.
© 2021 Miss Ari Photography
While Christmas shoppers around the country stand in lines wrapped around fragrance shops and candle stores – local consumers are being wooed by both the charm and fragrances of a self-described “fragrance junkie” right here in North Texas.
Several years ago, Darien Moore’s cousin taught her how to make candles. Making candles quickly transitioned into wax melts, air fresheners and more.
Today, Moore is enjoying her new home for “Fatbaby’s”- a self-care fragrance brand, inside of Duncanville’s Knick Knacks Antique Mall.
A Bay Area native– Moore has had a very interesting journey to Texas.
“When it was time to plan for college, I decided I would attend Cal State Hayward because of their business program,” Moore shares. “My dad was elated, because he was actually taking business classes at the local community college. He said he would transfer, and we could go to school together. He told me I could live at home, and it would be great.”
There was no denying the fact that Moore’s father wanted his baby girl to stay close to home. He had it all planned out in fact.
“For some time, my cousin from Waco kept reminding me about a school in Texas,” she recalls.
While Moore was familiar with the well-known Baylor University here in Texas, it was Mary-Hardin Baylor University that her cousin had referenced. Her cousin completed the application for her and she was accepted shortly after.
“I still wanted to go to Cal-State, but it was something that pulled me in the direction of Texas,” Moore says.
It wasn’t until a visit to Texas that she realized she was attending Baylor University’s smaller sister school. The transition from a lively and diverse Richmond, California to small-town Belton, Texas was nothing short of a culture shock for Moore. She endured, however, for four undergraduate years and had so many invaluable experiences.
Like many new college graduates, Moore returned home after receiving her degree.
“I got into acting and did some work as an extra in San Francisco,” she shares. “I also began using my cosmetology license that I attained back in high school.”
It was an offer to be a recruiter at Navarro College that brought Moore back to Texas. She would spend two years at the small college before moving into a similar position at the University of North Texas (Dallas campus), where she would spend nine years.
Surprisingly, Moore worked in higher education for many years. The business major never thought she’d wok in education, but the field became a home for 13 years. She found herself recruiting all over Texas, in small towns that most don’t even know exist.
“When I moved to Texas, I remember being told that there were places a black person shouldn’t venture to alone,” Moore jokes. “I’m pretty sure I ended up in some of those places.”
Nevertheless, Moore worked her way up and eventually became the Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management at a prestigious university. She was putting deserving people in worthy positions and affording herself a very comfortable lifestyle. In 2014, the university shut down traditional undergraduate programs – costing Moore her job.
Completely undone with education and its heartbreak – Moore decided to use the real estate license that she attained years before. While the financial gain was hers for the taking, the long hours and exhaustion proved to be too much.
In 2007, Moore first heard the words “multiple sclerosis” as a possible diagnosis for what was happening to her physically. She lost her vision, with doctors warning that she had a 50 percent chance of not regaining it. With all the suggestions, still no one could tell her anything with certainty. It was kind of a wait and see thing. The doctors sent her through a never-ending chain of possibilities, evening suggesting it was merely sinus and allergies causing her vision to abandon her. It took her old doctors back home in California to really force the issue and get her an accurate diagnosis.
“One day I couldn’t lift my arm. I was overly stressed and found myself having two back-to-back surgeries,” Moore explains. “It was multiple sclerosis (MS) spiraling and totally out of control. I really couldn’t take care of myself anymore. My mom had to come in and help me. It was a long recovery process, taking well over a year before I could do day to day activities alone. It was two years before I could move at a steady pace.”
When Moore returned to normal form, she had a heart-to-heart with herself. She knew that she could no longer go back to the demands of real estate, nor the long hours of higher education.
In 2008, shortly after losing her vision for the second time – Moore went full throttle with Fatbaby’s, registering the business as an LLC. The same cousin who taught her how to make candles, came over to her home one day and gave her a quick lesson on the art that would surely change her life.
Moore began experimenting each day.
“I had 14 fragrances and was determined to keep it simple, by only making candles,” Moore laughs. “Almost immediately my friends and growing clientele asked if I had something to simply melt in warmers, so there came wax melts. And then people would say, well of course you have something I can spray in the house and in the car.”
Within the blink of an eye, Moore was producing air freshener sprays and home fragrance oils just as rapidly as she was producing candles. Apparently, the scents were so infectious that clients were spraying scents meant for the home on their bodies.
“I distinctly remember one lady telling me that she was going to keep spraying air freshener on her body until I turned the scent into a body fragrance,” explains Moore. “I was really wanting to keep things simple.”
What began as 14 fragrances for candles is now 54 original scents with two more on the way. Moore now has 26 body fragrances that are fragrance-oil scented. She is also working on natural essential oil fragrances. To see the entrepreneur at work, one might think she is a chemist.
Pieces of Fatbaby’s “Holiday Cheer” Collection.
“I’ve always been a fragrant enthusiast. You’d be hard-pressed to get into my car and not find a car plug-in, a lighter plug-in warming up an oil and I’ve even had candles in my cupholders,” admits Moore. “Fatbaby’s was originally supposed to be a restaurant, kind of like a Cracker Barrel with a store in front. The store of course would offer candles that smelled like the food.”
In purchasing from Fatbaby’s, you’ll notice that the packaging colors are for the most part raspberry, cream, chocolate and tangerine. They are flavors more so than colors. Even her fragrance names have a back story – most derive from scenes in her family’s kitchen. One fragrance, “Coffee with Nana” is an ode to her grandmother.
“You couldn’t walk into her house without smelling the coffee on the pot,” shares Moore.
Moore is incredibly grateful for her new space at Knick Knacks, as she has ample room to experiment with her various fragrances. Over the years, she has found success at trade shows and different vendor events, but there is nothing like having her own space. Fatbaby’s is now her full-time career, and with both an online presence and in-store sales – business is doing very well.
In addition to running the successful business, the 43-year old is also a mother to a very lively toddler who is her namesake. The younger Darien, whom she affectionately refers to as “Sugar” can show a potential customer around the entire store.
Despite the pandemic, business is still thriving for Fatbaby’s. While multiple sclerosis is chronic, Moore insists it is not terminal.”
“I don’t take MS as a death sentence and I surely won’t wallow in it,” says Moore adamantly. “I’m taking control of it. I just pray that God will meet me here and bless my endeavors.”
The temporary loss of her vision was indeed a setback, but perhaps her dedication to another of her valuable scenes is what has always kept Moore afloat. Fatbaby’s is here to stay.
