Today we’d like to introduce you to Candace Tolliferreo.
Hi Candace, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
From a very young age, I experienced things that are unfortunately common, but still not talked about enough. I experienced unsafe touch. I was violated.
And when something like that happens to you at a young age, you don’t always have the words to explain what changed. I just knew that as I got older, something about the way I saw myself had changed. My self-esteem, my confidence, my perception of who I was—it all seemed to take a turn for the worse.
I never really felt like I fit in. I felt misplaced. Misunderstood. And over time, I developed characteristics and ways of surviving that weren’t really who I was. Deep down, I knew there was another version of me underneath all of it, but I didn’t always know how to get back to her.
I ended up in abusive relationships. I made decisions I wasn’t proud of. I experienced failure after failure, at least that’s what it felt like at the time. And the interesting part is, even through all of that, I still had this desire to make a positive impact on other people. I wanted to help people while my own personal life was falling apart.
I remember one particular day sitting at my table. I was at one of the lowest points of my life, and I was questioning everything.
I remember thinking, “God, why did You choose me to be here? What is the point? If I keep making mistakes, if I keep failing, if I keep getting it wrong…what is the point of me being here?”
And something happened internally that day that I still can’t fully put into words. It was spiritual. It was divine. I just knew that I was supposed to write down two words:
Created New.
At the time, I had no idea those words would become anything. I wasn’t thinking about a business, a brand, a mission or where I would be years later. I just knew those words were for me.
To me, it felt like God was extending yet another opportunity to me. Another reason to keep showing up. Another reminder that everything I had experienced and every mistake I had made did not have to be the end of my story.
Shortly after that, I went to pick up my daughter from her mentor’s house. I walked into that house feeling like I was at ground zero emotionally. Her mentor was cleaning with baking soda and lemon essential oil, and I remember experiencing this shift.
It may sound like such a small thing, but it wasn’t small to me.
I went from feeling like I was drowning to feeling like my head had finally come above water.
I could breathe.
I could think clearly.
I felt motivated.
For the first time in that moment, I felt like maybe I could actually take the next step.
That experience became my first introduction to wellness in a way that felt personal to me. It sparked my curiosity about how our environment, our bodies, our minds, our habits and the things we expose ourselves to can affect the way we show up in our lives.
And that curiosity eventually became part of my purpose.
Created New started with me before it ever became something I could offer anyone else. It came from a woman sitting at a table questioning why she was even here. It came from trauma, mistakes, abusive relationships, feeling misunderstood and having to learn that survival characteristics are not necessarily your identity.
I didn’t wake up one day completely healed with everything figured out. I started paying attention. I started learning. I started rebuilding. And I kept showing up.
Today, Created New represents so much more to me than a name. It represents the belief that where you have been does not have to determine where you go next.
And when I look back now, I realize that the woman sitting at that table asking God, “What is the point?” had no idea that one day her story would become part of the answer.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not. It has not been a smooth road at all.
When Created New came to me, I may have been changing internally, but my environment was still not conducive to the woman I was becoming. And I learned very quickly that deciding you want a different life and actually getting yourself into that different life are two completely different things.
In the middle of becoming this new version of myself, I had no choice but to leave a very abusive relationship. And when I say abusive, I mean a relationship that I truly believe could have resulted in the death of me and potentially caused even more harm to the people connected to me.
Leaving was only the beginning.
My living situation changed. I had to revisit therapy. I had to learn how not to run back to old habits just because they were familiar. I had to actually use the tools and resources I was learning about—essential oils, wellness practices and other things that became part of how I supported myself—rather than just talk about them.
There was also a period when I was completely alone. And that was hard because some of the people I wanted or felt like I needed the most simply did not have the capacity to be there for me in the way I needed them to be.
So I had to keep living.
I had to keep showing up.
Eventually, I got into a better environment, and I really thought, “Okay, now everything is going to feel better. Now I’m going to be okay.”
But something unexpected happened.
Once I was finally in a safer environment, all of the hurt became more evident.
When you’re surviving, sometimes you don’t have the space to fully feel what has happened to you. You’re focused on getting through the day, protecting yourself, taking care of your responsibilities and making it to tomorrow. But once I wasn’t constantly fighting to survive, I had room to feel.
And I felt everything.
Thankfully, during that season, someone came into my life who had the capacity to support me while I navigated some of what was surfacing. But even with support, I still had to do the work for myself.
So no, this journey has not been smooth. Created New wasn’t born because I had mastered healing or figured life out. In many ways, I was learning how to become new while simultaneously grieving, unlearning, rebuilding and discovering who I actually was underneath everything I had survived.
And I’m still becoming.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I absolutely consider myself a creative. My art just doesn’t live on a traditional canvas. People experience my creativity through wellness, education, touch, storytelling and the spaces I create.
Through Created New, my work is centered around making wellness feel accessible to everyday people. I never want someone to feel like wellness is only for people who have a certain income, lifestyle, level of knowledge or access to expensive resources. I want people to understand that wellness can begin right where they are.
My approach looks at the whole person. We focus on physical wellness, emotional wellness, spiritual wellness and overall well-being, while also recognizing financial management as an important part of wellness. Because you can tell someone to reduce their stress, but if they’re overwhelmed financially, emotionally exhausted, disconnected spiritually or physically uncomfortable, we have to acknowledge the entire picture.
One of the things I specialize in is creating a personalized wellness experience. I don’t believe everybody needs the same thing. I listen first. What’s happening in your life? How are you sleeping? What are your daily habits? What are you eating? What does stress look like for you? What has your body been communicating that you may have gotten used to ignoring?
Then we explore practical ways to support the person from where they actually are.
Gut health is also an important part of the work I do because of my own experience with the connection between my gut, stress, anxiety and emotional well-being. While I don’t diagnose, treat or make medical claims, I believe education about the gut-brain connection, nutrition, stress and daily habits can help people become more aware of their own bodies and make more intentional choices.
And there isn’t just one way that I do this.
Sometimes wellness looks like a smile you give someone in passing . Sometimes it’s aromatherapy. Sometimes it’s introducing people to other opinions that may be unfamiliar. In 2025 I endorsed a new product that allows for people to manage pain, stress, focus , sleep and more without the use of medication, chemicals or ingredients . Wellness is not one size fits all , helping someone slow down and create habits they can actually maintain is critical. We create events where people get to experience wellness instead of simply hearing about it.
Safe touch is especially meaningful to me.
Because of my own story, I understand firsthand that touch can be associated with trauma, but I have also learned that respectful, consensual and intentional touch can be part of creating an experience where someone feels cared for and at ease. Through restorative touch and aromatherapy, I get to approach touch from a place of safety, consent and intention. There is something deeply personal about being able to transform an area connected to my own story into something I now use with care in service to others.
Content creation is another part of my art. I create messages people can return to—not just something they scroll past and forget. I use my own experiences, education and storytelling to start conversations around overwhelm, habits, grief, stress, wellness and what it actually looks like to rebuild your life.
What sets Created New apart is that I’m not interested in handing someone a product and sending them on their way. I create experiences. I want to know the person behind the problem. I want people to leave an interaction with me understanding themselves a little better than they did before they came.
And what am I most proud of?
I’m proud that I took experiences that once made me question my own value and turned them into something that helps me recognize value in other people.
I’m proud that Created New didn’t remain two words I wrote down during one of the lowest moments of my life. I continued building it while I was still rebuilding myself.
Today, those two words have become wellness experiences, education, restorative touch, events, products, content and community.
Created New is my art. My life was the first canvas.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What I love most about Philadelphia is the people. Philly has a rawness to it. There are so many different cultures, backgrounds, beliefs and stories living right next to each other. There is creativity here, resilience here and a sense of community that you can find in unexpected places. Sometimes you can have one conversation with a complete stranger in Philadelphia and walk away feeling like you’ve known them for years. I love that.
What I like least is that sometimes the very things that make us diverse can also become the things that separate us. Religion is one example. Faith can be such a beautiful source of connection, purpose and community, but sometimes we use our religious differences—or even differences within the same religion—to create division instead of understanding.
I think Philadelphia has an incredible opportunity to create more spaces where people can simply meet each other as human beings first. You don’t have to believe what I believe for me to care about your well-being. You don’t have to look like me, worship like me or come from my neighborhood for us to find common ground.
That’s actually something I want Created New to represent: wellness without walls. A space where people from different backgrounds can come together, experience something positive and leave feeling a little more connected than when they arrived.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Creatednew.superpatch.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamcreatednew?stkn=MWJrcnR3eDhtZDFnZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: @iamcreatednew or Candace Tolliferreo
- Other: https://my.doterra.com/creatednew
