By now, you’ve likely heard of Ranger Station — the beloved Nashville-born candle and fragrance brand that started creeping onto our radar back in 2015. Since then, the business has grown exponentially. Owners Steve and Jordan Soderholm opened up their first brick-and-mortar studio in 12South just last year, and their products can now be found all over the country. And while the market may be saturated, Ranger Station offers plenty of elements that set the brand apart, with a creative (and busy!) husband-and-wife duo leading the charge. We caught up with Steve and Jordan to learn about their meet-cute, the brand’s backstory, and how nostalgia plays a part in their success.
First things first, how did you two meet?
Jordan: We met on the quad at Belmont (now called the “Historic Lawn,” but we are not historic!). We had a lot of mutual friends at Belmont but were in totally different worlds — Steve as a musician and me as a “young professional” with a full-time career while in school. But we reconnected a couple of years after school and never looked back!
Steve: I realized I did not want to be a touring musician for much longer. While I was trying to figure out what was next, I found myself around Jordan’s group of friends often because it was a lot of young people pursuing A-typical career paths, which I was attracted to. One day, Jordan asked me to be an extra in a photoshoot she was working on. When the lead didn’t show up, I found myself as the new lead (we wore the same size everything), and Jordan and I got to spend a ton of time together. We started dating soon after that.
Tell us about each of your backgrounds and roles at Ranger Station.
Jordan: My background is in fashion and wardrobe styling. I worked at a local company (ABLE) for 10 years as the fashion director, and I took a little break in those 10 years to be a wardrobe stylist for my musician friends. I am fueled by creativity and being around motivated people, which is why I thrive at Ranger Station. I am the Chief Growth Officer, and my job is to look for areas of growth and get them going. I built out the manufacturing and custom fragrance side of our business and managed the design and build-out of our brick-and-mortar in 12South. Special projects are where I thrive!
Steve: I’m a creative at heart, and that is what brought me to Nashville. I fell in love with music at a young age and came to Nashville to pursue a dream of playing drums while attending Belmont. Upon graduation, I moved into touring full-time and was quite literally “living the dream.” During my downtime, I had friends over to my house and got into making cocktails and fragrances. All of that to say, I LOVE working with my hands and creating new things … so that is what I do at Ranger Station. I am “overall perfuming and new product development.” I am also very passionate about people.
At the end of the day, the reason we are in business is to create incredible experiences for people using our products — but also for our team! I am heavily involved in the management of all department leads. I love getting in a room with my team to shop around a problem until we get to a unique solution. Today, I still do something similar — I [oversee] our product, fragrance creation, and people. I love what I get to do every day.
How was Ranger Station born?
Steve: To be honest, it was not at all planned. I just absolutely love working with my hands and being creative. While I was a touring musician full time, I had a very irregular schedule and found myself at home for long periods. That, combined with an inability to sit still, led to many different projects that involved me working with my hands.
The thing I fell most in love with very quickly was fragrance. If someone had told me what goes into making a candle, I probably would not have tried. But ignorance was bliss, and I dove in headfirst. I thrived on the challenge and only fell more in love with fragrance and how creative it can be.
As far as the name goes, I lived in an old Ranger Station in Nashville while finishing school and touring. It was built in the 1800s and is still there today. It is a place where I have countless memories, and when I was creating fragrances, I was trying to create new memories for anyone who smelled them. So, that name felt so right to me.
What has been the most challenging aspect of building your brand?
Jordan: We have built our brand on sustainable growth. We’ve been very thoughtful about how we build it, what we say “yes” to, and where we focus our efforts. I think it is important for brands to ride the line of growing well and gaining traction but also not being all things to all people.
Steve: I would say the hardest part is selling something — that you can only smell in person — in a digital world. It is really hard to convey exactly what a fragrance smells like through a screen. That being said, I think the thing I love most about fragrance is that it can’t ever be digitized. It is an analog experience through and through, and I think that is why it is so powerful. Something we throw around at the company is that we want to “die with memories, not dreams.” And all those memories happen in real life … just like fragrance. Fragrance’s ability to augment and solidify those memories is incredible.
What is the most thrilling aspect?
Steve: Running into people or meeting people in our store who have stories of how they use Ranger Station in their lives. We recently collaborated with NEEDTOBREATHE, and when we were talking with the band, they said they use our candles when they have writer’s block to spark memories. That meant more to me than anything. It’s why we do what we do! We want our products to be a building block for special experiences.
What made you choose 12South for your first brick-and-mortar location?
Jordan: 12South is perfect for us because it draws in locals and tourists. It’s such a unique area that has the neighborhood feel but also has a lot of larger stores in it as well. And it’s a Nashville destination — people seek it out to experience the best Nashville offers (White’s Mercantile, Burger Up, Hearts, Epice … we could keep going!) We also “grew up” in the neighborhood, having gone to Belmont and living in the neighborhood after school. We have experienced so much in 12South, and it’s only fitting to bring the Ranger Station experience to life there.
What are Ranger Station’s most popular products?
Jordan: It all started with a Leather + Pine candle hand-poured into a cocktail glass. Leather + Pine is still one of our top sellers and one of our most unique scents. People love the Santalum scent and our Old Fashioned scent. We also have unisex perfumes, hand + body care, and room sprays. We’ve recently started a “features.” program where we work with musicians to tell the story of their albums. So far, we’ve worked with Noah Kahan, NEEDTOBREATHE, and The Band Camino, and we have some more projects in the works!
Steve: We are an American Heritage Fragrance house that creates and produces various fragranced items. Candles and Fine Fragrances are our largest product lines. And no, not all candles or fine fragrances are created equal. I always live by the mantra that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well, so we make amazing candles and perfumes.
I pay special attention to all aspects of each product. From the type of wax we use to the wicks to the fragrance raw materials themselves, I am constantly utilizing the best of the best to ensure the best possible experience with the product. It is easy to stop thinking about a product once it has left our doorstep, but we always operate knowing that the moment something leaves us is when its journey really begins. It becomes a part of someone’s life, and we take that very seriously.
Where do you find inspiration for your designs and scents?
Steve: Experiences. Stories. Relationships. Life. Fragrance is a storyteller, so that is always where I start. Sometimes, I am inspired by an experience or memory; other times, I want to create a new story. For instance, the first candle I ever made — Leather + Pine — was inspired by the summers I spent in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of Northern Minnesota with my grandfather. We were always working on something out in the woods, and the smell of all the pine trees mixed with the leather of our gloves and work boots has stuck with me to this day.
Another example is “Jordan’s Perfume.” Jordan and I were in London in October 2022, and Jordan commented on something she smelled while walking around Mayfair. I immediately took note and when we got home, I went on an adventure to find the raw material she smelled. I then built a fragrance around that note that I felt embodied Jordan.
Other times, I try to create new stories and memories through fragrance. For these creations, I start with where I want the fragrance to take me. What do I want it to make me feel? The most recent example of this is our High Horse fragrance. I wanted it to take me to the Western high desert in the summer. I wanted to feel like a cowboy.
What is your absolute favorite candle or product you’ve created?
Steve: Jordan’s Perfume is definitely my favorite thing that I have created to date. It is so personal to Jordan and me for multiple reasons. First of all, every time we smell it, it takes us back to London and the incredible time we spent there. It was also made specifically for Jordan, who started getting so many compliments that we knew we had to release it. We couldn’t just keep it for ourselves anymore.
It is also special to me because it is one of the first fragrances I did not work with other perfumers on. I love collaborating with perfumers and continue to, but this one was 100% me creating something for my person.
What’s coming next for Ranger Station?
Jordan: Cocktail nights in our store! We created a space with a wrap-around bar where people can come in and stay a minute. So we are excited to host some of our favorite bartenders in the store so people can have drinks that pair with specific scents — it’s a full sensory experience!
Steve: More experiences — specifically in Nashville. We want to tell more and more stories. We will be doing this through collaborating with artists in addition to creating in-person experiences and events for our city. We love calling Nashville home and want to keep investing in it.
All photography courtesy of Jessica Steddom.
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