‘I feel like there’s so many life-changing moments along the way, but I am being empowered by my friends.’

Christine Brennen-Chanowsky, Bohemia

“I’m an elementary school teacher and will be retiring in 2025. I started making candles during the pandemic. At first, it was just a crafty hobby. Then my teacher friends started asking me to make candles for them. I started making it into a little bit of a business. But then in 2021, I had to have breast surgery, and I was really nervous. I started meditating just to calm myself from the anxiety of what was to come. I started putting affirmations onto the lids of the candles that I made at first just for myself, with words like ‘self-care.’ Then people started asking me for those for people they cared about, and that launched me forward just to get through that time. Stores started asking for them, and at one point I was in 11 stores where my candles with affirmations were sold. I would include crystals, and it was the whole candle-making process that was therapeutic for me. I guess it just started to touch other people as well.

I was happy being a teacher and with my life. But I saw how my candles helped soothe other people.

“My teacher friends were a huge part of this whole thing, pushing me forward to take it further and open a business. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without their help because they were the ones that were behind me just rallying me. At no point before that did I ever feel like I wanted to open this business or be a small-business owner. I was happy being a teacher and with my life. But I saw how my candles helped soothe other people. I got advice from a woman in Texas who saw me on Facebook, who gave me ideas for opening a candle bar. She kept encouraging me and listed all the things that I would need to do, and she would be there to help me.

“My story might have started because of health challenges, but it’s turned into a woman’s empowerment story because that woman and my friends empowered me to give me the courage to do it and helped me through so many steps along the way. I was on my way to retirement, but all of a sudden I’ve taken on this new endeavor, and I opened Long Island’s first candle bar store Memorial Day weekend. I feel like there’s so many life-changing moments along the way, but I am being empowered by my friends. I have this tribe of women behind me, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”

Interviewed by Liza Burby

‘I remember that little girl version of me coming to Broadway, and now my picture is on the train from my own show.’

Bohemia

“As an understudy, it’s very hard to step into roles where people expect to see someone else. Throughout my time with ‘Waitress,’ I’ve had immensely big shoes to fill for the many leading ladies.

“The hardest was filling in for Sara Bareilles. She wrote it and sings it like a songbird. People paid a lot of money to see her. Even though I’ve done it so many times, it doesn’t get easier because I want to do the person they’re hoping to see justice.

“I go on and think, ‘Just have fun and celebrate your hard work.’ I’ve learned that I’m stronger than I think, and I can lead a show and have people be happy at the end of it.

“Growing up, I looked forward to taking the Long Island Rail Road to see Broadway shows. I grew up in the competitive dance world. I did a lot of sports at Connetquot High School. In the 10th grade, they needed dancers for ‘Oklahoma!’ so I decided to help them out and had the best time. As a junior, I didn’t do sports and got one of the leads in ‘Les Misérables.’ The rest is history. I did community theater at CM Performing Arts Center, then attended AMDA, and was very lucky when, at 21, I got the first national tour of ‘Wicked’ as the Elphaba understudy.

At the end of the show, we break the ‘fourth wall,’ look into the audience and celebrate together.

“I remember getting the call on the LIRR as I was going to a dentist appointment. I just sobbed! As an original cast member in ‘Waitress,’ I’ve seen that when you get to do what you do and how it changes people, you don’t take it for granted. We have moments where people express what our performance has done for them, and we’re surprised.

“It’s in those moments that I couldn’t love what I do more. At the end of the show, we break the ‘fourth wall,’ look into the audience and celebrate together. Even with masks on, we see people crying happy tears or smiling. It’s a moment of realizing that we can all go through this journey of ups and downs together.

“Recently, the MTA campaigned with Broadway to help promote the ‘Only Sure Way to Make it to Broadway.’ They recreated a 1970s campaign with amazing photos. I was asked to represent ‘Waitress’ in the shoot.

“It’s crazy because I remember that little girl version of me coming to Broadway, and now my picture is on the train from my own show.”

Interviewed by Iris Wiener

‘I signed up for a few comic con webinars and took notes. I learned as much as I could.’

Bohemia

“One day, I was at the reference desk of the East Islip Public Library where I work. I got a call from a young man asking about the comic con at the Cradle of Aviation Museum. I looked it up and I told him the details and when I got to the price, which wasn’t expensive to me, he said, ‘Oh, that’s kind of expensive.’ I thought, ‘That’s sad if he can’t go because of the price. I wonder if maybe we could do something here for free?’

“I was the head of adult services, and I asked my staff what they thought about it. They said, ‘You don’t have the experience. We don’t have a budget.’ So, we kind of shelved it until that summer. We have a New York State summer reading club theme every year and that year’s theme was ‘Every Hero Has a Story.’ With that being the theme and the fact that many superheroes come from literature, we thought maybe we could finally try to hold a comic con.

“We formed a committee that included the young adult librarian, children’s librarian and me. We wanted something for all ages and, of course, it would be free. I started reading articles about library comic cons. I signed up for a few comic con webinars and took notes. I learned as much as I could. We contacted Barnes & Noble and comic bookstores and publishers and got freebies. We created a Facebook page and immediately started hearing from vendors to my surprise. Then we found out about a nonprofit group that would come to us, the 501st Legion: Empire City Garrison. They dress up as Star Wars stormtroopers and bring Darth Vader. The costumes are really magnificent.

We picked the last Saturday in July for the comic con, and it’s remained that way ever since we started in 2015, although the last two years have been virtual.

“We picked the last Saturday in July for the comic con, and it’s remained that way ever since we started in 2015, although the last two years have been virtual. We would do green screen photos and had a room with virtual reality. We would basically just use every room in the building. We encouraged people to dress up and we had a costume contest.

“It was so much more successful than we anticipated, so we continue to do it each year and we just keep adding to it. Comic books are not really one of my interests, but I was totally in favor of doing this because it was good for the community, and it made people really happy.”