When it comes to entrepreneurship, Marcie Manfredonia Siciliano seems to have the Midas touch. Back when Marcie was a newly divorced single mother of four boys ages 3 to 15, she needed to find a way to make a living from her home in the Bronx. (“I was on the verge of going on welfare,” she recalls). Selling her car, she bought a used van and started a power-washing business. That was more than 30 years ago.
Siciliano grew the fledgling operation into Nationwide Maintenance, a full-service maintenance and general contracting company that now serves the Tristate area.
Her second business sprung from her desire to “save the planet.” Siciliano recycled discarded liquor bottles from bars and restaurants, turning them into decorative holders for soy-based candles. That gave birth to Custom Candle Co., a three-and-a-half-year-old business that now has stores in Bedford Hills, White Plains, and Stamford.
Siciliano came up with another brainstorm after a CBD-based product relieved her fibromyalgia pain. That idea became CBD Live Natural, launched a little over two years ago, which sells handcrafted, organic, and vegan products made from hemp. Fittingly, she sells them at yet another business she launched and runs, Bedford Hills Wine & Beer Bar, as well as at the candle stores. “By far, it’s my biggest and most rewarding business,” says Siciliano of CBD Live Natural.
Her growing empire employs 65-70 people total, with about $8 million in annual revenue. With the CBD trend in full swing, she’s planning to move on to her next major pursuit: franchising CBD Live Natural stores.
