Peter Gazzillo has 20 years of experience in heat treating, brazing, engineering and management in the aerospace and automotive industries. In 1992 when the aerospace industry started leaving California, Pete decided to have a “fall back” plan in case he lost his job. Pete went classes at Melco embroidery to learn this skill. In 1994 Pete purchased the software and his first embroidery machine to
create patches and other custom designs. Eventually, calls started coming in from local organizations and embroidery stores themselves asking for digitizing services. As it turns out, not all embroidery shops do their own digitizing, which is sometimes outsourced. Thomas Gazzillo has 30 years of experience in manufacturing and engineering in the commercial and aerospace industries. Tom has held a wide variety of positions in this field from machinist to quality manager. About the time Pete was learning digitizing; Tom was learning the “ins and outs” of candle making. Tom honed his skill as candle crafter and started selling candles at craft fairs and swap meets. Tom eventually started selling to local candle shops and event planners. In 2005, Pete and Tom combined their two side projects to create Busybee Candle and Embroidery. With the two different entities, the Gazzillo brothers were able to grow their business to reach out to more groups. In 2013, Busybee started to do work with the local high schools and school districts and expanding their business to include sublimation and printing. Busybee’s future plans include adding engraving, screen printing and laser printing. Sadly, in February of 2017 Pete passed away from a heart attack. Their brother John has taken over for Pete to help keep Busybee going strong.
