Episode 23: Caroline Fabrigas: Moving Forward with Courage and Resilience
When beauty executive Caroline Fabrigas was suddenly widowed with two small children, she found herself at a crossroads: to go the safe route with her corporate job or become an entrepreneur, carrying on the young company her late husband had started. Now she is at the forefront of the emerging field of scent marketing and scent branding.
Caroline Fabrigas is CEO of Scent Marketing, Inc. a company that creates proprietary scents for hotel chains and retail stores as an integral part of their branding, as well as Scentfluence Aroma Design Studio, a retail store in Scarsdale, New York.
Topics include:
How her early career experiences prepared her to be an entrepreneur
Her visionary late husband who saw scent as a branding tool
The power of scent to create mood and memory
How she recovered from the loss of her husband at a young age
Moving from a corporate job to taking over an entrepreneurial business
Her newest venture, Scentfluence Aroma Design Studio, for homes
How volunteering has been an important part of her life and career
Listening to advice, but doing your own research.
Resources:
Scentfluence Aroma Design Studio
Tree House, a program of the Bereavement Center of Westchester
Transcript:
Caroline Fabrigas (00:38):
Don't underestimate yourself and don't listen to everything that everybody has to say. Do your own research, make your own decisions, go with your gut.
Betsy Bush (00:51):
My guest today is Caroline Fabrigas, CEO of Scent Marketing, a company that creates proprietary scents for hotel chains and retail stores as an integral part of their branding. 10 years ago, Caroline was part of a dynamic duo. She was a cosmetics executive who had worked with beauty brands like Chanel, Landcom, Estee Lauder. Her husband, Harald was a visionary who was connecting the use of scent with branding and marketing. When Caroline was suddenly widowed with two small children, she found herself at a crossroads to go the safe route with her corporate job or become an entrepreneur carrying on with the young company her late husband had started. Her story is one of grit, resilience, and the importance of community Caroline Fabrigas does. It is so good to have you as my guest on the latest version. Welcome.
Caroline Fabrigas (01:53):
Oh, thank you so much. It's such a pleasure to be here and so happy to speak with you again.
Betsy Bush (01:58):
Oh, great. Thank you. Tell me about your career in the world of cosmetics and beauty. What were you doing and what was it like?
Caroline Fabrigas (02:08):
Oh, I really had such a wonderful career in the beauty industry. I was so lucky. I came over from England and started working at the counter for Estee Lauder. So this was a wonderful place to start really at the ground floor, learning how to sell cosmetics, learning about what customers were looking for and how they want it to be served. And I was so fortunate to really grow up through the ranks, going through all the various steps from being a counter manager, to being an, a coordinator for Chanel coordinating events, being a part of launching cocoa, uh, which was one of their fragrances at Saks fifth avenue and taking it to the million dollar mark all those years ago. And then moving into education with Lancome on the west coast, moving out to San Francisco sight unseen and getting an apartment as a young woman and getting started and then coming back to New York and working ultimately for Clarins Cain education and a, and then in marketing, which was such a great opportunity because I didn't have all of the marketing education and credentials, but I think they really appreciated my passion for product and passion for the brand.
Caroline Fabrigas (03:14):
And it was such a great honor to work at Clarins for all those years, over 12 years, sharing that ethos, that message of love thy customer and beauty by concern. And I was just so lucky to learn so much from so many amazing mentors and really to have a breadth of business experience that has really stood me in good stead for what I ultimately encountered. And then ultimately what I'm doing today.
Betsy Bush (03:40):
No, I think of what you're describing as the dream of so many young women, uh, wanting to get into the field and really engaging with the product and the customer at that level. And it, it really does sound like a dream come true. I think a lot of us who have ended up as, um, moms and, uh, you know, living in the suburbs of New York, started out in those areas and kind of, you know, that dream of the young woman coming to the city and making her way. It really does. It sounds, it sounds wonderful. You were married to a very interesting man, Harald Vogt Can you tell me a little bit about him?
Caroline Fabrigas (04:25):
He was really a man for all seasons. He was really amazing. He's been passed away since 2010, but it doesn't get any easier every day. He is greatly missed. Um, I met him when I was at Lancaster group worldwide. I was a trainer there, the head of training for international. And I remember arriving in Wiesbaden, Germany for my first international marketing meeting, which was so exciting. And he was working for the agency at the time, which was called select. And he was so incredibly helpful. And I just thought, well, maybe all of the German community is, is so helpful as he is. And, and indeed they were many of my German colleagues, but he took particular interest and we became really good friends and ultimately friendship blossomed into love and love into marriage. And he really was the wind beneath my wings. He really helped me to become in my career, everything that I became. And, uh, yeah, he spoke three languages. He was an advertising executive and a printer by trade. So he was really able to combine this idea of a brand communication. And he became a master at scent strips. If you remember, in the days of old, that'd be sent strips and magazines. Sure. Perfume. He was very expert at knowing how to do that. And he ultimately, even transcended that by taking scent from the paper and putting it into the air in an invisible way, he was one of the first people to really figure out how to do that and do it in an artful way. And then of course he could communicate in the, in three languages across the globe, he was somebody who could design your logo, uh, sell you a dream and also run your cashflow. He was quite extraordinary.
Betsy Bush (06:08):
So he had linked into this idea that I think a lot of us, you know, have the experience of opening a bottle of suntan lotion and suddenly you're at the beach, right? Or catching a whiff of, you know, someone's cologne or aftershave. And suddenly you're in a different place thinking of someone --there's this very interesting connection between scent and memory and, uh, feelings, emotions. Can you talk about that a little bit because that's what your business is based on now, is that right?
Caroline Fabrigas (06:45):
Yes. He, uh, Harold, my late husband believed in the power of scent as one of the main ways to communicate, to communicate a brand message, to be able to communicate values and emotions. And he realized that early on, and then he found a way as I was saying to diffuse it into the air. And he, um, he had this opportunity to actually create a program for Hyatt hotels. So he was able to translate the values of Hyatt Place, what that brand wanted to express into fragrance. And in fact, that was in 2007 and this program is still in place today. And we've even been given a second Hyatt division. The power of scent is just undeniable in how it makes us feel. It creates desire. It creates perceived value. It creates an emotional tie. As you said, it can inspire memory. It can bring you back to wonderful times, thoughtful times, remind you of people. And it's all because of the connection to the brain. There's actually a great science behind it. Uh, in your limbic system, there is a part of your brain that really holds all emotion and memory and scent is able to get to that area with immediacy. And so that's why when you smell smoke, you don't think you, you flee when you smell baking bread, that you get an immediate warm sensation or maybe even a hunger sensation. So scent is incredibly powerful.
Betsy Bush (08:12):
Oh, and I think about the scent of hospitals and how, how that has a, you know, the, uh, negative connotation as well. I mean, isn't there a way to, uh, ameliorate the, um, that, that negative, oh, it's just like, oh, I'm in the hospital again. And all the negative connotations that has with us,
Caroline Fabrigas (08:36):
You know, more and more, we are being called to do what is, uh, what we name it's called odor remediation or malodor management. And so as much as we do a lot of signature scent development and scent brand scenting, we also do this malodor in fact, a combination of both is really in order it's quite effective. And what we aim to do is not only manage the bad odors that can cause stress, you know, or, or give you, um, maybe a feeling of not being at ease, but we can also put in aromas as that give you that clean cue. Oh, I'm in a clean place where it gives you a comforting cue. Oh, I, I feel at home here, I feel comfortable. It's okay. So we can do either or, or both. And in fact, more and more where we're being called to, to merge the two disciplines to manage that.
Betsy Bush (09:26):
Interesting. We're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves. I wanted to talk about, as I mentioned in my intro to you, there was a moment you had a, an experience, your husband passed away very suddenly and you had children, small children. Can you talk about what that experience was like for you as someone who then was the head of the household, the earner, you know, suddenly the source of income and what it was like, trying to decide what you were going to do next.
Caroline Fabrigas (10:04):
Yes. Even thinking about it now. And it was 11 years ago, it's quite shocking. And for any of you who are listening, you can, can relate. It was a completely unexpected occurrence. And, uh, forgive me if I, if I also am a little emotional, even though it was such a long time ago, it was quite ... It's quite dramatic. It was a July afternoon. Um, actually it was a, it was a July morning, um, 2010. And I was actually called to Manhattan to be interviewed that day by the cosmetic executive women. It was a really wonderful career milestone day for me to be interviewed about my career with that organization. I was on the board. And so I left the house in, in great spirits. I remember my husband late husband saying to me that morning, goodbye, Beautiful. And I thought, oh, I must look nice today because he usually say goodbye, take care, goodbye. See you later. But he said, goodbye, beautiful. Those were actually his last words to me. So I just want to say that, um, you know, you never know when it's going to be those last words. So I think every word matters. And every morning when you say hello, goodbye, all of those things are very, very important.. So the day went on and die. I also that later that day had a presentation, which was very exciting to a group of distributors. And it was during that presentation that the call came, that my husband had, uh, had an accident where he had fallen. We didn't know which, and to, you know, go to the hospital. And I tried calling the hospital, but they wouldn't give us any information. And so I, you know, barreled on and found my way over there. And, um, it's the thing you, you least expect to hear, you know, you think, oh, he must have heard himself playing squash.
Caroline Fabrigas (11:44):
Oh, he must have fallen down. Or, or you think maybe he did have a heart attack, but you never think that, um, you know, what they'll tell you is, we're so sorry we couldn't save your husband. And he was 51 years old. And so it was very, very shocking. And, uh, and that, that moment really changed everything for the rest of time. And, uh, my immediate reaction was I wanted to see him. And so I did, I went in and I saw him and I, it was very important to spend that, uh, that last period of time with him and to say, um, whatever I wanted to say, you never really actually say goodbye. And then the next order of duty was to, um, you know, once everything was sort of settled there at the hospital was to, to drive home. And then I had to, uh, talk to my children, which nobody prepares you for how to do that either. And, uh, my dad died actually. I think I remember telling you that when I was 11 and I remember being at school that day, and it was a Catholic school, the priest took me into the rose garden and told me that my father had passed away. And so maybe it was just a natural instinct when I came home and took my children outside to let them know that, uh, you know, their, their father had, uh, had passed away, had gone to heaven. They was six years old at that time. So it's rather difficult to know exactly what to say, but something really came over me. What was, what was very important for me and those children that evening was to have a sense of routine and to have a sense of, um, not to have a dramatic experience. So a lot of my friends were actually finding out and heading to my, my house. And I actually did something very uncharacteristic for me because I'm very much someone who likes to entertain and have people around. And I, I basically asked everybody not to come that night and I wanted to just keep everything as normal. If you would, as possible, we did their buds, we did their dinner. And I distinctly remember making that decision. And I think that was really important to what came next, which was how do you then simulate what has happened and try to create a level of normalcy for your children? A level of security. I was in a job where I was traveling a lot. I wasn't always home for dinner. I immediately changed that routine. I had to be home for dinner. I had to give them a sense that there was a parent in that house, every single day, other things that were very, very important, where the neighborhood here in Scarsdale, where I live at the outpouring of people that I didn't even know, bringing food every night, there was something on my porch, people really reaching out and caring.
Caroline Fabrigas (14:17):
So the support was amazing. And then, you know, accepting that support being really incredibly grateful for that. And then the, the school was very supportive and they led us to a wonderful organization called The Tree House, which was a terrific place for a bereavement and the children to go and be with other children of like age and like loss. So there were a lot of things I think we did early on that were actually very good decisions, um, because nobody can ever prepare you for something like this. Um, and then of course there was the business piece to it as well. He had a, a phone, it was a Blackberry and the Blackberry at the time was just ringing off the hook with all these Hyatt hotels that were calling for their oil replenishment. And I didn't even know where to, to begin, but thankfully, uh, his brother and sister came over from Germany and Switzerland and they went up into the office and went through the QuickBooks and then someone else came at the wake and said, I know what's going on in your garage business at the time. I said, well, that's good. Cause I don't. And, uh, you know, and, and so I hired that gentleman for a couple of days a week to, to help me so that I could, at that time go back to work. Ultimately the corporate life sort of took its toll with the travel and the hours. And I decided I needed to take a step back and needed to also settle the affairs of the estate, which wasn't large, but still there was this business that needed to be thought about. And, um, so when I did that and started to understand this business of Scent Marketing, Inc, I fell in love, head over heels, and I have not stopped falling in love since. And we've built a, a business that he started with one client who's still so valued to us and we've built an entire network of hospitality, retail, professional offices, spas, clinics salons. I just love what we do because we get to work with all kinds of different people in all sorts of different businesses. And so he left me a gift.
Betsy Bush (16:10):
Yeah. So you had to really learn to become an entrepreneur as he had been getting this business up and running in a field that I didn't even know existed really, because it's one of these things that's invisible now I've walked into hotels and you're like, Hmm, something's different. I love the way that you know, where there is a fragrance that is, or a scent that tells you you're in a different place, but it's not something I think the average consumer is aware of. Oh, you know, that there's, so he really had a very visionary idea of all of this, but you had to take it to the next step. What was that like? You'd been a corporate person, but now you're an entrepreneur.
Caroline Fabrigas (16:54):
Well, it's a very different life. It's certainly not for the faint of heart. I don't think it's for everybody. There've been so many days that I didn't think I would be able to continue. It's so challenging. You often feel very alone, especially as a small company. And that's why the clients that we've had have been so important because many of those clients have become, you know, very friendly with them. And I think that having those relationships has really been helpful. It's uh, you know, fortunately, as I grew up through the corporate ranks, I was able to cover a lot of ground. I was given so many wonderful opportunities to work in training and to work in marketing and e-commerce. And I went on home shopping network and sold on television. I had an opportunity to learn the financial side of the business. It's still not my strongest suit, but I learned a lot that I would otherwise not have known. And as women in particular, getting that financial muscle strengthened is so important. So not that I haven't learned a ton more, but at least I had a nice basis to go off of. It has been very challenging. It's taken a very long time to, to get where we are today. And we've had a tremendous amount of help along the way to get where we are. Obviously last year in the pandemic was very challenging as well as, uh, as a growing company with a lot of the hotels closing, but we partnered with our partners, with our customers and we're all coming through on the other side, holding hands together.
Betsy Bush (18:23):
That's great. Do you think about those days as an Estee Lauder counter, you know, first in selling directly to, you know, that consumer contact, do you think about that as, um, a great training ground for working with your clients now and, and making sure that they're getting the scent that they need to meet their needs?
Caroline Fabrigas (18:47):
I think my collective experience has really led me to today. I'm a big believer that, you know, I think there are no coincidences. I think sometimes you don't really know in life why things are happening. And then later on, you're like, oh my gosh, if that didn't happen, I'd never know this. Or if that didn't happen, I'd never be here. And I tend to look at things that way myself and I think about looking back, I remember a time at Estee Lauder when I was the counter manager, it was very slow in the store. And I dressed up in an evening gown and went around with a bottle of Private Collection and tried to stop people in the aisles. I was one of those annoying people that everyone tries to bypass, but I was going around in this splendid evening gown. I was doing whatever it took to motivate the business and entertain the client. And I think in what we do today, there's a huge entertainment, emotional cache that I absolutely love. There's nothing that I enjoy more than creating a signature scent for a client. And then it's the sniffing session day. It's like a sniffing party where we actually get to smell these incredible sense that are emblematic of their brand and to see their faces light up when they smell the one they feel resonates. And, you know, we mentioned also during our pre-chat there, that I've really gone back to my roots in the, during the pandemic. I actually opened up my first Scentfluence Aroma Design Studio in Scarsdale village. And so I'm right back to my roots being on the shop floor in the studio, and actually being able to meet real live clients who live in my neighborhood and helping them with scent and diffusers and all kinds of wonderful items for their homes and families and gifts and such. So I really get an opportunity to, to be back at my roots again. And I just love it.
Betsy Bush (20:29):
I'm wondering if you think that retail store ideas, something you'll be replicating in other communities?
Caroline Fabrigas (20:37):
Well, we're going to just about have our year anniversary on October 31st, and it's been a wonderful year, albeit with the pandemic, you know, obviously limiting people's movements, but we had so much support from the neighborhood. I'm so incredibly thankful to those, the Scarsdale community here. And we found that there is a lot of interest in what we're doing. The experience in our studio is very different. You can come in and you can actually experience over 65 scents in our library. And you compare those with a variety of different types of diffusers for your home. And then we also have a whole range of incredible scented items that make for great gifts or even personal use. So this seems to be a model that quite a few people have felt was franchisable. So we are actually developing our own Scentfluence products as well. And, uh, looking probably down the road to open some additional locations in other places and ultimately, possibly even franchise sent fluence. I think the time of scent and understanding how it influences our lives really has come. I think my late husband was a visionary. He saw the future and, uh, and the future really is, is now, particularly during the pandemic people losing their sense of smell or being home and realizing how smell becomes the sensory cue for where you are in your day or helping you to manage your emotions. Scent has really become more and more prevalent in how we're living our lives to the fullest.
Betsy Bush (22:03):
That's so interesting. You know, the idea that people are home all the time and maybe you need to, you know, refresh the way your home smells and maybe it's more than, you know, the cleaning product that needs to change. That may be, there is a way that you can bring a different atmosphere to your home through one of, through a scent product. Like you have. I'm just curious. Do you ever use more than one scent product? Like, do you have something in the morning and then something in the evening to kind of change the atmosphere?
Caroline Fabrigas (22:38):
Absolutely. Right on, yeah. I mean, especially during the pandemic, I don't know about you being home all day and all night, day after day, week after week, I kind of lost track of time. I didn't even like really sometimes know what time it was. And I found myself and many others that I, that I know working so much more because they were working at home because there weren't the usual sort of delineations of, oh, it's, uh, you know, five o'clock and the office is closing or it's lunchtime and people are going out for lunch. You sort of just lose track of, of time. And so scent has become very important for us as what we call a sensory cue. So whether it's waking the house up in the morning with something citrus and fresh or whether it is knowing that it is time to wind down at the end of the day and have something that provides a different cue, that's more relaxing and more comforting. And then of course we've been cooking a lot, all of us in our homes. So the cooking smells sometimes are something you might want to overcome. So there are certain sense that can also help be complimentary to what you're cooking while helping to overcome maybe some malodors as we were discussing before. So scent has become very important as what we would call, um, a sensory cue for your life.
Betsy Bush (23:53):
Wow, that's so interesting. Um, I wonder if you can share with us three pieces of advice that you have for others who are looking at this kind of life change that comes upon us, not of our choosing and in your journey to being a businesswoman and an entrepreneur.
Caroline Fabrigas (24:18):
Uh, yes. I've given that some thought, um, one of the things that really comes to mind is, you know, during a time like that, you sort of often I did you feel like retreating, actually, you, you just feel like going inwards because it's just so overwhelming on so many levels. And I would only say that I actually think it's, it's hard to do, but it really is a time to go out to be outward. And one of the things that was so important for me was actually volunteering. I didn't really have a lot of time, extra time, but in the time that I did have, I volunteered my time to help my industry. I was on the board of the Fashion group International. So spending time to build up fashion, fashion related industries, I, um, was, um, a new member of the Young President's organization at the time. And I didn't know then how important that organization would be in so many, many ways, so much so that I ended up founding a chapter as I became a little bit older. And what was so important about going out was to be active, was to be connected, was to sometimes just doing something for, for somebody else kind of shifted the drama, if you would, off of what was happening in my situation. And it made me feel good and, uh, had so much reciprocal benefit the aid and the support and the help that came particularly when I was inheriting a family business. So having, having the knowledge of others who had run family businesses very successfully, that was very important for me and the young president's organization really, really stood by my side and helped me, you know, through that. So I think that's one very important thing just when you feel like you want to go inside, maybe finding ways that you can actually go out and to connect.
Caroline Fabrigas (26:07):
I think another thing that became very evident to me and it's something I really live by today is sometimes it's very easy for us when we're in a new and unexpected situation to feel that we don't have all the answers and to feel that we don't really sometimes know what to do. I would say don't underestimate yourself and don't listen to everything that everybody has to say. Do your own research, make your own decisions, go with your gut. And too often, I think we're more in that situation where things are kind of unstable and we're feeling really uncertain. And we'd kind of like maybe someone else to make a decision. At least that was me. You know, I would only say, try to rally against that and try to do your own research, stand on your own two feet, make your own decisions and go with your gut. Because if I have listened to some of the things that I was told, and it was only people just trying to give what they felt was good advice, but you know, it was good advice, but maybe not from my situation, I probably wouldn't have held on to my business. I probably wouldn't be where I am today. I probably would have stopped the business and gone back to the corporate life. And actually in hindsight, this has given me chance to, to be around and home for my children, as they've grown, they're just graduating high school next year has given me an opportunity to build a business of my own that I own a hundred percent that has actually a nice value at this point. And it's given me an opportunity to spread my wings in, in lots of different ways that I wouldn't have otherwise probably have the chance to do.
Caroline Fabrigas (27:41):
And then I guess the third one would be, you know, what's very important in all of this is you, you can lose yourself. I think it's really to make sure that you do take care of yourself. You're so busy taking care of everybody else to try to find those things that bring you joy. If it's a cup of tea and the sunlight in a nice cup, or if it's a bath with some of your favorite vessels or taking time out to speak to a friend, you know, whatever it is that, you know, brings you joy, try to find those small moments of joy and try to make that time for yourself. Because at the end of the day, you can only give to others when you really are, um, you know, giving to yourself first.
Betsy Bush (28:24):
All great advice. And I'm just so grateful that you were available to share your incredible journey with us. A journey that is, I think, as a long, long way to go and is really inspiring for a lot of us. I think so many of us, we can't imagine what happens after the death of a spouse and to hear your story of how you were able to continue on and actually grow and, and use all of your training from your early days. You know, it brought you along to, uh, another place and it looks like there are just so many things that, uh, are open to you now, especially with a possibility of the, the home market as well as the corporate market. And I think that's so exciting. And I am going to be thinking about scent from now on, in a different way and trying to use it to my benefit and maybe others as well. It's a totally new field. We think about color and sound and things like that being atmospheric, but scent is a new thing, but it's clearly a very important thing. So I appreciate your spending some time with us today on the latest version.
Caroline Fabrigas (29:47):
Well thank you so much. It was my pleasure and I am so willing to be of help to anybody that is going through similar situations. If I can, as I said, it's really important. I think to put a hand out, to help as much as we obviously also can take a hand to help us as well.
Betsy Bush (30:05):
Okay, great. Caroline FabrIgas is CEO of scent marketing, and I will have all the resources we've talked about in our show notes so that anyone who's interested can follow up as well. Thanks a lot, Caroline. I appreciate it.
Caroline Fabrigas (30:20):
Thank you. I appreciate you.