The Fragrance Industry Has a Diversity Problem

Dianna Mazzone
·9 min read

This story originally appeared in the October 2020 issue of Allure. Learn how to subscribe here.

17.4. That's roughly how many square miles are occupied by the town of Grasse in southeastern France. But for hundreds of years, going back to the 17th century, that tiny area was where many perfumers — or les nez (noses), as they call themselves — were born. The art form was passed from father to son, meaning most noses were descendants of other noses. To say the industry lacked diversity would be a gross understatement.

Change has come slowly — really, really slowly. "Fifteen years ago a 'diverse' perfumer meant a white man from Paris," says Arielle Weinberg, the founder of Arielle Shoshana, a fragrance boutique located outside of Washington, D.C. (She recently reached out to perfume schools to establish scholarships for Black students, but says they were not responsive and hopes that speaking with Allure will help change things.) In other words: It took four centuries for the industry to embrace a perfumer who was born a train ride away from Grasse.

Today, perfumers are more likely to come from other parts of the world, like South America and Asia, and there's been a marked increase in the number of female perfumers. However, Black perfumers and Black-owned fragrance brands are incredibly few and far between.

In fact, when we reached out to the world's leading fragrance houses for this story, one of them — with thousands of employees across the globe — didn't have a single Black perfumer on staff. "The traditions of perfumery are so tightly bound to Old World ideas of what a perfumer is that sometimes this breeds unconscious bias," says Gwen Gonzalez, a junior perfumer at Givaudan, who is one of few Black perfumers at major fragrance houses. "People who look like me are hardly ever a part of that world," Gonzalez adds. Christina Christie, a senior perfumer at International Flavors & Fragrances, has met only two other perfumers who are Black women during her decades-long career.

The disparity becomes even more confounding when you compare the demographics of fragrance consumers with that of perfumers. Approximately 14 percent of the United States population identifies as Black, yet 22.37 percent of women's fragrance sales in 2017 — about $152 million —were attributed to Black consumers, according to Nielsen data. "Black fragrance consumers exist, and we definitely outnumber the Black creators behind the brands," says Kimberly Waters, who was an avid perfume collector before opening MUSE, the first and so far only niche fragrance retailer in New York City's Harlem. "What's been missing is the ability [for a diverse range of consumers] to really relate to a brand or creator," says Gonzalez.

Meaningful change will require support from all corners of the industry, including fragrance buyers, distributors, and manufacturers. The first step is acknowledging the current disparity. "We have not done enough to promote diversity and inclusion," says Linda G. Levy, president of the Fragrance Foundation, a nonprofit created to support its industry members and educate consumers. As of this writing, the organization had formed an initiative dedicated to inclusion, with goals for mentorship, diversifying the pool of perfumers recognized at the Fragrance Foundation Awards (an annual ceremony recognizing top talent), and working with educational institutions, like the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, to make students aware of career opportunities in the fragrance industry.

For Waters, that last item is key to fostering a new and diverse generation of talent. "If those opportunities are shown early on, young people will know there are careers in fragrance they can pursue," she says. And once that happens, Christie sees a future in which perfumery is taught with an eye toward what's next and not what once was: "I think the history of fragrance is causing us to stay in the past instead of looking toward the future," she says. “Now it's time to create a new history." Here are some of the perfumers leading the way.

Gwen Gonzalez, junior perfumer, Givaudan

With a father in the military, Gonzalez spent time in Indiana, Oklahoma, and Georgia while growing up. But it was the years her family spent in Europe, and her love for the fragrances her mother bought there, that were the most formative. "One of my earliest memories is sneaking into my mom's collection and accidentally spilling one of the perfumes all over the bed; I was only two or three years old," says Gonzalez. "My mom found me rolling around in the sheets in a state of euphoria."

A diversion from the college premed track she was on brought Gonzalez to Givaudan, the fragrance manufacturer behind scents from brands like Tom Ford and Carolina Herrera. Gonzalez started as a lab technician, combining raw materials to produce particular smells as instructed by perfumers. "I realized very quickly that perfumery was the perfect marriage between science and my love for fragrance," she says. 

Years later, she's risen through the ranks and had extensive training (provided by Givaudan) to become one of the few perfumers of color at a major fragrance house. But ultimately, "perfumery is an art that's only enriched by the culture and the ideas of the perfumer," says Gonzalez. "If you're only telling one story again and again, you're missing out on a consumer who could see themselves in a particular fragrance."

Maya Njie, founder, Maya Njie Perfumes

Njie whipped up candles as a kid in Sweden. "I always took pride in how my room smelled," she says. She moved to London as a teenager, working in fashion retail before obtaining a degree in surface design and photography. Yet, "I never felt like my creative work was completed until I could put a scent with it. I realized I used my nose more than the average person," says Njie. 

A family photo album from the '70s inspired the first scents for her line, Maya Njie Perfumes. "The pictures were taken [in Sweden] before I was born, so the [resulting fragrances] are a mixture of what I imagine the smells of those moments might have been, mixed with my own experience and West Gambian heritage." An eau de parfum called Vanilj, for example, combines cardamom, a spice often used in Swedish baking, with vanilla, musk, and cedarwood. 

For Njie, making young people aware of careers in fragrance and offering opportunities to them is a crucial step toward inclusivity. She never knew "perfumer" could be a career until people at her day job asked where they could buy the homemade scent she was wearing. "It felt so far away and removed from my life [growing up]," she says.

Kimberly Walker, founder, Kimberly New York

Originally from Jamaica, Walker moved with her family to New York City and then Florida when she was a young child. A lifelong love of fragrance sparked a 10-year career working at cosmetics counters in major department stores. It was the lack of diversity she saw among perfumers at leading fragrance brands that inspired her to start her own line. 

But "it was so far-fetched for me to travel to France to learn to make perfume," she says. So she taught herself basic chemistry and fragrance composition through YouTube, books, and "a lot of trial and error mixing raw materials at home," she says. “I feel like not being constrained by all the rules helps you be a better artist. I'm happy I learned backwards." Playing by her own rules resulted in Walker’s best-selling fragrance, Artsy, an out-of-the-box mix of African violet, sandalwood, red candied apple, and marshmallow.

Chris Collins, founder, World of Chris Collins

Collins, a brand ambassador for Polo Ralph Lauren for more than two decades, could have sat back and relaxed in his role as a face for the fashion house. Instead, the former model treated
it like a crash course at the University of Ralph Lauren. "I soaked up everything I could," says Collins. "I used a lot of what I learned from [Ralph], both directly and indirectly, and put it into my own brand." 

That brand is World of Chris Collins, which was picked up by Bergdorf Goodman shortly after its 2018 launch. Collins considers himself a storyteller who uses scent instead of words to convey ideas, and works with perfumers to realize his visions. His first collection was inspired by the Harlem Renaissance, a nod to the rich history of his current neighborhood: A rum accord in his fragrance Harlem Nights was inspired by 1920s nightlife there, and the plum, cognac, and chili notes in Danse Sauvage evoke Josephine Baker's fiery spirit. "My stories come from my unique perspective," says Collins. "The more diversity we have, the more stories we get to hear."

Christina Christie, senior perfumer, International Flavors & Fragrances

Christie's career in fragrance began with meeting a job recruiter she found in the classifieds, who presented her with three entry-level options. One was as an executive assistant answering phones and scheduling meetings at the prestige fragrance division of Unilever Cosmetics International. 

The product development team often called upon colleagues to smell new scents and give their opinions, and it wasn't long before they noticed Christie had an unusually well-attuned nose (a natural ability, she supposes). "I was asked to be part of their team and that’s when it all began," Christie says. "I knew then what I wanted to do with the rest of my life." 

After a stint at Coty in a similar role, Christie accepted a job at Takasago, a fragrance producer, eager for the formal perfumery training that came with it. But her current role at International Flavors & Fragrances, a manufacturer that creates both perfume and scents for consumer goods, was always her ultimate goal. "One of my proudest moments was when I won my first million-dollar project," she says. "And now my goals are a lot higher."

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Originally Appeared on Allure