Your Super Awesome Life

This is one of our Inspirational Interviews in which we talk to people who have imagined big dreams, made them a reality, and are living a life they love. Today we are talking to Angie Androit who owns an online perfume supply shop!

1. Tell us a little about yourself!

Hi! I am the owner of an online perfume supply shop, Vetiver Aromatics. My goal is to make that website more than just a supply store, though. Many of my customers are budding perfumers themselves – and often want to go into business making their own perfume. So my ultimate goal is to make Vetiver a hub for them, offering not just supplies, but also instruction, resources, information….the sky’s the limit!

But I also have a PhD in Sociology and am a college professor. Aaaand I am working on a new website dedicated to helping creative entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

I also loooove cooking, and painting, and photography, and gardening, and reading, and farmers markets, and craft fairs.
Whew! I live a full life.

2. What does living a “super awesome life” look like for you?

To me a super awesome life is characterized by freedom, fun, and fruitfulness. It’s one where I am free to pursue my passions while having the resources available to help others and make the world a better place. A life that is both meaningful and driven.

And being able to work in my pajamas. That.

3. What inspired you to start a business that sells perfume making kits and supplies?

Honestly? I just wanted to be an alchemist and own an apothecary. Perfume making kits and supplies seemed the most viably close to that dream I could get :) . Seriously, though – if you’ve never made perfume, it really does feel like you’re playing the role of mad scientist, mixing your liquids, tracking your formulas. I even use test tubes sometimes, just for the effect.

4. What has been your biggest challenge since starting your own business?

When I first started my business, I had no business training. That was a HUGE challenge to overcome. So I read every business book I could get my hands on, started following some business rock stars, took workshops, classes…..and eventually realized that everything I needed to know about business, I learned in sociology. Go figure.

More specifically though, there was a time, just over a year into starting Vetiver, that I seriously considered throwing in the towel. It had been a year, every month so far had generated negative profits, and I wasn’t feeling it. I even made an appointment with someone to talk about handing the business over to them. And then I realized that it wasn’t malaise that was feeding this decision, it was FEAR. I was afraid that I wasn’t going to cut it. My business wasn’t good enough. I didn’t have the chops.

So I buckled up, and told myself “Self! You can’t possibly know if you don’t have the chops until you’ve either failed or succeeded. Cutting ties before even failing is just giving up.” And you know what? I’ve turned a profit every month since then.

5. Can you share a bit about the process of making your own perfume (after purchasing one of your kits)?

Alchemy meets mad science. Making perfume means playing with pipettes, graduated cylinders, funnels, vials, tester strips. It’s fun. One thing that makes my store unique is that I sell kits that are suited for beginners and hobbyists. Once you get deeper into perfume, you’ll start working with solids, and powders, and other more complicated materials. But I sell everything in ready-to-mix liquid form.

Perfume making is part art and part science. There’s definitely some specific knowledge that is good to have – fragrance families, notes, blending basics – but in the end, if you like what you’re smelling, that’s all that matters.

6. What advice would you give to someone interested in learning more about perfume?

It depends on what they want to know – more about the industry? About making perfume? If it’s making perfume, I’d say start by learning the basics – do you want to work only in naturals, or do you want to use the full palette? These are really two different worlds in perfumery. The comprise different sets of knowledge, different skills, and different ingredients.

Do some research on who is big in the industry. I know more about indie perfumers, since that’s my own niche. Follow them, see how they got started. Join some of the forums and dive in!

7. What little things in life right now make you you do a happy dance? Big things?

June marks two momentous anniversaries in my life. First, Vetiver Aromatics turns two in June! I’m super excited about that – and soooooo glad I didn’t throw in the towel last year. I’m also working on my own line of perfume, which I’m hoping to launch well before Christmas.

Second, my 10 year wedding anniversary is in June! My how time flies.

Also: summer vacation, the return of our local farmer’s market, and tomato plants in the garden.

8. In the movie of your life, who would you want to play you?

Felicia Day.

9. What is one thing you’d like to change about the world?

If I could magically wave a wand and change something, I’d make everyone more comfortable with who they are, and with who the people around them are. I think those two things are closely related. I don’t think I’m going to do that through perfume, but it is something I’m working on in some side businesses. In the meantime, just giving people something to feel good about is a great start! And that is definitely within the realm of perfume making.

10. What quote best represents you or motivates you in your current place in life?

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.” – Carl Sagan

I like this quote because it reminds me that we are all connected – that underneath it all, we’re just a bunch of atoms and elements. It makes me feel small and big at the same time. I am part of the universe, but the universe also lives inside me. Within each of us are the elements necessary for creating a star.

This motivates me on a personal and spiritual level, of course. But it also does so on a business level – it’s a constant reminder that every single person who places an order on my website is an actual, living breathing human. They are on the other end of the computer, shopping for their hobby, for a gift, whatever. And if I remember to think about the experience from their end – who they are, what they want, what they need, what they fear – then they become more than just customers, and I can serve them better as people than as customers.

11. What inspires you to continue living a life you love each day?

The fact that I love my life! My inspiration is waking up each morning happy to see a new day, and the desire to keep it that way.

Thanks so much for sharing, Angie!

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This is one of our Inspirational Interviews in which we talk to people who have imagined big dreams, made them a reality, and are living a life they love. Today we are talking to Melissa Moriarty who quit her job and is launching a ceramic dinnerware company in Bogotá, Colombia!

1. Tell us a little about yourself!

Hola! My name is Melissa and I am launching a dinnerware company from Colombia called Azulina Ceramics. About a year ago I came across a small Colombian town called Carmen de Viboral and fell in love with their hand-painted ceramics tradition. I felt so inspired by what I saw that I decided to quit my day job and start a dinnerware company.

I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, but since the age of 17 I have lived all over the place: DC, Spain, Boston, Chicago and Honduras. Now Bogotá, Colombia is my happy home.

2. What does living a “super awesome life” look like for you?

I am at my most happiest when I feel fulfilled. There is a great deal of stress that goes into daily life as an entrepreneur, yet every minute of my day feels well spent. Now I am able to have the freedom to spend my life the way that makes me most happy and awesome, like salsa dancing with my boyfriend, traveling to Texas to visit family or hosting dinner parties.

3. What inspired you to create Azulina?

I have always dreamed of running my own business and doing my own thing, but I never had a clue what I wanted to do. I literally stumbled upon an incredible opportunity and ran with it.

As I was searching for a wedding gift for my best friend I drove to a town outside of Medellín (Colombia) called Carmen de Viboral. The town has been making hand-painted ceramics for over a hundred years, yet you would be hard-pressed to find these pieces for sale even in Bogotá or Medellín. They are fun, colorful and bring a certain element of cheer that I’ve never seen before in dinnerware. I just had to share these ceramics with not only my friends and family, but the rest of the world. And so I started Azulina!

4. What has been your biggest challenge since deciding to leave the corporate world and start your own business?

Gosh. Time Management. With a capital “T” and “M”. I am so easily distracted and pulled in different directions, so planning my days and sticking to my goals is always a challenge. Before, I had deadlines, managers and teams to keep me on track and focused. Now I have to create those boundaries myself.

5. What advice would you give to other passion-powered women who dream of doing something “bigger” with their lives?

Start before you think you are ready. This should be something that you write on your hand, your journal, your calendar and remind yourself of everyday. There will never be a better time to start doing what you are passionate about or something “bigger”, than now. It is so easy for us to be bogged down by excuses as to why we can’t, or why we need to wait another 3, 6, or 12 months. If you start now you will be forced to work harder and faster than you ever thought you could. As Nike so concisely puts it, Just Do It.

6. What little things in life right now make you do a happy dance? Big things?

Wait, I thought I was the only crazy one who does the happy dance? You do it too?

I am so easily moved to do the happy dance, these are just a few triggers: a blogger reaches out to me to profile and photograph my products, a friend of a friend of a friend signs up for my newsletter, a well-known store in my home town places a big wholesale order…my mom buys a plane ticket to visit me in Colombia!

7. In the movie of your life, who would you want to play you?

I have a really big girl crush on Jennifer Lawrence, but who doesn’t? She is funny, genuine and a hell of a good actor. I think she would be great playing me: An adventurous, no BS Texan who quits her corporate consulting career to move to Colombia on a whim. She also nailed the happy dance in Silver Linings Playbook.

8. What is one thing you’d like to change about the world?

Safety. I live in Colombia and have lived in Honduras, two countries whose populations have bared the brunt of the narcotics trade for decades. I would love for Mexico, Central and South America to get their safety back, for the marijuana, poppy and coca farmers to return to what they used to grow, for drug users to be properly penalized or healed, for legislation to be created to bring this part of the world’s safety back, whatever that legislation may be. Feeling safe is so crucial to our happiness and inner peace.

9. What quote best represents you or motivates you in your current place in life?

A very smart man, my boss from my days in Honduras, used to always repeat the following to me: “Perfect is the enemy of good”. It used to frustrate the heck out of me, because I couldn’t fathom that someone would prefer anything but perfect. Now, it is my daily mantra. It is far more important to just get the job done, to make decisions and to move forward than it is to wait for perfection.

10. What inspires you to continue living a life you love each day?

There is nothing like receiving photos and emails from happy customers. I have always known that Azulina’s pieces were beautiful and fun to use, but to know that my products make other people happy is what keeps me pushing forward and working harder every day.

Thanks so much for sharing, Melissa!

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