Octavia Morgan - Fragrance Sensitivity Is Real. This Brand Is the Solution

Ramon Vela (00:02.456)
Hey everyone, this is Ramon Vela and this is another episode of the story of a brand. Like always, we have an amazing guest and brand that we're going to feature on today's show. But before we do, pause. One, two, three.

Welcome back everyone. I have a great show for you today. I have with me Octavia Morgan, who is a CEO and creative director of octaviamorgan.com. Welcome to the show.

Octavia Morgan (00:32.435)
Thank you for having me, Ramon. I'm very excited to be here today.

Ramon Vela (00:36.748)
Well, I appreciate you making time for me. You've got an amazing story. I can't wait to dive in. But where I would like to start is with a question of gratitude. And so this is something I ask everyone. I'm a big believer in gratitude as a practice. It's free, but it's so powerful. And it has helped me through some of my most darkest moments. And it's a great way to relieve stress and anxiety and bring yourself to the present moment.

And it's just wonderful and I just, I love to promote it. However, there's another reason why I asked this question to all the founders who have been on the show. And that is because for a consumer, for a listener to the show, it's really easy for them to look at a product on the shelf or online or wherever they're to see it and just simply think like, you know, some faceless corporation.

you know, they're so bombarded with a lot of noise and it's hard for them to tell the difference between authentic companies and brands and, just, you know, you know, these big conglomerates. And so what I like to do is I want to make sure that on this show and in this interview, we bring it down to a very person, personal level where we feature, we showcase and feature real people behind these brands.

And people let the listener know that these people really care about what they're doing. They care about the product. They care about the quality. They care about the community. They care about the consumers. And one way of getting to know someone and kind of humanizing this whole thing is by understanding what people are grateful for. So with that said, if you don't mind, can you share a moment or a memory when someone did something for you that just made you feel grateful?

because it meant that they believed in you, your vision, or your potential.

Octavia Morgan (02:31.103)
Yes, that's a great question. And for me, it was right before we were launching, maybe six months to launch, we had a deal that felt we had a deal that fell through some of our finance and fell through. And I literally balled up in a ball and I was like, what are we going to do? Didn't really want to tell anyone about it. And some of my family and friends got together and they put a fund together for me.

I didn't ask, but the only thing each one of them told me separately is, I will not let you fail.

Ramon Vela (03:10.605)
Wow.

Octavia Morgan (03:12.199)
And so that meant that, and they were like, we believe in you and what it is that you're doing and we will not let you fail. And when I tell you that I boo who cried, I boo who cried because it was like, wow, like you see the vision, see, know, you don't know as a founder, if everyone sees what it is that you're doing, but to have individuals that are not at any way tied to this business, give me the funds to go the rest of the way. Like I was turning away money.

people were finding out they were like what is it that you need they were calling me just like we will not let you fail and that is what I'm grateful for each and every one of them I'm grateful for a community that lets us know that we've built this beautiful community that continues to surround us and uplift us as not only as a founder but as a brand

Ramon Vela (04:04.374)
Hmm. Wow. That's a powerful story. And it goes to the heart of the question because...

you know, businesses come and go, business ideas, you know, they're common, but when people invest in companies, what they're really investing in is the person behind the company, behind the idea, and their belief that they're gonna be able to do what they're gonna do, and their belief in that person and why they have, you know, they have, they,

they have something that they see in that individual. And that's what your, I'm assuming what your friends and your families saw in you, was just this person who had this vision and this vision was so powerful and your belief in this vision is so powerful that they had to help you make it come true, right? Or come to fruition. And that's really, I mean, that's, I mean, I mean, you know,

Octavia Morgan (05:02.587)
Exactly.

Octavia Morgan (05:09.599)
Yeah

Ramon Vela (05:10.506)
I can't believe there's not a better answer to my question than what you just gave because that really is their belief in you, right? And in your vision. So I guess that kind of begs the question now. The audience is probably can't wait to hear this, but describe to us, you know, imagine that we're one of those people, those friends and families that invested money to make sure that this happened for you.

Octavia Morgan (05:16.083)
That's what.

Ramon Vela (05:41.806)
What did we see? What was the vision that we saw that motivated us to say, we're not going to let this person fail?

Octavia Morgan (05:57.055)
I think that they've seen our hard work. I work very hard to get in this position that I'm in right now. Everyone thinks that everything is overnight, right? But this has been, this has been something that's been in the works for the last 10 years.

And my background was prior to this, was a registered nurse. I didn't have any connections in the beauty space at all. I was a novice perfumer. This was a brand that was literally built out of necessity. I couldn't find what I was looking for in the marketplace. And my grandmother always told us, if you can't find it, then you make it or you build it. That's just what it is. Right. So we built this brand literally

brick by brick and our family and our friends watched us from the crazy idea that came to me during a meditation to take it to the streets.

And we built our community and our community has taken care of us. They have taken our brand around the world. This is a brand built strictly by community and word of mouth. I want to say that I was this mastermind that created all of this, but really we create, I make beautiful things and it's how our consumers interpret those beautiful things that we make.

And our family and our friends, seen our hard work. They seen our dedication. They just see my drive, my determination, my willpower, literally just moving things, moving obstacles. was like, you know, those Olympic hurlers, the ones that jump. that's how I was. Like sometimes I would fall, you know, but I would get back up and start running again because I knew that we had something really beautiful to put out into the world.

Ramon Vela (07:56.172)
Wow. You know, and I'm fascinated. There's, there's, mean, we can probably talk about this whole one first phase of your, of your journey for the entire hour, but I want to make sure we cover other areas. But, what was that meditation? Like, what did you, so tell us in the process of telling us what that meditation is, cause I'm curious, tell us what that idea was. and then, then feel free to talk a little bit about like a high level overview of the, of the.

the product.

Octavia Morgan (08:27.647)
Okay, so me, myself, I meditate every day at five o'clock in the morning. I meditate, I pray, so I wake up light incense, light candles, and I meditate and pray. So we had created a website, and of course my family and my friends are there, they're supporting me, right? And one of the things that came to me during one of those meditations is I was gonna have to stop working full-time as a nurse, which is very scary.

and go into Octavia Morgan full time. And so as I was contemplating, you know, like, okay, I've been given this, this, you know, I've been given this word, what am I going to do with it? You know, I was very afraid because that other life was very, I knew what to expect, right? Nurses, we count our, we pay for things based on shifts. That's just how it works out. I can work this many shifts and I could get this. So it's a very cushy.

life that we have. It's hard work, but it's like we know how to get our money. So I'm going from that to this company that is a startup. We don't know if it's going to succeed. We don't know any of that. We just have family and friends. So I was very afraid to take that job. funny story. So I was working a contract, right?

Right? I started a contract. I was working as a nurse, started a contract. So my contract was supposed to be for three months. So for three months, I would drive back and forth to work, and it was a long drive. So I was fine. The second three months, the last three months, they extended my contract. I had to agree to it, but I knew that I wasn't supposed to agree to that. So every day that it was, because every day I was there, it was taking me away from at a TV and working.

Ramon Vela (10:20.813)
Thank you.

Octavia Morgan (10:22.377)
So every day, and I never told anyone this, so every day in the morning, I would drive to work and I would cry. And when I would come back, I would cry in the car by myself because I knew that this wasn't what I was supposed to do and I was letting the fear overtake me.

Ramon Vela (10:43.606)
Hmm.

Octavia Morgan (10:44.179)
So finally I made the decision after that contract ended. said enough. They wanted to extend some more. I said, no, I can't do it. I have to be obedient. I have to listen to what was given to me. So we started Octavia Morgan. So I say that to say we built our website and all the things. And of course we get in friends and family, but I'm like, how do we get more consumers? How do we understand what it is that we have? Now I created a product, but previous to this, my background is not in

not being a nose, not being in a beauty brand. had none of that to fall back on. And I was like, you know, just meditating and praying. I was just like, you know, you asked me to do this and I'm being obedient and this is what I'm doing. However, you know, where do I where do we go from here? Where do I go from here? And really just a really honest, like stripping away everything. This is what I was asked to do. Now tell me, where do I go from here? Because I can't see it.

And what came to me was take it to the streets. And I was like, this is interesting. So I said, one more time, I said, is this what you want me to do? When all I heard was take it to the streets and taken into the streets was very interesting because my natural state is to be a very introverted person, right? I'm a very interest, introverted, thoughtful, kind of like read a book, you know,

Ramon Vela (11:59.489)
you

Ramon Vela (12:05.368)
Mm-hmm.

Octavia Morgan (12:05.951)
They end up, you know, stay home kind of person. That's what I am. So taking it to the streets was very interesting. So I talked to my partner about it and I said, this is the message that I that I was given. And he was like, OK, what does that mean? I said, I don't know, but we're going to figure it out. I'm going to figure it out. And my brother at the time, he was during these big events and he was like, I have a booth for you. Come, come. And it's not going to cost you anything. Just come.

I said, okay, fine. And so when I went to the booth, we sold out, but that wasn't the catalyst that lit a fire under me. The catalyst that lit a fire under me was this woman came and she was able to smell all of our scents. And at the time we had four and she got to the end and she started to sob. And I said, okay, what happened? What's up? She said, I haven't been able to wear fragrances in 12 years.

And I was like, this is very interesting. She was like, I haven't been able to wear fragrances for 12 years. This is the first time that I could smell a fragrance and I'm not having any type of reaction. And that was the catalyst, the push that we needed to push me forward. So in that, I started to understand what kind of product we had. And it also...

was my driving force to get this fragrance in the hands of people that were fragrance sensitive, like myself, the reason why I created this product. And also from us taking it to the streets. Now we were a fine fragrance brand. And I always like to tell people you have to be in order to be a founder. You have to be a little bit crazy. Not all the way crazy, but you have to be a little bit crazy because you have to believe in what it is that you're doing so much.

Ramon Vela (13:47.086)
Mm-hmm.

Octavia Morgan (13:55.313)
that you get others to believe it, like almost like blindly. You can't give in because you hear all the noise, but you're the leader and you have the vision and you have to, and people have to follow you without wavering. So at any point you cannot waver because they'll make sure that your employees and makes your partners, it'll make them waver. So you have to be very strong and firm in what it is that you believe. So by me taking it to the streets, we were selling fine fragrances.

in farmers markets and these very upscale markets, right? So I'm selling 100, $150 fragrances in these markets. By the time I left Doornet, we were running sometimes six to eight markets a weekend. That's how much clientele we had. People were looking for us. were like, where you guys at? If we weren't at one market, they were like, why are you guys not here?

Ramon Vela (14:40.311)
Wow.

Octavia Morgan (14:51.561)
That built our clientele, built our celebrity clientele. It built our, we have NBA players, NFL players, WNBA players, hockey players, CEOs. It created like this beautiful diversity in our community, which was really like amazing. And I always say word of mouth built us and they did build us. I had a client, let me tell you a story. So had a client, he came to see me and he was getting married. He was from Australia.

He was getting married and he said, well, I want a fragrance for my wife, for my soon to be wife. OK, great. So we got him a fragrance. He came back on his honeymoon to find me because he wanted her to pick out a fragrance for herself.

Ramon Vela (15:33.144)
Hmm.

Octavia Morgan (15:34.885)
So it was just like that kind of thing, like this kind of ripple effect, very grassroots, this ripple effect. But what it also did is it let me understand real time research and development. I understood my demographics. I really understood my fragrance, what it was that we were selling, what do we lead with, how do we sell this fragrances, which has been really instrumental.

Ramon Vela (15:42.318)
Thank you.

Octavia Morgan (16:02.046)
in our launches, in our Alta Beauty launch that we had, what has been really instrumental in our growth as well.

Ramon Vela (16:10.958)
Wow. There's so much there to unpack. Let's start with the first thing that hit me when you were telling me what you just described.

So many of us have something to share with the world.

But fear stops us. And many of us, we live our entire lives without actually fulfilling that thing that we have. It's like, there's an old, I can't remember who the writer was, if it was a Russian author, I can't remember who it was, but at the end of the short story, this guy looks up before he dies and he says, know, what if my wife was wrong? What if I didn't?

The music that's in me has never been let go, has never been released. And I think so many people die with the music still in them. And what I hear from you, which was just so inspiring, is that it's scary. It's scary to do it. It's scary to start your own business. It's scary to give up the security or the feeling of security that you get and the money that you get from being a nurse and so forth.

Octavia Morgan (17:14.025)
Yes.

Ramon Vela (17:34.51)
It's scary to do all that. it feels like just from listening to you that your body was pushing you to go in this direction because you were crying, right? You were crying because you knew that this wasn't what you're supposed to be doing. And your body was trying to tell you something. And some people listen and you listen, thank goodness you listen. But a lot of people don't.

Octavia Morgan (17:54.065)
Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

Ramon Vela (18:02.946)
Right? They're not aware. They simply don't understand how these messages work sometimes. that the messages could be in all sorts of different ways. It can come in like with you, with crying. It could be with just your disposition, know, feeling down, it is. But we have to listen. Like if we hear the music in our heart, we have to listen.

and we have to let it out. if we don't, I feel like it's gonna hurt us. so anyhow, that to me is just really powerful. It's such an inspiring story. Just that alone to me, it can help a lot of people just by understanding that sometimes you gotta push. And the great thing about this is that this was the right move.

events and people and everything got in your God came aligned with this vision and this mission that you have and everything just sort of coming to fruition. and then, the next thing that I started thinking about is I have a friend, she's, she does some cohosting with our show and she refers to, she refers to something called a DTC lab. It's like when people start their business and they're selling direct to consumer, not just online, but just like direct,

It's almost like a laboratory. Like you're getting all sorts of information and feedback and you're seeing people's reactions and you see people react like that woman who came and started sobbing. This is like a laboratory for you. And it's a laboratory to really truly understand your demographic and truly understand the product that you have and what works and what doesn't.

Octavia Morgan (19:31.476)
it is.

Ramon Vela (19:54.958)
which I'm assuming really helped out. And I think you kind of alluded to that. It really helped out when you started going in retail, when you started doing more mass sales, mass production or mass sales, because you knew that, you knew who your person was. You already had the beginnings of your community. So I'm only kind of just translating what you just said, but these are the parts to me that really stood out in that story, but it's just so powerful.

That story that you tell is just so powerful. And I've been there. And when you're talking about crying, I can picture that. I can picture how your heart wants to go somewhere, your heart wants to soar, and we make ourselves small. And because of the fear. And so, wow, I mean, I don't know. I mean, I don't have a question for you. I just wanted to relate how much I like the different points of your story, because there's...

Octavia Morgan (20:40.701)
Yes. Fear.

Ramon Vela (20:51.512)
To me, it's so powerful.

Octavia Morgan (20:53.299)
Yeah, no, it, you know, fear, really, you know, it holds us back, right? It holds, it really holds us back. And one of the words that, you know, that really was coming to me during that time was being courageous. And that is just, you're just moving in spite of the fear, right? You can still be, have fear, but you have to keep moving. And so that's one of the things for me, it was just like, I can feel the fear. It's okay. Fear is not.

not a it's not our enemy, right? It's there to alert us to things. It's there for us to take a closer look. But I feel like when we're rooted in the fear and we can't see past it, this is when it becomes an issue. You can feel the fear, but you can still keep moving in the direction that you need to move in in spite of it. Right. You can say, I see you, but I'm gonna need you to sit in this corner because I have I have a mission. I'm on a mission.

And I have to keep pushing, pushing forward. And that's how I looked at it. Just keep pushing forward, keep pushing the agenda. You know, I made an agreement anytime I come out of meditation and something is given to me and it's heavy, I feel like it's an agreement, right? And so once I make that agreement, then I'm going to see it all the way through. That's just how I've always been. So I made an agreement that this is what we're going to do with Octavia Morgan.

And so I said, okay, I'm going to do everything in my physical power to keep moving forward. Although I am afraid because these are very unknown things, right? I don't know where, you know, the money is going to come from. I don't know if people are in it, you know, like our product. I mean, the audacity for you to sell five fragrance, you know, in these markets, like that's absurd, but it works for us.

It works for us and this was the opening that we needed for our brand to grow into scale.

Ramon Vela (22:54.19)
I love that and I love the way you talk about the emotions and I feel the same way and you know, there's all sorts of different ways.

of looking at emotions, you you can think of them as a signal. Some people refer to them signals. There's a woman whose book I can't remember, Emotional Agility, that I really found useful. And she says emotions are data, not directives. They're trying to tell us something. And I prefer to kind of look at them at the way that you kind of, I think, referenced is that for me, they're sort of like friends. Like they're trying to tell me something. And, you know, and

Sometimes I need to tell that friend, thank you. But like you said, sit to the side, go to the corner. Cause right now I, you know, I can't, I can't be all fear. I, I appreciate you telling me this and that fear is telling me I need to prepare. I need to work harder. I need to look for different ways. You know, it's telling you something. So I think that's great. I love that. I mean, that alone could be like, we can just stop the interview right there because so many people, if they really listen to that, that could be so useful to them. So.

so, okay. So my next question is this, this product, these scents, these fragrances, it feels like you hit upon something that, I mean, and I don't know what the market's like, but I'm assuming that there's, there probably wasn't, it probably wasn't so pronounced that people knew where to find it or knew where to get it, or he had different products and they, you know,

things like that. At least back then, maybe now it's more competitive, but you stumbled upon something that really spoke to people. just like that woman who, again, who went to your booth and started sobbing, you really spoke to someone. And it's amazing because I would never have thought that. I would never have thought that people had this allergic reaction or whatever it is to fragrances and scents and things like that.

Ramon Vela (24:58.574)
Yeah, I mean, that's just to me, that's it's mind boggling. I mean, it's so fortuitous that you found it and you got it and and that, you know, this was your vision, your vision and your mission. I mean, that's amazing. I mean, is there I mean, how widespread is this?

Octavia Morgan (25:16.657)
So one third of the US population identifies as having a self-form of fragrance sensitivity. So it's very prevalent. It's very interesting. So I've met several different clients. had some that although they would have these reactions, they would still spray. And you have to think about it. You can have these reactions. It's also people.

that have upper respiratory issues that may have asthma and it's triggered by these allergic, you know, by these, some of these scents is things like these sneezing reactions. You know, some people feel nauseated, some people feel headaches and you have to think too. I have a pregnant woman.

I have a group of pregnant women that buy from me, right? And it's word of mouth because they're fragrance-sensitive. When you're pregnant, we don't think about it. We're extremely sensitive to smells. Where do they go? Then think about also the population like I was before, like I was a nurse. I dealt with a very vulnerable population, but I wanted to wear fragrance. What do I wear that doesn't trigger them, that they're not having these strong reactions to but still

me feel good. And at the time when I first experienced, because I was experiencing fragrance sensitivity, this is what caused me to create this brand. And at the time, like almost 10 years ago, the market was way different than it was now. I went to the market for a cleaner natural alternative.

It was very limited. They were very flat, single-noted. It was nothing exciting about it, right? And I'm a fragrance girl. I got my first fragrance at five years old. I wanna smell like a fri... I wanna smell like this beautiful, complex fragrance. I don't wanna smell like a... Like, you know, I don't want it light. I want it bold. I wanna leave a scent trail. You know, I want all the things. Now, where is this for me? And it wasn't there.

Octavia Morgan (27:12.401)
So that's where I started to create Octavia Morgan. And it really wasn't like Octavia Morgan. It just was like this. I was just creating fragrances, right? I started doing research, I had my science background and my grandmother was a herbalist. So I had a working knowledge on how to work with botanicals and plant extracts. So I just started putting things together.

Ramon Vela (27:22.688)
Thank

Octavia Morgan (27:39.167)
little by little, very slowly. And in doing that, created the first four. Now, Legendary I created because that was out of necessity. That was, I wanted something that was neutral, non-offensive, so I could wear it, I can wear it going to see my patients, right? So that's why I created that. I call it a great everyday scent. So Legendary is an extremely wonderful everyday scent.

My next set that I love gardens, right? So my next set was summer floor. And summer floor was, I was sitting in a garden and I was smelling the florals, but I also started to smell the woods. I closed my eyes and I started to smell some of the citrus and those things together were so beautiful.

And I was like, you know what? I want a scent like this. I want a scent like this. And so we created Summer Floor, which it opens up very bright. So it has grapefruit. So it opens up very bright with grapefruit. Then it goes into the white flowers, jasmine, gardenia, lily. But it's grounded in a wood because all of my scents, all of my florals are going to always be grounded in a wood or something heavy. It's because as I was doing my research prior to the 19th century, there were no men or women category

like categories and fragrance. It was fragrance. With the rise of the middle class, they started saying woods and aquatics are for men, florals and sweet scents are for women. And so they broke those, they separated those categories, which it also limited, I like, I like, I like woods.

Ramon Vela (28:59.768)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (29:18.168)
Mm-hmm.

Octavia Morgan (29:18.173)
You know, I like a wood, I like aquatic. You know, some men that like a floral. So it created this kind of like this kind of like ambiguity, you know, kind of like crazy thing with genders where people are really afraid to this day to cross over. They're getting a lot better. But back when we started, it was like I would have...

Ramon Vela (29:31.982)
Mm-hmm.

Octavia Morgan (29:43.721)
couples that would come up to us and we have a scent called Dark Rose. That's my best seller. It's an unapologetically sexy set. And I created that because I feel like in society, we always have to apologize. No matter who we are, we have to always apologize for something. Right. And I wanted a scent that was very in your face. It was bold. It didn't apologize for being sexy, sensual, moving. I wanted that power. And so we created Dark Rose, but I have a lot of men that really resonate with that scent.

Ramon Vela (30:13.965)
Mm-hmm.

Octavia Morgan (30:14.022)
And I would have couples that would come up and the woman would be like, no, dark roses for women. And I would be like, hey, wait a minute. Don't do that. So I would spray it on.

the gentleman and then I would spray it on his, and his lady and they will smell totally different. And for us it's because the woods are going to come up to the top for the men and it equals it out. It equals out the plum and the rose. And then for the women, the woods kind of recede and then the plum and the rose kind of equal itself out. So you're getting two different.

You get into different sets with two different wearers and they would be so surprised that they would let the gentleman, they would be like, okay, he can have this set, you know, he have this set. And that would make me the most excited because we were educating and I had a gentleman that came up to me and he was like, Octavia in Japan, Rose is actually a masculine flower.

Ramon Vela (30:57.154)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (31:09.688)
Hmm.

Octavia Morgan (31:10.215)
I was like, that's very interesting because we always see Rose as a feminine flower, but he was like, it's a masculine flower. And I was like, see, now that's very, very, you know, that's a different way of looking at it. We think one thing and then somewhere else they think something else. So I always like to say Octavia Morgan is a safe space to experience sets. And our last set was Oud Noir.

Ramon Vela (31:19.031)
Hehehe.

Octavia Morgan (31:33.895)
And I love oud. I have a best friend and his wife, they're Middle Eastern. And he always had like a spicy oud scent. And I always loved the way that oud smelled, but I always felt like it was way too powerful for women to wear it. So for me, I took the idea of an oud and I balanced it out so that women would be able to wear it as well. And that one is my most complex, most interesting scent that I make. It really evolves as you

It's such a interesting, beautiful set and I'm most proud of that one.

Ramon Vela (32:11.766)
Wow. Well, you know, it's fascinating to hear about how these scents, these fragrances work and how they start off and they end and so forth. And I agree with you. And I have noticed that more and more products are gender neutral and so forth. And by the way, I actually, there's some fragrances that my wife uses.

Octavia Morgan (32:29.992)
Yeah.

Ramon Vela (32:35.086)
that I really like. So sometimes when I'm in the, after I take a shower and I see it on the, on the counter, I might spray some on me and she'll, she'll also say something like, that's not for you. That's for me. That's for me. And I'm like, I'm like, no, I like the way it smells. It has like a citrus or you know, strawberry and I'm like, I just like it. I'm sorry. You know, but you know, you're right. More and more people are, are, going in there. And, uh, and so I can see how this it's, it's, it's so beneficial, I think to, to have it sort of.

Octavia Morgan (32:44.36)
No.

Ramon Vela (33:03.79)
whatever you refer to it, gender neutral, whatnot. The thing that I would love to find out is, and thank you for kind of going through those different scents and what they are. And I've covered in the past this topic before. So I understand how powerful fragrances are in terms of the smell, in terms of memory, in terms of your neurological sense and all of that. And this is powerful.

You know, it could take them back to memories. It could take them back to experiences. could, you know, really create these powerful experiences for people. But what I was wondering too, as you were explaining that is what is the big difference? You don't have to get very scientific. But I'm curious, like what is, from a formulation standpoint, science standpoint, what is the biggest difference between your fragrances and scents?

and what's out there that causes people to have difficulty is, are these other ones, do they have fillers or things that really don't, know, impact people in different ways? What's the biggest difference?

Octavia Morgan (34:17.087)
So for us, Octavia Morgan, I like to say we go back to basic perfuming. So for our scents, we use what's called clean synthetics, they're not petroleum based. And we use those because with the use of some natural materials can be overused, overforested, and it's for consistency.

in our fragrance, in our batches, right? It's consistency. We try to use as much natural materials as we can, but we throw synthetics in there as well. We don't use any fillers. We don't use anything to expand our scents. Basically, what you see is what you get. You get perfume oil, alcohol, a little bit of water, and that's it. And other fragrance houses and...

It's a lot of fragrance houses that are doing a lot of beautiful things right now as far as like clean fragrances being very mindful of what some of the ingredients that they're using at this point. But some of the other fragrance houses they use do use things to expand the scent to help them throw because they're not using as much fragrance oil as they could be. And it comes sometimes comes down to not so much science, but to dollars and cents.

Ramon Vela (35:30.22)
Hmm, that's what I was thinking. mean, I've had conversations probably as long as I've had this show about recipes and formulations and people always tell me, you know, and this was in the health and wellness space, but it's kind of similar that, you know, the difficult part for companies like yours is that manufacturing, manufacturing has been designed.

for like the lowest cost per unit, which is fine. I mean, that's the economics of it. But what ends up happening is that these houses, these formulators and things like that, they will have fragrances that kind of like have some of the ingredients that might be useful. But then they put all sorts of other stuff in there to keep costs down and to keep, know, and so that people can make the most money possible.

And so like from a health and wellness perspective, I remember someone telling me like, yeah, the formulator told me, I want, um, do I want like the marketing recipe that, that will feel like something's happening or do you actually want the thing that actually has the active ingredients in there and this efficacious, like what's going to cost more and what's going to cost less, which one do you want? And it kind of sounds like that's also kind of in the, in the fragrance industry where the

You know, they want to make money. And so they put these things in there, which, know, God, thank God for companies like yours who are out there, pushing the limits and pioneering and, creating clean ingredient, you know, going back to basics, as you mentioned, you know, and so, so I can appreciate that. Now, I want to, I want to, go to the website and just remind people where to go. and for those who are listening to this.

You can go to OctaviaMorgan.com OctaviaMorgan.com Octavia is spelled O-C-T-A-V as in Victor I-A and then the name Morgan OctaviaMorgan.com is the website and online when we have this up on YouTube, we'll have the website on the screen. But for now, know, someone has really enjoyed

Ramon Vela (37:49.64)
listening to you and your story. And it's a fascinating story. And I'm telling you, can probably, we can just stick to that one phase and just learn all your secrets. because I think so many people can benefit from that. So inspiring and just really pushing past your fears and whatnot. But if someone loves that and loves your direction and your approach to fragrances and all of this, and they want to start, they want to start that journey, where do you have them start?

in terms of the product? you have a bundle? Do you have samples? Do you have one fragrance that you feel like, okay, if know this is, if I'm going to have you start anywhere, this is where you start. Is there anything like that you would recommend to people?

Octavia Morgan (38:31.519)
So we do have, so two things. Right now we have four scents in Ulta Beauty, which were carried nationwide. You can smell Dark Rose, Midnight Orchard, Legendary, and La Faire in person at Ulta Beauty. They also have a discovery set in Ulta Beauty and on Ulta.com, a four piece discovery set. On OctaviaMorgan.com, we have an eight piece discovery set. So I will start out with our discovery set.

I think that it's more appropriate to start with our discovery sets because our scents are very unusual. Usually people, tell me, I don't like rose. but it does. I didn't know that rose could smell like this. I have right now we have a Garman scent called Midnight Orchard, which is peach and apricot forward. People tell me I this is like a grown up Garman.

Right. have a lot of gentlemen that wear that as well. It has a hint of Sichuan pepper in there. So you get that spice and it's grounded in sandalwood. So it's a very balanced, beautiful Garman set. But start with our discovery sets. You can't go wrong.

Ramon Vela (39:29.571)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (39:45.718)
Well, that sounds fantastic. And and the one that you said was your best seller was the dark road.

Octavia Morgan (39:51.625)
Dark Rose is my best seller. That is a statement set. You want to get compliments. You want people everywhere you go get noticed. Wear Dark Rose. Everyone always tells me the same thing. When I wear this set, what was I wearing before?

Ramon Vela (40:07.726)
That's funny. I love that. And so what else do you have on there? I noticed that you have lotions and other things like that. These are all related to fragrances and so forth. I'm sure. What else do you have that people can discover on your website?

Octavia Morgan (40:24.991)
So we also have our, we have three collections. We have our fragrance collection. We have our body collection, which consists of lotion and body oils. Our body oils are fantastic. They're combined with six different oils. They're very much for hydrating, nourishing. Some people like to layer with the scent of the corresponding body oil. And we also have home fragrances. So our home fragrances are not in any of the scents that are

our body fragrances are in, our home scents are very separate. We have Lay Hotel, which is across between a luxurious spa.

spa in a beautiful hotel room. And I like to tell people this is a very uplifting scent. It's really, really nice. And we also have Hotel Provence, which is like walking in a lavender field in France. And we're also going to be releasing a fragrance called Hotel Morocco, which is a fig, spicy fig forward fragrance, which is really nice. These, like to say they're functional fragrances. So they help with your mood, like uplifting your mood, help to like decrease anxiety.

They're really nice to to spray around your home. They're pet friendly. Believe me, I have tons of customers with pets. We like to talk about how sometimes the other sets that they spray dry that drives their pets crazy. These are pet safe, really, really beautiful sense. And also on August 4th, we're going to be launching two new fragrances. The first one being.

Casablanca, so Casablanca and Vanilla Supreme. So these are the double Vanillas, as I like to call them. I've been asked for years to do vanilla scents, haven't given into it. But what I did was I ordered some Madagascar vanilla beans and I sat with them for a month because I needed to understand what real vanilla smelled like.

Octavia Morgan (42:26.591)
And this is vanilla supreme. It's like a creamy, really beautiful expression of vanilla. And then Casablanca right here. This one is a beautiful, spicy, kind of woodsy vanilla. So it's just two expressions of the same being.

Ramon Vela (42:35.842)
Mm-hmm.

Ramon Vela (42:45.23)
Interesting and that's coming in August, right? Wow, I love this and then and by the way, I just went to the website and looked around so you also have a scent quiz which I'm assuming is for someone who is really interested in in trying something they could also go for the same quiz if they and or the the sample set the discovery set.

Octavia Morgan (42:48.135)
August 4th at Aalto.com.

Octavia Morgan (43:00.371)
friends.

Octavia Morgan (43:10.899)
Yes.

Ramon Vela (43:11.892)
And then of course you have store locations. You want to do any shout outs to anyone, any partner out there?

Octavia Morgan (43:18.367)
So our biggest shout out is to Alta Beauty. They've been a great partner for us with expanding us nationwide. We also have smaller retailers that we have that are local in local states. So you also could get those off the store locator as well. So if you don't find an Alta in your location, maybe it's a smaller boutique or a spa that is carrying us at this time.

Ramon Vela (43:43.47)
And then you also have candles I've noticed and and then you mentioned the oils and then the other fragrances and the lotions and so forth. So yeah, you got a lot of great stuff there. So, okay, so I I want to be respectful of your time and there are a couple things that I want to ask you. Let me just make sure we're on time. So a couple things. One is I want to ask you a product question.

Octavia Morgan (43:46.726)
Yes.

Ramon Vela (44:11.542)
And then I want to ask you an entrepreneurial question. Let me ask you the entrepreneurial question and then we'll end with the more product, the brand product question. So I think you've already given us really a great case study on entrepreneurship just from your examples. And it's so inspiring, as I mentioned, but is there anything, you know, and I, and I, we haven't talked about this, but, but I,

Octavia Morgan (44:16.337)
Okay, sure.

Ramon Vela (44:41.398)
I have a feeling that people do ask you to speak at shows and at entrepreneurs and mentor type of situations because I mean, you're inspiring me. mean, I love it when someone can tell me about their life and, and just, just be so inspiring. What do you tell people out there who are, let's say they're like yourself, they're, they're working at a job that has paid the bills.

that they find enjoyment out of it, but there's something in their hearts that they know that they should be doing. And it may have been years now, but they're holding back because they're scared. From an entrepreneurial perspective, what would you tell them to encourage them, but also if they say, Octavia, I don't know where to start. I don't know what to do.

Is there anything that you would recommend, be their first steps or those, or maybe even like things that you learned that maybe cost you a lot of time and money and maybe you can help them avoid it as well. So anything like that.

Octavia Morgan (45:49.223)
You know what? would start with just wherever it is that you want to do. I would start just kind of asking questions in that realm. Because you never know if you start making those connections, start going to like we have Facebook and TikTok and YouTube. You have all of these things. Start getting educated on what it is that you want to do, because then it helps you to home in and ask the right questions. So when you go to these networking events, you

and you start making these connections, you know what it is that, what to ask or what to lead with. And really this, what happens is it opens up these beautiful relationships. Our brand is built on relationships. We've gotten, I'm at one person and I've been able to have these great conversations and that one person has introduced me to these people and all of these things have unfolded. So.

educate yourself. The next thing is why not? If, why not you? We always say, well, if this, why not you? Why not just go for it? You know, and even if it's like you're afraid to go full time and jump, because I know that can be extremely scary. Why not?

Start with part-time. Why not give it an hour two hours and build yourself up into Whatever it is that you want to do. It's not anything where it could be all or nothing It doesn't have to be all in that thing for some people that is going to be their journey It's going to be all or nothing. But for some people it's going to be them just building up But not why not give yourself we all have an hour to give a day get unplugged Don't watch television

but go find out about your niche, your business, whatever it is, just educate yourself because that's gonna take you so far. And no matter what, when it feels like you don't understand, you don't know.

Octavia Morgan (47:53.311)
I believe in meditation. believe that it saved me from so many things. Meditate, pray, but ground into something that's bigger than you because that's going be very important as you go along this journey because being an entrepreneur is going to push you to the brinks of everything that you thought you were. Everything that you are as a person, it pushes you and it continues to push you. It's kind of like a growing and shedding. As you grow,

You have to share and that that that takes a lot of energy and it takes a lot of energy physically, emotionally, spiritually. Then you have to be able to ground into something that is bigger than you. And be fed again.

Ramon Vela (48:30.914)
Wow. And how about there was something you said earlier when you talked about that you were introvert. What did you, what's the phrase that you use? You said, get out there, get in the field or get.

Octavia Morgan (48:38.887)
Yes.

Octavia Morgan (48:44.799)
Get out there, get out there. You know, I was looking at something the other day and a gentleman was like, even if you're if you're a little anxious and you have anxiety, you have to you have to just continue to put yourself out there because it gets every time you get out there, it gets a little bit easier. Right. The more that you do something, it's just like repetition. Right. It becomes repetition. So it gets easier to have these conversations. If I if you told me I would have this conversation with you, Ramon.

10 years ago, I would have said, no way, no way, no way. But here I am now. I talked to thousands of people. had a masterclass a couple, um, months ago with 2000 people in the chat room. I would have never thought I could do that, but it's just repetition. I continue to just put myself out there, continue to make these relations, you know, these connections, because that's the most important thing to me. It's the connections.

Of course I'm a company, I'm a brand. I wanna sell things. But you know when I'm the happiest? Is when I meet a customer.

And they tell me how much they love that fragrance. Or they tell me that that fragrance reminds them of their childhood when they were in their grandmother's backyard and she had Jasmine. You know, those type of connections that I have or I have a husband and wife and they were and she wore that on her wedding. And every time she wears it, her husband's like, I think about the happiest day of my life. Like, those are the things that feed me and make me the most and just absolutely make me the happiest.

Ramon Vela (50:10.414)
You

Ramon Vela (50:18.434)
Wow, I love that. Okay, so thank you for all of that. That's amazing. And with all of that said, and I think you already touched upon it now, what do you want to leave with the audience? What do you want to leave with that person in regards to Octavia Morgan, the fragrances and the scents and so forth? What do you want someone to walk away from this interview thinking and hopefully thinking

I wanna try that. I wanna see more, I wanna know more about what these fragrances are all about after listening to Octavia.

Octavia Morgan (50:54.589)
You know what? just want you to know that we just, create beautiful things. That's all I want. I want to create, just put more beautiful beauty out there. And I want you to know too, that everything that we release, I use for 60 days, personally myself. If I don't like it, if it's not performing, if it's not toward any of the things that I think it should do, I literally scrap stuff. And to the detriment of my team, just pulling out their hair, but it's very important to me.

that everything that we put out is done with integrity and it's stunning with care because my name is Octavia, but the last name is Morgan. That's a family name. That's an homage to my grandmother. She believed in putting out beautiful things. She believed in using quality ingredients and I am a stickler for that. I hold firm to put it out beautiful things that are made with quality, integrity and care. And I want you to fill that with everything that you wear from Octavia Morgan.

Ramon Vela (51:53.038)
Well, I can tell you that anyone sitting and listening to this interview will wholeheartedly feel what you just said because I think that was shown through the entire interview. And I really feel like from my perspective, I'm always looking for great products to feature on the show and

And we even have a tagline, which I think you may meet, which is a product worth buying, a brand we're supporting because I feel like I want to support you now. and it's just, I just love your story. I mean, I tell you, like your, your origin story is so inspirational. That alone, I think it would have made just, just, just that one part, we could have ended it there and it made this a really great episode, but the rest is so it's, it's, it's the entire story is just so compelling.

Octavia Morgan (52:24.104)
you

Ramon Vela (52:47.218)
And I really, you I love the way you described the scents and the fragrances and how they work and how they, you know, how they start off and how they end and how they work together and how they might smell differently, the woods might sound different, know, from, you know, the man and the woman. I mean, it's all of this. I just love to hear people who are passionate about what they do and love what they do. I just love to hear them talk.

That's why I like watching sometimes those craft shows and when someone really loves what they're doing, it's just mesmerizing and I love that and I see that in you. So thank you so much.

Octavia Morgan (53:17.919)
you

Octavia Morgan (53:26.801)
I love what I do. Thank you, Ramon. Thank you for having me. But above all, Ramon, I love what it is. I love creating beautiful things and putting them out there for others to use. That really is my Jimmy Jam. I love beauty and I love creation. I really love what it is that we do over here at Octavia Morgan. Super proud of us and our team. Everything is great.

Ramon Vela (53:53.196)
Well, well, you should be. so thank you so much for everything, for being here on the show, for sharing your story. I truly appreciate it. And I can't wait to share this with everyone. So thank you so much for making time for us.

Octavia Morgan (54:07.369)
Thank you. Thank you for having me, Ramon. Thank you everyone for listening to my story.

Ramon Vela (54:11.458)
Yeah, you're welcome. And so everyone out there, we have just had the CEO and creative director of Octavia Morgan, Octavia Morgan on the show. So thank you again. Everyone out there, we're gonna have the link to this episode as well as the link to their Octavia's website and social media and all of that on our podcast description, which you could find on Apple, you can find on Spotify, you can pretty much find it anywhere.

you listen to podcasts, simply type in the story of a brand show and you should be able to find it. Beyond that, I always say stay safe, stay sane, stay healthy. And one last thing, I also would say go check out the website. This is such an amazing story. If you have any issues at all with scents or fragrances, and even if you don't, go check out the website because this is such an amazing story. I feel like I just wanna go run out to also, I think there's one in Glendore near where I live.

and go check them. I got to smell. got to feel and smell these fragrances for myself now. So go check it out. And then one last thing. We've all been going through a lot of stuff. We've all been going through the pandemic and then the economy and geopolitical wars and politics and everything else that's going on in the world. It feels a little crazy right now. So let's just do ourselves a favor and let's just remember that everyone is going through something.

And if we can do that and just be a little kinder to each other, I know we can make this human experience a better one. Beyond that, thank you from the bottom of my heart for listening to another episode of the story of a brand.