British perfumer Jo Malone has always amazed us with her refreshing scents. Originally a facial therapist, she founded her first brand Jo Malone London which she sold to Estee Lauder in 1999. After a major life-changing decision to step down and exit the business due to a battle with cancer, she is now back in business with a new launch JO LOVES, a quintessential British brand of bath, body products and candles that has unexpected beautiful scents.
Can you tell us a little bit about how and why you left Jo Malone London?
I thought I was going to stay there for the rest of my life. The first couple of years were unbelievable; I was doing everything that I loved in my life and I was creating fragrances. During that time, I found a lump in my breast, so I went back to London and I was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer. I was only 38 years old. The wonderful Evelyn Lauder was amazing and introduced me to Doctor Larry Norton, who eventually saved my life. After being away from my business for a year, I had become a different person. My work for me is not a job, I love what I do and I love being successful at it. Suddenly, I felt that I was not that person anymore; I did not belong there and therefore stepped down.
I thought that cancer was going to come back and it made me sad. They tried to change my mind but I was determined to leave. During my five-year lookout, I was miserable. I woke up every morning with the day ahead of me and I didn’t know what to do with myself. So I made a TV show and kept dreaming about creating fragrances.
At the end of these five years, I wrote a CV and thought “if someone offers me a job I’ll take it, as long as I can create a fragrance because this is all I want to do.” When nobody approached me, I decided to try again. After finishing the TV show I was working on, I decided to create a fragrance at my kitchen table with the help of my best friend Charlotte.
After we started the business, the first three years were the toughest ones I had ever faced. I made every mistake in the book. I don’t know why, but nothing felt as if it was going right and I almost quit about 12 times. And the last time I nearly quit was when I went into the shop we had just opened and it was so hard, because I looked back and thought “I was a part of something then, but here I am now at this one little shop with a bottle in my hand.” It was tough!
When my husband got really ill, I thought to myself that I cannot do this anymore. I went straight to the shop and I sat there one morning and I was writing a list of things I needed to do to close down the business. This was about two years ago. I remember that one of the team members walked in and told me: “I love working for you. I do not know where I would be if I did not work here.” So I sat there and I wondered about what I am doing. I ripped up that paper and from that moment on, I never looked back.
It was then that I felt like I had business muscles literally growing in my arms and I stood up and I thought, “I am going to build a global brand and no one is going to stop me.” I kept shouting and now I do not have to shout anymore.
Can you tell us about the name of the brand? Why Jo Loves?
I thought of the name around the kitchen table, where we built the first brand and the second one. We were thinking of names and my son said to me: “mom, you either love things or you do not! And when you talk about this, this brand is all about what you love, and it will always be about that. It is not about what anyone else is doing, it should be about what Jo loves.”
The minute he said that, my husband and I looked at each other and we knew that was the name of the brand. We got the name registered everywhere before we created one bottle.
When it came to branding, I couldn’t find my icon. After visiting so many branding agencies and sitting through endless meetings, it was by chance that one day, before a trip to Asia, I saw a nail varnish called 'Shanghai Red' I was sitting there playing with it and staring at it. And because I am dyslexic, I use red dots to approve every product I create and the whole team knows that this is approved and can go into production or PR. That is when I realized that the red dot is my icon.
What about your book?
My book, which I finished writing two weeks ago, is very real. It has a twist. I wanted it to be scented. So by October, it will not only be paper as people are going to smell and read it all at the same time. It tells the story of everything. As you get to the last page, it feels like it’s the first. In this book, people will realize that I am no different than who they are. I couldn’t figure out where I began with my story, so I had to go back to where I started and it dawned on me less than 48 hours ago, that the first page of the book is what actually happened yesterday, when I stood as this young woman with four plastic jugs and a saucepan, and 30 years later where I stand in front of the world to be honored as a woman. It starts here in Dubai…
What was your first fragrance?
Pomelo was the first fragrance and it was followed by Green Orange and Coriander, as well as Orange Tulle with which I am going to create something really crazy. There is also Mango Thai Lime and Pink Vetiver. I also created a fragrance called Red Truffle 21 to commemorate my 21 years in retail. I wanted to create a new note that no one had ever used. You can smell the power of truffle in this fragrance, but I surrounded it with red notes, woods and citrus – which makes it very masculine.
Tell us one more thing that you really want to do.
Like a person, a brand has five senses and I would like to keep on bringing life to the five senses in things. I would like to build a boutique hotel because I love to travel, I love luxury and I love beautiful things. I want to take care of every single detail. I am having discussions on some really interesting projects where I can use my creativity but I do not have to be involved physically. I want to do things differently and I would love to experiment with things that are outside the fragrance industry. And so even if I fail, at least I gave it a go and gave it a shot. I want to see Jo Loves in every country without being a threat to Jo Malone. And the last thing I want is to create a paradigm shift with people, at least once in my lifetime, where I change the habit of the way somebody wears a fragrance.
We know it’s not your first time in Dubai and that you love this city, can you tell us more about it?
There is something in this city that I do not feel in many other places in the world. I had that feeling in New York where I lived for a year and I have the same feeling here. I love the life, the people and the spirit. I feel very safe here and I can be who I am. It's a place where everybody wants the best for each other and this makes me feel good.
Mirella Haddad
