What advice would you give to the younger version of you?
Be more patient and take the time to savor the good things. An entrepreneur must, by definition, be ambitious, but we must not lose sight of the fact that ambition can quickly become a mad race with no finishing line.
Your best investment?
My first trip to Grasse, the perfume capital.
Do you have a mantra?
In joy and good humor. If a project is not going as planned, we are behind schedule and stress is taking over us, I often say: “OK, OK, stay happy and in a good mood, please”, while at the same time grinding your teeth loudly!
Was there a moment when your career changed?
I started my business under the name Essence Workshop. It may be symbolic, but the day I changed my name to Ruby Brown remains a pivotal date for me. My person, my passion and my business became one. There is a huge responsibility in giving your name to your business, since everything becomes personal. The good shots and the less good ones are now made without a safety net. A lot of pride and pressure to see people appreciate products signed with your name.
What are your best and worst habits?
My best habit is to constantly seek to improve my products, my processes and my business model. My worst habit is to have a tendency to continually question everything. In short, the secret here is to find the balance that allows me to move forward with confidence.
Are you a perfectionist?
Yes ! And I hired a professional coach who taught me this principle that, for me who always want to be at 110%, 95% is correct. I work on this every day [pour y arriver].
What advice are you glad you ignored?
On several occasions, I thought about opening flagship-style stores! It was the basic idea, the familiar ground where everyone invited me to go. It was a bit of a logical start when I launched the brand in 2015. I almost gave in, but I always appreciated the freedom that the digital world gave me. This freedom allowed me to test several concepts and products that have shaped my business over the years. (It is however not excluded to open Ruby Brown boutiques one day, confides the entrepreneur.)
Do you impose a “dress code” on yourself at work?
No, quite the contrary. There is a touch of creativity in the way we dress, which means that I find a lot of pleasure in it. Fashion is my second passion. Imposing a dress code on myself would be like imposing the same perfume on myself every day. I need to have some fun!
What is your biggest mistake?
An oversized candle that required a huge artisanal pot and several people, which quickly destroyed the profitability of the project… These pots are today my most beautiful champagne buckets!
The ideal retirement?
I imagine that the satisfaction of having reached or even surpassed one’s dreams must be the key to the ideal retirement. As far as I’m concerned, it’s still very early to think about it, because I dream big, very big!
Who is Ruby Brown?
Ruby Brown became an entrepreneur at a very young age, when she launched Essence Workshop in 2011, which initially offered perfume creation workshops. In 2015, name change to adopt a homonymous concept. This is then the beginning of fragrance and product collaborations, notably with Cirque du Soleil, followed by the development of the range of products in the ecoluxe niche which bear the name Ruby Brown. Even today, they are all made in Canada and available online, at Simons and in Le Germain hotels, in particular.
The year 2024 will be an important year for the Ruby Brown brand, with a breakthrough underway on the American west coast (a first collaboration with a Palm Springs hotel), but above all an expansion of points of sale on the East coast of the United States. United.