Second Life Melanie Bender: Founder and CEO of Lore
Nov 24, 2025
Melanie Bender, Founder and CEO of Lore, transitioned from aspiring STEM professional to beauty executive, building brands like Versed and Rhode. She reveals how her background in environmental science and aerospace engineering has shaped her entrepreneurial mindset. Melanie shares her journey to starting Lore, a fragrance brand that invites storytelling through scent. She explores her unique approach to developing fragrances based on feelings and art, and discusses the challenges of entering the fragrance world, emphasizing the importance of passion and creativity in her work.
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Engineering Mindset Powers Entrepreneurship
- Melanie links an engineering mindset and the scientific method directly to entrepreneurship and brand-building.
- She breaks big problems into tasks and iterates through hypothesis, test, and learn cycles.
Scuba Research Shaped Her Method
- Melanie scuba-dived daily for her senior thesis studying climate impacts on coral reefs.
- The work taught her scientific method and shaped how she frames big questions for business.
Cupcakes To Break Into Marketing
- Melanie left environmental planning after realizing cubicle report writing drained her.
- She cold-applied, wrote hundreds of cover letters, and even dropped cupcakes into HR to get a foot in the door.
