Bridge Wellness and Culture, with Brown Girl Jane's Malaika Jones

Can a fragrance do more than smell good? That’s the question behind “functional fragrances,” which are developed to elicit a certain emotion, mood, or cognitive state. Malaika and her team are pioneering this space, tapping into decades of neuroscience research to explore how scent can make you feel better. But they don’t stop there. They bring in an understanding of cultural nuances to create evocative scents that resonate across communities and foster rituals that fit into everyone’s daily life.

In this episode, Malaika sits down with Brittney Jackson Moseley, who runs integrated marketing at Scentbird. She talks about how she went from Wall Street trader to founder, how to deal with burnout and perfectionism, and scents inspired by places like Kenya and Brazil.

Highlights:
• Brittney on the need for wellness in today’s world
• Scent is our strongest sense
• Scents you can feel: Can scent help you sleep or fall in love?
• Using neuroscience to create scents that have wellness benefits
• The cultural nuances around scent preferences
• Daily wellness rituals don’t have to be complicated
• Why the fragrance industry is ripe for an injection of soul and wellness
• Malaika’s wake-up call during her time as a Wall Street bond trader
• The Brown Girl Jane founders and the inspiration to start the brand
• Dealing with burnout and the pressures of perfectionism
• The founding team’s vision for serving communities in a more inclusive way
• The big question: Who is Jane?
• Malaika’s mother, her influence, and why she was ahead of her time
• Fragrances Malaika gravitated towards as a teenager and young adult
• Scent Spotlight: The Wanderlust Collection: Casablanca, Bahia, Lamu
• Scent Spotlight: Dawn, Dusk, Dare, and scents for wellness benefits throughout the day
• The vanilla scent that gives you an energy boost
• The lychee scent that takes you to an intimate, confident, and sexy place
• Scent Connection: ‘90s Nostalgia Edition
• Rapid-fire impressions on nostalgic Victoria’s Secret, A&F, and Bath & Body Works fragrances
• The journey of getting closer to your true self

Featured Fragrances:
Casablanca by Brown Girl Jane
Bahia by Brown Girl Jane
Lamu by Brown Girl Jane
Dawn by Brown Girl Jane
Dusk by Brown Girl Jane
Dare by Brown Girl Jane
Wanderlust Trio by Brown Girl Jane