Originally published in Carroll Capital, the print publication of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. .听
You likely don鈥檛 know Lisa Wilson 鈥�84, but you鈥檝e probably smelled her work.
If there鈥檚 anything from men鈥檚 grooming company Cremo in your medicine cabinet, or you鈥檝e seen videos of beauty influencers applying drops of True Botanicals鈥� Pure Radiance Oil to their skin, or you鈥檝e even spritzed on some Michael Jordan Cologne, like Oprah Winfrey did for her 1996 interview with the basketball star, you have Wilson to thank.
That鈥檚 because she鈥檚 a fragrance expert, trained extensively in both perfumery and the development of creative strategy around new scents. Through her fragrance consulting company,听Scent & Strategy, Wilson brings fragrances to life for everyday products like candles, body washes, and shampoos. While you won鈥檛 find her name on any bottle labels, something of her essence can still be found in every product she works on. For Wilson, that鈥檚 all by design.
The world of fragrances may have romantic connotations, but with Wilson, there鈥檚 a reason 鈥渟trategy鈥� shares equal billing with 鈥渟cent.鈥� It all starts with her family background. Her father, mother, and sister had all worked in advertising, and when her mother remarried after her father鈥檚 death, Wilson鈥檚 stepfather did too. 鈥淚t was sort of in the blood,鈥� she notes.听
After graduating from the Carroll School of Management in 1984 with a marketing concentration, Wilson headed to New York to work at advertising agency BBDO, then at Ogilvy & Mather, where she had her first contact with the world of fragrances as an account executive for Chesebrough-Pond鈥檚 mass market fragrances and body sprays. Wilson found herself curious about how fragrances were made, not just how to sell them.
Not long after, while working as a brand manager for Chesebrough-Pond鈥檚 parent company, Unilever, Wilson was sent to a fragrance house, where scents are formulated and manufactured. It was there that the trajectory of her career shifted on its axis.听
When offered a men鈥檚 fragrance to smell, one whiff transported Wilson back to her childhood in the Detroit suburbs. 鈥淪omething changed in my body. All of a sudden, I was 11 years old,鈥� the year before her father passed away, she says. In the memory, she was in her parents鈥� bathroom while her dad was preparing to leave on yet another business trip. Wilson could smell the crab apple blossoms outside the window, see the gold flecks in the formica countertop, and feel the moisture in the air from the shower. She could even hear her dad鈥檚 voice again.
There is so much Wilson didn鈥檛 get a chance to learn firsthand from her father, including his connection with legendary Carroll School alumnus Jack Connors 鈥�63, H 鈥�07, P 鈥�93, 鈥�94.
That story begins with Connors working at BBDO, where he was told, at a particular Detroit meeting, that he had a real future with the company. 鈥淭hey said 鈥� if Jack keeps his nose clean, by the time he鈥檚 30, he鈥檒l be a vice president here in Detroit. I quit the next morning because I wanted to be the architect of my own destiny,鈥� Connors recounted in a 2024 interview with John and Linda Powers Family Dean Andy Boynton. It was Wilson鈥檚 father, a vice president in BBDO鈥檚 Detroit office, who offered Connors the advice he didn鈥檛 take.听
“ 鈥淚 had to be involved in the creation of fragrance. I had to pour myself into it. ”
Many years later, she met the man himself. Wilson, as a Carroll School student, attended an on-campus event where Connors spoke. When she went to introduce herself, 鈥淚 said, 鈥楳r. Connors,鈥� and he looks at me and goes, 鈥榊ou鈥檝e got to be John Wilson鈥檚 daughter, I鈥檇 know you anywhere,鈥欌�� Wilson recollects.听
Later on, as a senior, and unbeknownst to Connors, she secured an internship with Hill Holliday, the Boston advertising firm Connors cofounded. When he found out, Connors quickly became a mentor, even helping Wilson get job interviews when she decided to move to New York. 鈥淗e just always looked out for me,鈥� she says. 鈥淗e would spend time telling me stories about my dad.鈥�
That experience fed both the business and creative advertising sides of her brain. And it was the other memories of her dad, summoned at the fragrance house, that taught Wilson the sheer power of scent. 鈥淭hat smell brought my father back to me," she says鈥擶ilson realized she听needed to follow a new career path. 鈥淚 had to be involved in the creation of fragrance. I had to pour myself into it.鈥澨�
Fragrance has formed the bedrock of her career ever since. After leaving Unilever, she trained in perfumery evaluation, the sensory and technical analysis of fragrances, and got jobs at fragrance houses where her clients included names like Pottery Barn and Yankee Candle.
She was working for Givaudan, one of the world鈥檚 largest fragrance houses, when Michael Jordan decided to launch his own cologne. Wilson was a jack of all trades on the project, copywriting, developing PR strategy for the launch, and playing with perfume accords.
Like music chords, perfumery accords are scent notes that together make something harmonic, in this case, an aroma that evokes an idea. For Michael Jordan Cologne, Wilson conjured up scents reminiscent of cut grass, freshly showered skin, and the coniferous evergreen trees of Jordan鈥檚 boyhood in North Carolina. 鈥淚 love that word, coniferous,鈥� she says鈥攊t brings to mind the forest around the Michigan lake Wilson swam in as a kid. 鈥淭he [scent] memories I have are little, random things that add up to this whole life,鈥� she adds. 鈥淚 call it my olfactive memory.鈥�
Michael Jordan Cologne was the most successful men鈥檚 fragrance in the US when launched, earning more than $120 million in sales in the first year. It won two 1997 Fragrance Foundation awards鈥攖he Oscars of the fragrance world鈥攆or Fragrance of the Year and Media Campaign of the Year. When Jordan went on Oprah in 1996, Winfrey asked him about the cologne, calling it 鈥渓ike air,鈥� wording Wilson conceived herself as part of the creative copy. 鈥淚 just loved that,鈥� Wilson says, beaming.
As fulfilling as her work was, the lifestyle required was exhausting. Behind the scenes, she had relocated to the West Coast, had two sons, and got divorced. 鈥淚 was always going from the West Coast to the East Coast鈥� for meetings, Wilson says. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 in control of my schedule.鈥� She struck out on her own in 2014, forming fragrance consulting firm Scent & Strategy. 鈥淚 did it at a very difficult time,鈥� she says; at home, she was a single mom and her own mother had developed dementia. 鈥淏ut I鈥檒l never look back. It was the right thing.鈥�
In the past 12 years of Scent & Strategy, Wilson鈥檚 projects have included developing Sephora鈥檚 first in-house line of home fragrances, which sold out in two weeks, and contriving scents for nearly every product for men鈥檚 grooming company Cremo and Virtue Labs, a haircare line enjoyed by celebrities like Jennifer Garner.听
Her main objective is to come up with widely appealing scents that still feel targeted to the customer. 鈥淟et鈥檚 say it鈥檚 a shampoo for somebody with very damaged hair,鈥� she offers as a hypothetical example. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to have a fragrance that communicates nurturing, something that is creamy. I can use ingredients and fragrance that tell that story,鈥� as well as the creative strategy.
Studying objects like Shakespeare at Boston College听gave Wilson different layers of communication to tap into on top of her marketing expertise. 鈥淚 have this multidisciplinary viewpoint of fragrance,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 do have a business background. I was a brand manager. I was in advertising. And I didn鈥檛 have to master all of these disciplines, I just had to know how to leverage them.鈥�
New fragrance development is a collaborative process. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have such hubris to think I鈥檓 the only one who comes up with ideas,鈥� Wilson asserts. But once the research is done and the concepts have been presented, making a choice is sometimes purely instinctual. 鈥淚 have this quirky internal barometer to know if something is killer,鈥� she says. Like the fragrance that brought back the memory of her dad, when she knows a scent is truly special, her response is visceral.
While Wilson has plenty of noteworthy projects, Labyrinth Made Goods, a home fragrance nonprofit and social enterprise for previously incarcerated women run by the McLean County YWCA in Illinois, is a clear contender for her favorite. 鈥淚 always wanted to use my fragrance background for the greater good, but I never knew how,鈥� she says. The team behind the project wanted Wilson to develop fragrances for the candles they hoped to sell. She couldn鈥檛 say yes fast enough.
Shortly after signing on, Wilson orchestrated a fragrance training. Setting out different scents, she asked the women assembled to discuss their reactions. 鈥淭here are no right or wrong answers. That鈥檚 the beauty of it,鈥� she says. One of the fragrance notes was an aldehyde compound, which can often smell either metallic or like fresh laundry. Wilson watched as one woman took a sniff and instantly reacted. 鈥淪he said it was like working in the laundry at the jail,鈥� Wilson says鈥攕he remains very close with the woman to this day. 鈥淓veryone in that room came alive because they could relate.鈥�
“ My work and the way I work has to be authentic. If it's not authentic, it's meaningless to me. ”
After six years, Labyrinth Made Goods lost federal grant funding and was forced to shut down, but the opportunity changed Wilson鈥檚 life. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to find that next step,鈥� she says. She has even been thinking about creating a fragrance training kit to bring her work into women鈥檚 prisons. 鈥淲omen who are incarcerated never have any control when they are in prison. Not when they go to bed, when they wake up, what they have to eat鈥︹�� she trails off. 鈥淔or them to have a voice that anyone listened to was the biggest thing.鈥�
In Wilson鈥檚 work, her own voice shines through, and in 12 years of running Scent & Strategy, she has managed to achieve exactly what she set out to do: Pick projects she is truly excited by, be able to pour herself into the fragrance world, and simply enjoy the journey.
鈥淎t the beginning, I took every single piece of business because I had to. Now I can be much more discerning,鈥� she says. 鈥淢y work and the way I work has to be authentic. If it鈥檚 not authentic, it鈥檚 meaningless to me.鈥�
