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Ep. 200 -From Loss to Light: Finding Purpose Through Scent with Rachel of Bodi Botanica
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🎙️ Get a HECK YES — Episode 200
✨ From Loss to Light: Finding Purpose Through Scent with Rachel of Bodi Botanica
🎉 Happy Woo Wednesday, friends!
We’ve officially hit 201 episodes — how wild is that?! Thank you for tuning in, sharing, and growing with me over the years. If you’ve been loving the “Heck Yes” vibes, it would mean the world if you left a quick review on Apple Podcasts. That’s how we keep the heck yes energy going! 💖
💡 Sponsor Spotlight: 17hats
Big shoutout to 17hats for sponsoring this episode!
They recently hosted a workshop where we learned how to build a client quote — with upsells, contracts, and invoices — all automated. I realized I’d been leaving so much money on the table!
If you’re ready to simplify and automate your business, head to 17hats.com and use code HECKYES to save!
🌿 Episode Overview
Today’s guest is Rachel, the amazing founder of Bodi Botanica. I met her at an event at the Natural History Museum — and she’s the kind of person who skips small talk and dives deep right away (in the best possible way).
Rachel creates fun, sensory perfume workshops that are truly one-of-a-kind experiences. Her journey is incredible — from a major life revelation during the pandemic that transformed her marriage and perspective, to losing everything in the Eaton fires and rebuilding her life from scratch.
Through her story, Rachel discovered her true purpose — blending creativity, healing, and play into a business that helps others reconnect with their senses and their most authentic selves.
You’ll walk away from this episode inspired to find more play and purpose in your own life.
📸 Connect with Rachel
Follow her journey and check out her upcoming workshops:
👉 @bodibotanica
💬 Let’s Connect!
Share your favorite takeaway from this episode on Instagram and tag me @carissawoo!
💖 Leave a review on Apple Podcasts so we can keep the Heck Yes energy going strong.
Recommended
Transcript
Celebrating 201 Episodes and Business Automation
00:00:00
Speaker
happy bull wednesdays friends i can't believe we hit 201 episodes holy cow how wild is that thank you for tuning in sharing and growing with me over the years if you've been loving the heck yes vibes it would mean the world if you left a quick review on apple podcast that's how we keep the heck yes going and a shout out to 17 hats for sponsoring my podcast this whole time They just had a workshop a couple weeks ago and they trained us how to make a quote for our clients with upsells and have the the automatic contract sent out and the invoice and the client notifications literally all in one.
00:00:41
Speaker
And I did automate pretty much my whole business with them, but I didn't realize how much money I was leaving on the table. with all these upsells. So that workshop was just mind blowing. And these are the workshops they have for us for free if you are a 17 Hats member. So use code HECKYES to get 50% off the entire year and automate your whole entire business.
Meet Rachel: Founder of Body Botanica
00:01:06
Speaker
So today's guest is Rachel, the amazing founder of Body Botanica. I met her at an event at the Natural History Museum and let me tell you, she's not one for a small talk.
00:01:18
Speaker
She goes deep right away in the best possible way. Rachel creates fun sensory perfume workshops that are truly one of a kind experiences. Her story is incredible from having a huge life revelation during the pandemic that completely transformed her life and marriage to losing everything in the Eton fires and rebuilding from scratch.
00:01:41
Speaker
and truly trying to find her passion after that. And through it all, she discovered her true purpose and learned to bring more play and authenticity into her adult life. I can't wait for you to hear her story. Let's dive in.
Creative Careers: Carissa Wu's Journey
00:01:59
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all.
00:02:10
Speaker
I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise. Some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, up-leveling your money story,
00:02:28
Speaker
Time hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo-woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey.
00:02:41
Speaker
I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesdays so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon.
Rachel's Playful and Adventurous Lifestyle
00:02:51
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Get a Heck Yes with your girl, Carissa Wu. Hope you had an amazing weekend. It is Monday we were recording today with my friend, Rachel Garipi, and she is from Body Botanica, and she creates fine fragrances and hosts fun perfumery workshops.
00:03:09
Speaker
um I met you at an event recently at the Natural History Museum. We kind of hit it off, and I have a feeling this is going tonna be a fun conversation. yeah I'm psyched to be here. Thanks for having Carissa.
00:03:20
Speaker
Yay. Okay, Rachel. Well, tell the heck yes listeners who you are. I'm Rachel. name is Rachel Garropy and I am a, hiking enthusiast, a perfumer, ah dog lover.
00:03:36
Speaker
um I spend a lot of time with friends. I was just in Idlewild this weekend doing adult summer camp with my buddies for my friend's 40th birthday. Um, I'm a polyamorous woman. i have two partners.
00:03:48
Speaker
Um, My husband, John, and my boyfriend, Marcel. have many, many important friendships in my life, which I value equally as my romantic relationships.
00:04:00
Speaker
And um I'm a yes person. I love that. i um I would go into your backstory, but I'm really curious about this like adult summer camp because I just feel like you know when you're adults, you don't have enough play time in your life and everything just kind of structured and go, go, go.
00:04:17
Speaker
Tell me about the summer camp with your friends. So yeah, that's a big part of it. I think I feel so lucky that my friends value play. And I have several groups of friends who value play. And this weekend was my friend Andrew's 40th birthday party. We went to Idlewild and rented a house and we basically did adult adult summer camp. So we played competitive pickleball. We did some Muay Thai and Brazilian jujitsu.
00:04:43
Speaker
We had arts and crafts where i made friendship bracelets. We did skits. It was really goofy and silly and fun. And we all just like spent 48 hours of uninterrupted fun. The parents left their kids at home.
00:04:57
Speaker
We had one baby, Nico. He was young enough to be around and not be like in the way. Who like coordinates everything and orchestrates all this activity. It's so cool. friends Different friends at different times. Like this, this, this time it was, um, my friends, Andrew and Amy, cause it was Andrew's birthday.
00:05:14
Speaker
But I will say like all of my friends are some, are people who are like, let's do a thing. And we, and we get together. In fact, in next weekend, I have, uh, a competitive bocce ball tournament in the desert that my friend Tiger and my friend Evan organize every year. And that is also a hoot.
00:05:31
Speaker
So I feel very lucky to be, to have so much play in my life as a 38. Oh yeah. Oh, I'm so jealous. Okay. Okay. We're going to go back into your origin story, where you're from, where you grew up, what your family was like.
Rachel's Early Life and Career Changes
00:05:47
Speaker
So I grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts, birthplace of the American Navy. It's right next to Salem where they hung all those witches. um It is the yachting capital of America, but also sorted past. It was where the first slave ships left from America.
00:06:05
Speaker
um Kind of ah an upper middle class, I would say wealthier upper middle class bougie town on the water. Although there are a lot of blue collar lobster people there, but I feel like lobstermen, it's a good job. like People do really well there in the lobster world.
00:06:23
Speaker
um And it's a beautiful place to have grown up. I feel very lucky to have grown up there. um Not the most diverse area, which is maybe the one the the one biggest bummer that I think about it, but it's really beautiful. And proximity to Boston, about 40 minutes north of Boston.
00:06:42
Speaker
And my parents were, you know, very like loving and very weird people. My parents.
00:06:52
Speaker
my My mom's pretty normal. My mom's cool. She's normal. My dad's a kook. He's a real kooky guy in a good way. He's a salesman, which, you know, nobody could teach his style of sales to anyone because it's not replicable. He's just a wild man.
00:07:10
Speaker
so What did he sell? he was He worked in high tech and software sales on different companies throughout his life. I also have a brother, Adam. He's two years older than me. Uh, he's got two kids and lives in, in Bar Harbor, Maine with his wife, Brooke. and we were a close family. We still are close, even though I live on the opposite end of the country from them.
00:07:30
Speaker
They, uh, I, I, I see them a few times a year. I go there, they come here. Although this year is probably the first Christmas that I won't go home because I'm starting this business. And I feel like the holidays are kind of an an important time of year for what I'm doing.
00:07:44
Speaker
So I'm a little bummed out, but I will see my parents in January in Brazil. I'm going there with my partner and some friends and my parents are meeting us there. Oh, I love your life. Tell me like, um, you tell me your interests as adult. What were your, like your interest as a ah kid?
00:07:59
Speaker
I was a soccer player. so I was actually one of the kids. I was one of the weird kids that did both sports and theater and art. So I was kind of, I couldn't choose. I was really, I was into athletics and I was also into art and theater.
00:08:12
Speaker
And so i kind of had, I straddled both worlds. I think I was pretty adept at physical and activity always but I also love to be creative and I think that's kind of manifested in my adult life I went to art school i went to Pratt um in Brooklyn and I was sort of one of the only students there that would have like a normal kind of nine to five schedule most students would sleep late and be in studio all night working and I was the kind of person that would get to the studio at 9 a.m m work a full day and leave for dinner and that was rare I think wow what were you working on at that time
00:08:48
Speaker
I went to school for fashion design. I got a bachelor fine arts at Pratt Institute for fashion design. um I loved my education. i loved the teachers there. i loved Pratt. It was a wonderful place to be. I love living in Brooklyn.
00:09:00
Speaker
um However, i quickly realized I don't love the fashion industry for a variety of reasons. There's a lot of waste, obviously. It's not super sustainable. And also, I think there's a lot of miserable people in that industry who are just really fighting tooth and nail to get where they want to be. And I think there's a lot of meanness and competitiveness.
00:09:20
Speaker
And I felt that pretty immediately when i when I started working in that world. And it just felt like kind of the antithesis of who I was. So quickly quickly stopped that and became a soccer coach and a nanny for a few years until I figured out what I wanted to do next.
00:09:34
Speaker
and awesome Yeah, I heard that from a close friend ah mine too. Like she really wanted to go into fashion design and it just was really cutthroat. And like she said the same thing about miserable people and just – wanting to get out as soon as possible after she worked so hard to get there.
00:09:51
Speaker
like You're looking up to these people who are not happy and you're like, wait, so I'm fighting to become this person. Yeah. um No, that's pretty like smart to realize that though. yeah I think I had a good head on my shoulders and realized that just because I went to school for this doesn't mean it's what I have to do. The be all end all.
00:10:10
Speaker
I'm sure I could have figured out another way to be involved in the fashion world and and find joy in it. Um, But my life just went in another direction. so Okay, so soccer coach, walk me through that area and then like the next phases of your life or career.
Pandemic Challenges and Relationship Dynamics
00:10:27
Speaker
So when I say soccer coach, I was a soccer coach to like little, little kids. um And that was cute and fun. And from there, I ended up becoming a nanny because I met this woman who was nannying. And I was like, how much do you make?
00:10:39
Speaker
Oh, shit. Like, I should do that. Nanny for a few years for some like bougie LA families. uh, lovely kids. And that was great until my husband got a job on the Obama campaign and we moved to Des Moines, Iowa but and lived in Iowa for a year, built a whole new life under the sea in the Midwest just for one year. And that was wonderful.
00:11:02
Speaker
And then we ended up moving back to the East coast and i started working in, ah for a company called Carmeloop and they are like ah a street, they were a streetwear retailer that was based out of Boston, Massachusetts. And I was there, um, copyright head of copyright and also their editor their like blog editor and that's how i ended up in like the digital media digital publishing world wow what year did you um move to iowa for the obama campaign 2012 2012 okay what was that like and don't know i was it was it was really wonderful i mean it wasn't the hopey change year as my husband says happy whitey year but you know um
00:11:43
Speaker
It was special, obviously. i i'm I'm a big fan of of the Obamas. I miss them. um And I think it was a special time where the organizing world in that and and the Democratic Party felt really hopeful and it was great. And I did a lot of volunteer work, obviously, because my husband was working for them. So I kind of couldn't get away from it. i was knocking on doors, making phone calls um to an alarming degree.
00:12:09
Speaker
And loved it. loving living in someplace new. I think I've always really enjoyed novelty and moving and and trying something different. Um, and so that was just a cool year of my life. It was kind of a random blip on the radar.
00:12:23
Speaker
Interesting. Okay. So walk me through like the digital media space. I was in that world too. So I want to know like your role and like, so I was, I was an editorial director Well, first, first off, I started working for this startup that that created, um, they basically like spun up lifestyle websites for celebrities, um, and like B and C list celebrities. So we had like, we had like the girls from, uh, the Jersey shore, Snooki and JWoww.
00:12:53
Speaker
We had like, um, Holly Madison from the play bunnies. Yeah. And we had, a number of other kind of like in that reality TV world folks, Lisa Rinna, you know, bunch people.
00:13:08
Speaker
And so I would ghostwrite for them sometimes. So I would write blog posts like as them. um and then also I would just write a whole bunch of other like content, beauty, fashion, whatever. And eventually,
00:13:22
Speaker
you know, I was obviously the best edit of all the stable. So I became an editor pretty quickly. And then from there, worked my way up from editor to, they hired me full time and I became editorial director and did that for the next like eight years. Did you have to like um pick their brain, like and meet these BC list celebrities?
00:13:43
Speaker
Honestly, they were pretty, they were not very involved. I met, I met some of them, but they were really, they really just wanted me to do the work for them. Yeah. They were like, You get it. You know, you can. So I, and frankly, I watched plenty of Jersey shore, I had no problem with Snooki and J. Wow. That was, that was actually pretty easy, but no, they, they weren't always um utilizing their, their, their personas from their shows. They, I think wanted to feel more adult and more like grown up and more than potentially for their site.
00:14:15
Speaker
So they weren't trying to be trashy or crazy. Yeah. Oh, that's so cool. I remember those days, gym tan laundry. Absolutely. Yeah, the hair. Yeah. So good.
00:14:28
Speaker
Okay. um So I guess just walk me through like what your life looks like now. Like I know you had a big transition recently, but we could you could talk about that now. My life is wild.
00:14:42
Speaker
I mean, from the outside looking in, if you had told me what my life was going to be like in 2019 – ah now, I would slap you in the face and be like, are you joking? You're like, no, and that's not happening. yeah Yeah. So obviously, so ah big part of my life change was right around the pandemic. i Right before the pandemic, my husband and I opened up our marriage.
00:15:07
Speaker
We ended up deciding, so we've been together since I was 16 years old and never broke up in a very committed relationship.
00:15:18
Speaker
happily married, happily together, and but also just decided that we were interested in exploring you know our sexuality and opening up the marriage to to dating other people.
00:15:31
Speaker
Now, we didn't... So we we sort of decided ethical non-monogamy makes sense. We'll go on dates. Maybe we'll sleep with some people. It'll be great. Yeah. What happened was that we pretty much immediately met people on OkCupid, which And we didn't know it at the time at first, but they were actually partnered.
00:15:50
Speaker
So we met those people before my first date with this man. John showed me the profile of this girl and i recognized the man that I was chatting with on the girl's profile. And I was like, wait, I'm talking to this guy.
00:16:02
Speaker
So we ended up like going on first dates with those people and kind of immediately being like, oh shit, this feels intense. Like, and I mean, we all kind of fell in love and then the pandemic hit. and we were potted. So it was this really intense, everybody's first polyamorous relationship in a COVID pod while the world is falling apart around us.
00:16:26
Speaker
I'm watching my husband fall in love with another person for the full first time, which was incredibly difficult. um And I was falling in love with this man who maybe wasn't as as much falling in love with me.
00:16:37
Speaker
you know I thought he was, but it turned out that he was not i think I think the whole situation was sort of just a really intense situation for him because it was just happening so fast. And was a little bit incestuous given that that maybe the point of polyamory was to sort of autonomize from one another. And we ended up like kind of in the same bed and not not literally, we weren't all sleeping together, but yeah it was just, it we just felt like too many cooks in the kitchen is how I'll put Yeah.
00:17:05
Speaker
So who, um just to go back a little bit, like who brought this up and like at that time was your um marriage like a little like dull and like what did you kind of bring it up to him? And I'm sure that was like a really tough conversation or like did both of you guys come up with that?
00:17:23
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:18:25
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00:19:46
Speaker
back to the
00:19:50
Speaker
So my marriage has never been dull. My husband is the least dull person you will ever meet. ah No, but I think just like when you have, when you've only slept with one person since you were 16 years old, I think it's natural for us both to be curious. And I think we discussed opening, and we tried a little openness to some degree. Like he went to Italy in college. I went to Ireland after college and we like flirted with the idea of hooking up with other people and did a little bit of that.
00:20:21
Speaker
But this was sort of just the next like step, like, all right, we're really going to try this because it's a lot easier, I think, for married women to go hook up with a man than it is for a married man to go, if you're being honest about it. Yeah. And so allowing my husband to like make a dating profile or not allowing him, but encouraging, both of us encouraging each other to like make dating profiles and actually like try this thing on for real was the big change.
00:20:47
Speaker
And it was a mutual decision. And we, you know, we really had no idea what we were walking ourselves into. But here we are five plus years later.
00:21:00
Speaker
yeah In both of us in committed additional relationships, making this whole thing work. I would say we're, we're experiencing like, you know, ah healthy version of polyamory. We i have, you know, I have,
00:21:15
Speaker
somewhat of a relationship with my metamor, my husband's girlfriend. And my husband has somewhat of a relationship with my boyfriend. It's not like we all hang out a ton, but we're, we find ourselves in the same spaces with some regularity and parties and have a good relationship.
00:21:29
Speaker
So it's, it's, that has obviously been a big change. Yeah. Pandemic was a huge change for everyone, as I'm sure you remember. Yeah. I mean, you, everyone was kind of maybe bored and you're like having the time of your life. A little bit. little bit. Everyone was bored and I was having both the time of my life and then conversely, the most intensely difficult time of my life. Really?
00:21:53
Speaker
Yeah. So it was, it was both. A lot of therapy. It was driving me crazy. I'm a, I'm a very extroverted person and to not be able to, be the full extension of who I am. Yeah.
00:22:07
Speaker
Um, felt really hard for me and it was less hard for my husband and he really didn't want me to go and associate with anybody else, obviously, understandably, but there was other situations. I remember, remember going to Walt's one night, like in 2021 with a friend and my husband got so mad at me.
00:22:27
Speaker
And part of it was, I think he didn't, he he didn't want to put his girlfriend at risk and her people. And, you know, I understood. i got it. But it was it was just a really hard time. um So that was a ah wild time.
Surviving the Altadena Fires
00:22:40
Speaker
You know, that was some years ago. And then more recently, i'm i live in Altadena.
00:22:45
Speaker
And we had, obviously, some massive wildfires this year that tore our town apart. And, well, back up a little bit to... Back up a little bit to...
00:22:58
Speaker
when So in 2020 is when I started really taking perfumery classes in earnest. And I took a class with um ah a woman who runs a company called Carta Perfumes. I did an online um natural perfumery course with her. It was incredible. I loved it.
00:23:17
Speaker
From there, once the pandemic ah kind of was a little bit not as intense, we did I did a small, like five-person class at the perfumer studio in Hollywood and all of us had to test and wear masks. and there was only a few of us in the room. Yeah. um And that was incredible.
00:23:35
Speaker
And then i ended up taking more classes with the perfumer studio and finally decided a few years in, I was going to bite the bullet and take the professional level workshop, they don take work off and really do it. and i I found that at the end of that course, by the end of that course, I was kicking myself because I was like, Oh no, I'm going to have to start a business. Aren't I?
00:23:57
Speaker
Were you still at the website making for the... Yeah, I was still doing digital media stuff with but the media company I was working for. And I took off work to do to do the perfumery workshop and graduate from that.
00:24:11
Speaker
And I'd already decided before I graduated from that that I was going start a business. And the story goes that ae basically...
00:24:23
Speaker
A month after i so decided to start my business and was writing my business plan, i I was working, doing my job on the computer. I was working from home. I suddenly got frustrated and I was like, I'm tired of doing this. So I put it away and I took out my business plan and I was working on my business plan.
00:24:38
Speaker
And all of a sudden a bird flies into my house. Wow. It flies over to the window and it's kind of struggling to get out. So I walk over to the window and I put my finger out.
00:24:52
Speaker
And the bird just hops right on it. And I'm like looking at this thing and I'm like, okay. And so I walk it over to the door, let it out. It flies up to a tree and it perches there and like looks down at me. And I'm like, whoa, sit back in my seat. And I get a slack from my boss, like five seconds later.
00:25:10
Speaker
Hey, Rachel, we need to talk. And I'm like, it's happening. It's finally happening. I'm finally getting laid off. you know, backstory is that the digital publishing world is falling apart and people, it's been survivor for the past like few years. And I was, I was bracing myself for a layoff at least for two years i cutck not being laid off.
00:25:30
Speaker
So this was the moment when I was finally happening. Wow. Yeah. i So I got laid off and I was like, all right, I'm doing this. I'm really going to go full force into this business.
00:25:44
Speaker
And then a few months later is when the fires hit and I was displaced and um had to kind of put everything on pause for a few months.
00:25:55
Speaker
So did they did the boss lay you off? The boss laid me off. Oh, I got laid off. Yep. I got laid off. She was great. She was like, obviously I knew she was sad about it I got a good, i got a good situation where I kind of, they told me early, but I got paid for the next month and then I got another additional two week severance.
00:26:14
Speaker
know, I should have got more severance for how long I was there, but this company basically dying and they were, they got bought by a new company. So they, they didn't technically owe me severance cause it was technically a new company. Yeah.
00:26:27
Speaker
Uh, so yeah, that was like the universe just pushing me saying, this is what you're supposed to be doing. Go. You have now nothing but time to do it, but then the fires hit. So then my full-time job kind of became dealing with insurance companies and having to figure out like the, the fires. um Yeah. We all seen it like on TV and Instagram and YouTube, but like in never kind of like from someone's real life point of view.
00:26:53
Speaker
Yeah. So the day of the fires hit was actually supposed to be my bench day to compound my freight, my, my fragrances for my collection.
00:27:05
Speaker
um i had it sketch all scheduled with Tiana from the perfumer studio It was going to be a full day of us working together to do that. And she texted me that morning to be like, Hey, I'm sick or something's going on. I can't remember, but she couldn't do it that day.
00:27:19
Speaker
Meanwhile, the winds were going that day. It was so windy. actually started that day by hearing my carport, like flapping in the wind and being like, Oh shit. And I was, I ran out and I was holding it down and I called the fire department cause I needed help. Cause I, my husband was away on a business trip.
00:27:35
Speaker
I was holding this carport from, from blowing off cause was afraid it's going blow off. And like, knock somebody's car windows out. So the day started with a fire fire men coming to my house and helping me take this thing down. who Then the winds are going crazy all day. And I, and we're just sort of like, what is going on? Something, this whole day feels so off and so odd.
00:27:58
Speaker
And then, you know, in the evening we hear, okay, massive fires are, I mean, mean in the Palisades had already been burning. So we were hearing about that. And then we were hearing about,
00:28:09
Speaker
this fire that started up in, up in the San Gabriel mountains. um And all it's just getting, and we're all watching this watch dog watch duty fire app all day.
00:28:20
Speaker
it's getting closer and closer to Altadena. And eventually it's to the point where we're like, we need to get out of here because my boyfriend's kid has cystic fibrosis. And so that's respiratory stuff and there's smoke and we just had to go. So we, couple of friends and I,
00:28:38
Speaker
who also live in Altadena, packed up our car and rented a house in San Diego and drove up. you know While we're there, we're just hearing all these streets are burning. My best friend, Colleen, suddenly gets a call like, yep, your house is gone.
00:28:53
Speaker
wow We get a call from my best friend, from my close friends, Tom and Kiara, who are up the road. um Yep, your house is gone. ah ah we kept bracing ourselves And we're getting calls from our neighbors saying like, it's still there for now, but this happened and this happened and we're positive. We're going to lose our home. Like it's just, it just seems inevitable, but somehow, I mean, you know, it was, it was days before we felt safe because the fire kept going. They were not able to contain it within a day. It was yeah days and days and days and days, but eventually it seemed like we were not going to lose our home.
00:29:35
Speaker
And we did not lose our home. we we have sustained considerable smoke and ash damage. And we're actually on our third round of lead abatement. So we've had to sort of move in and out of our house abruptly several times.
00:29:49
Speaker
and um And we've had to get rid of a lot of our stuff. Wow. It's just been it's been stressful. and When you went to um San Diego, like what did you pack?
00:30:01
Speaker
That's a great question. I grabbed my dog. I grabbed my dog and I grabbed my passports. And I grabbed my And what? Pretty much it, my blankie. Blankie.
00:30:11
Speaker
And that's pretty much it. i It sort of made me be like, what ah what am I going to get? Like, I don't really have time. My house was, when I went back into my house, it was filled with smoke. Like, I had to get in and out of there in seconds. Oh, wow.
00:30:23
Speaker
It was, like, not safe for me to be there. So I literally had my, i mean, my dog was with me already. I grabbed his, like, dish and his bowl and, like. Uh-huh. Sadly, my dog. Zephyr died in February. So a month after the fires.
00:30:38
Speaker
Oh my God. of nowhere. um Really just suddenly had a cancer thing that burst. His heart filled his chest cavity with blood and he ended up dying really, really.
00:30:52
Speaker
I wonder how maybe like something about the fires like. I don't think so I think it was a cancer that was already there in this mass and probably been growing and growing. And eventually. Yeah. first. In pit bulls, they say it's somewhat common.
00:31:05
Speaker
um So that was really, really, really sad and devastating. Another really devastating moment in this whole event. But I will say that from that, I started volunteering at a dog shelter called Pup Culture on Lake Avenue in Pasadena.
00:31:21
Speaker
And i was I was volunteering running the big dogs every Friday morning, So I love to run and I love big dogs. ah And there was this dog there, Shiloh, who was there every single week. And they told me he has zero dog adoption applications and he hasn't been fostered in forever. And he's been the shelter for so long.
00:31:37
Speaker
And I agreed to take him home for two weeks to just foster him before I went to Greece for a friend's wedding. And literally I get him home and he's home i' like an hour. And i'm like, I am so screwed. I love this dog. I knew where the story was going.
00:31:53
Speaker
So, uh, Now I have my new friend Goose. I renamed him Goose. He's a one and a half year old German shepherd mix who's lying at my feet right now. He's got a twerk face with a snaggled tooth.
00:32:07
Speaker
He's a really silly guy. And he has Zephyr to thank for me finding him. Oh, that's beautiful. um i know like your life shifted in so many ways for the past couple years, but after the fires, like walk me through like what it did for your business or like what your business looks like right now.
Building Body Botanica
00:32:25
Speaker
So my business, it's just been one foot in front of the other. Like I've never started a business before and my business is, so I'm a perfumer.
00:32:36
Speaker
um i obviously knew I wanted to create handcrafted fine fragrances and that's, yes, that is a part of my business. But one thing that ah I think is really important to me is that I love people. I like being around people and I like teaching.
00:32:52
Speaker
So I've been doing ah these creative custom perfumery workshops with people and sip and scents where it's like a two hour workshop. You come, I teach you about the ABCs of perfumery.
00:33:03
Speaker
You get to smell a bunch of stuff from my Oregon of materials. And then I help you come up with a scent story, which you can draw a picture, write a few sentences. cool. And then I help you achieve your, your vision to create your scent.
00:33:16
Speaker
And it is so fun. um So I started doing those on a regular basis. I partnered with you saw event or you saw project to do events through them. I have my classes up on class bento. So I get bookings through them.
00:33:31
Speaker
i also get bookings through my website. So I do that with some regularity, probably about a a workshop a week. I'm actually starting to do workshops. in October on private yachts and Marina Del Rey on this company, Calico yacht charter. I was like, we love this idea. I actually just cold reached out to them after watching below deck.
00:33:49
Speaker
So i was like, you guys are always looking for like cool things to do with your charter guests. And I offer this cool thing. So we're partnering and we're going to have our first time in October. Let me know. I'm close to Marina Del Rey. So you were, I'm close to Marina Del Rey. So let me know.
00:34:05
Speaker
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00:34:16
Speaker
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00:34:28
Speaker
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00:34:39
Speaker
And if you're ready to start making money from home while being there for the moments that matter, i can't wait to connect.
00:34:49
Speaker
Torrance, I will let you know. And actually, maybe I'd like to invite you to our first event on October 16th. We can talk details, but the first event is going to be free because we need to like create some great content.
00:35:00
Speaker
Um, so we want to invite a few cool ladies to experience this yacht perfumery event. I'll be in Japan, but the next one. I know. i know Next one. I would love to go that's too bad.
00:35:14
Speaker
so that's part of what I do is the workshops, but also, very importantly, I do immersive scent experiences for events. So think weddings. I would do like a custom scent bar, create your own scent bar at a wedding also for corporate events.
00:35:30
Speaker
I recently had a really great event with Aloe Yoga. They brought me in to do their employee summer soiree. So it was 150 Aloe Yoga employees. I had a Create Your Own Scent Bar. Every single person from that event was lined up around the corner. They were so excited to do this.
00:35:48
Speaker
And everybody got to... spend some time with me smelling and me talking them through the materials, asking me questions like, if i oh, I like bergamot. What goes with bergamot? Or i like musk. What goes with that? So was sort of a small scale version of the workshop.
00:36:01
Speaker
And they created like three milliliter atomizers and everybody got a take home. Even the security guards wanted to come and do it. And everybody who was there was just so psyched to be like, I want to do this and create something for myself.
00:36:15
Speaker
So I think it's a great activation for It could be for um inward company stuff like for your employees, but it could also be if you're doing some sort of a brand launch or creating launching a new project project and you're having an outward event towards other people, I'm a great activation for something like that.
00:36:35
Speaker
um Another part of my business is I do custom scents for brands and for individuals. Oh, wow. So I'm currently working on a collection of custom scents for a jewelry company called Leo Black Studio. Wow.
00:36:49
Speaker
She's a small independent jeweler in LA who creates beautiful jewelry. And we're we're currently working on a scent. It's a chocolate. I won't give too much information away because the scent's not out yet.
00:37:02
Speaker
But there's a cocoa rose scent that we've been working on that's really beautiful. Oh, I love it. I also do scents for just individuals if you want to create a custom scent and you are looking to create something that nobody else owns. don't want to smell like La Lavo or Calvin Klein or like everybody else.
00:37:18
Speaker
You can come to me and I'll help you create some. I also work with wellness practitioners to do custom scents for aiding in wellness practices. So let's say you're a Reiki practitioner or a hypnotherapist and you're working on helping one of your um clients get better sleep and you want to have diffuse a scent during your therapy to help them.
00:37:41
Speaker
And that, then you can then sell them that scent to take home and they can utilize it in their own home ah practice to continue your therapy. So that's another facet of my business. And I feel like all this stuff has just organically come to me. Like, I'm not just a perfumer. i'm I'm trying to connect people, create scent experience, teach, um help people make their events bigger and better and more interesting and unique.
00:38:09
Speaker
And, um, all these things have just sort of organically happened and come to me. And I'm really open to how perfumery can be ah part of a lots, lots of different things.
00:38:22
Speaker
yeah And I'm very, really really lucky right now that I don't think AI can take my job. No, no chat GPT is my business partner. i value his insight.
00:38:34
Speaker
or Yeah. For some reason I gender chat mail. Siri and Alexa are female. That's funny. Tell me about the scent story. like I think the listeners would kind of want to go through any exercise today to come up
The Art of Scent Creation
00:38:50
Speaker
with. po sorry So if you're create a perfume, you really have got to know clearly in your mind what you want because there are so many materials and you will be distracted by them because it's just overwhelming. You know, you're, you're going through things. You're like, Oh, i like this. I like this, like this. It's so easy to say, try to keep adding more and more and more.
00:39:11
Speaker
and so what I do is I say, come up with a scent story um and make sure that you can identify the three sort of heart materials in your scent story.
00:39:23
Speaker
And so we start small just with those three materials and And then from there, we can add modifiers. But I usually encourage people to use anywhere between like five and eight materials for their first scent.
00:39:35
Speaker
Okay. Because simpler is better when you're beginning. and More complex scents take time and study and and practice and mistakes. And sure, it's fine to make a mistake, but I want people to go home with something on their first day that they're proud of and that they want to wear.
00:39:52
Speaker
Wow. So i I, you know, and I'm here to help. I'm here to smell your thing as you go and say, oh, well, didn't you talk about how you wanted Turkish coffee?
00:40:04
Speaker
So maybe we're going to add a little cocoa and cardamom to this to make it feel a little bit more in line with what you originally planned in your in your story.
00:40:14
Speaker
And I think people are really like grateful that I kind of know which materials to pick and help them with. And i think i would say 100% the clients that I've had have left my class beaming because not only do they have a great time while they were there, um but they get to take home something they're really proud of. And how many people can say, oh, I made my own custom set. yeah Hopefully more starting now because people will call me and want to do this, but um it's a really special thing to have.
00:40:46
Speaker
and And I think another great way to look at it is like, it's a bonding experience. Like if you, For a bachelorette party or just a group of friends who want to come and do a sip and scent with me, bottle of wine, couple hours in a room learning about perfumery and then creating something special that you'll never forget because scent is intrinsically tied to memory.
00:41:08
Speaker
And so these things, ah if you're looking to have a special occasion, it's a really smart way, I think, to tie memory into that occasion and and have something, a keepsake for it from it that you're never going to forget.
00:41:22
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. um I guess just one more question before Hot Topic, but tell me like the heart and vision or like aha moment that you had that like about making this business, like why scent? I know you probably like grew up liking scent or perfumes, but like what was that moment in time you're just like, i know you said like when you're going to make the business, but tell me more of like the inner deep like heart of why, why this business is so important to you?
00:41:53
Speaker
So I've always been proud of my nose and my sense of taste. Like when I was a kid, I was like, you know probably five years old and i'd go to a restaurant and, you know, I'd get a dish and the waiter would be there and I'd like pick out certain spices in it. And the the waiter would be like, how does your little kid know that that's in there? Like, I've just always kind of had a very sensitive palate.
00:42:12
Speaker
um Another reason why I love wine and wine tasting. But so perfume and scent, were something that I was always intrigued by, but of course perfume is expensive. Um, so you can't always, you know, buy all the things you want, but I would go to the, I would go to the stores and I would just go smell everything and get samples and, um, probably spray way too much stuff on myself and end up smelling crazy.
00:42:35
Speaker
But in 2019, I read this article about the history of perfumery and all the gnarly gross materials that are used. in print So like obviously the anal secretions of a male musk deer or,
00:42:48
Speaker
from a civic cat or, uh, ambergris, which comes from the body of a whale after it can't digest the beak of a giant squid and expels it. hu So, and I'm thinking like to myself, how fascinating that like all these beautiful scents, each of them have something in them that we would probably consider to be kind of gross.
00:43:06
Speaker
Yeah. And I wanted to smell all these materials. I was like, well, i want to smell what ambergris smells like. I want to smell what civet smells like. I want to smell what castoreum smells like, which is from a beaver. And so I, that's why I said, i got to take a perfumery class. I got to start getting my nose on these things.
00:43:22
Speaker
And that's kind of the second that I took my first class is when I was like, well, I want to keep doing this. Of course I want to keep doing this. And obviously pandemic, we all felt like we all, I'm a hobbyist in general. I like to be active. I like to be doing things. I'm not somebody who wants to sit home all day and do nothing.
00:43:38
Speaker
So being, you know, forced to be at home a lot, I needed something to do. And I'm not much of a sourdough girl. I'm not much of a baker. i'm not much of a cook. um But this was kind of the thing that just kind of hit. And I felt like I could do this.
00:43:54
Speaker
And i think um that has been kind of the start of where this all came together. But then combining the scent with the interactive element and the and the connecting people element has been where it's made me feel like this is my business that's unique to me.
00:44:12
Speaker
And not a lot of other people are doing what I do exactly. And that feels like i've hit on something, like i've hit a vein. Yeah, I get that. I'm glad I asked that question because it kind of makes, it all makes sense. And it kind of like wraps everything up in a nice bow.
00:44:27
Speaker
um I'm going to ask you some rapid fire questions. And these are like just shorter answers. oh What is like your biggest woo factor? Like what makes you stand out?
00:44:39
Speaker
So my scents are meant to be, obviously it's called body botanica. So I think the scent of the human body is one of the most sensual, sexy parts of scent.
00:44:51
Speaker
I like how humans smell. And so what I'm trying to do here is create scents that don't cover up the smell of the human body, but harmonize with it. And a lot of my perfumes are, they're non-gendered, none of my scents are gendered, but they have a little bit of element of human body in them. Okay.
00:45:10
Speaker
I like that. Yeah, that's really good Good answer. um Your best like, heck yes. I would say like sales technique, I'm sure like I know you're very like extrovert people's person, but to like to partner with these big brands, even like Aloe and like your first workshop and um like how do you get your your heck yes?
00:45:31
Speaker
Everything is like word of mouth basically. It's like I do one thing and I meet the next person. So I teach a workshop and I met the assistant ah the assistant of the jeweler who was looking for a perfumer to create a custom scent.
00:45:42
Speaker
And she like recommended me. um I put myself up on Class Bento and I started doing workshops through there and the aloe yoga people contacted me through there. And even though that wasn't an offering I had on class Bento, I negotiated with them on the side to figure out how I could do exactly what it was that they needed for me.
00:45:57
Speaker
So I think just being talking, like keeping doing things and meeting new people is how I get my clients. I literally just cold emailed a bunch of yacht charter companies in Marina Del Rey and was like, I have this great idea. What do you think?
00:46:09
Speaker
And one of them got back to me right away saying they loved it. So just being open to like trying new techniques to get your next customer talking to people in person. I'm, I'm very social. I genuinely like people. Like I want to be around people.
00:46:24
Speaker
I like trying something new and I'm going to say, yes, if you have an idea for something that's related to scent and perfumery that you want to try, i'm going to figure out a way to, to get that. Yes. For you to get, to get this special, whatever it is you need, whether it's a custom scent for your wedding um or favors for your event, I'm going to just figure out how to do it. And I think that's,
00:46:47
Speaker
pretty, pretty, uh, important to the business. Yeah. Cause like for me, I'm the same way, but like when we met, I was like, okay, she's cool. Like I want her on my podcast. Cause it's like, I rather have you on my podcast that we already have a good connection than like some stranger, you know what i mean?
00:47:02
Speaker
So I think you're super cool. Um, I, you know, I like your Instagram and you like show up as yourself and you talk about your scent and you could really like see your passion because you just have so much to say about it. um What is your tip on like going live, making these reels, showing up, speaking to the camera, like showing your personality?
00:47:21
Speaker
So I'm definitely not like a social media oriented person. it's It's like, so the only way I can do it is basically just like, I'm interested in this, so I'm going to share it. And i think like, and I think just like showing up and being like, okay, I had this idea of doing the ABCs of perfumery. So each letter is its own ah category of types of things. So from aliphatic sense, all the way to Z for solvent, every letter has its own category. And so i'm going through them A to B to C and teaching people a little bit about those categorizations.
00:47:55
Speaker
And a lot of people in who are interested perfume want to learn more terminology about how to describe the sense that they're smelling. And so I think that that's been successful for me. um I don't have like a ton of followers yet. I'm not like super busy.
00:48:08
Speaker
I haven't gone viral for anything. It's not, and and and social media is not like a natural instinct for me. So I'm still learning. So if anybody has any great tips for me, I'd love to hear them.
00:48:19
Speaker
I'm growing. It's okay. Yeah, I think you're really good. I guess last question, um speak to the hearts of wedding pros and creatives just trying to start their their business and needing some like encouragement or advice or something to get them out of the funk or to do today.
00:48:38
Speaker
What would you tell them? So if something bad happens in your life, it can be a huge catalyst, I think, for you to be brave and just take a leap.
00:48:51
Speaker
And i think what we have to remember is it's easy to get overwhelmed by all the things that you have to do to start a business. Yeah. But if you just do one thing every day, one thing identify, you know, first make a list of identifying all the things you need to do. And then don't look at the whole thing all at once.
00:49:09
Speaker
Really just take it bite by bite, little by little. You don't have to have everything done perfectly right away to say, I'm in business. The minute you start doing business as whoever you are, as a sole proprietor, you are a business, you're doing it.
00:49:27
Speaker
So i think just be brave and trust your instincts and focus on the product before you try to focus on the money. um try to Try to make something you're proud of and try to encapsulate a vision you're really proud of that you can share with people.
00:49:43
Speaker
And then hopefully the money will come. Oh, I love that. Great answer. And where can everyone find you and work with you Rachel? So my website is www.bodybotanica.com. And that's b O D botanica.com.
00:49:57
Speaker
I also have an Instagram at body botanica. you can find me in those places. I'm also on tech on Tik TOK at body botanica. Um, and you can, you can, Ask for an inquiry on my website for anything, whether it's a workshop, if you need a custom scent bar for your wedding, if you want custom scents for the bride and groom, if you want favors for your wedding, um I'm there.
00:50:19
Speaker
Send me an email. I'm very responsive. And, you know, don't if you have a crazy idea, i don't hesitate to ask. Thank you, Rachel. This is so much fun. Thank you so much for asking me to do this, Chris. This is my first podcast. Yay! popped the chair.
00:50:40
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine.
00:50:56
Speaker
See you next time, wedding pros.