Meet Lanaya Garrett

We were lucky to catch up with Lanaya Garrett recently and have shared our conversation below.

LaNaya, so great to have you sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our readers and so let’s jump right into one of our favorite topics – empathy. We think a lack of empathy is at the heart of so many issues the world is struggling with and so our hope is to contribute to an environment that fosters the development of empathy. Along those lines, we’d love to hear your thoughts around where your empathy comes from?

The conditions that allowed me to develop my empathy was when I worked in nursing homes after I graduated high school. My first nursing home job was when I was nineteen and it was my first time doing this kind of work. I was nervous and did not know what to expect. I ended up learning a lot while being at that job. I learned about the patients I took care of, I learned more about dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s Disease. I learned very quickly that this job is not for the weak. This type of job requires you to step outside yourself and step into another person’s shoes. It requires you to not only take care of them but to also know how to care for them, and how they took care of themselves before they got to the nursing home. This job also requires you to remember their daily schedule, what time they get up, what time they go to activities, and what time they go to bed. Then you can not forget about the patients who are not able. The ones who are not able to get up, the ones who are confined to a wheelchair and you yourself have to lift them up to get them out of bed and get them back to bed. I did that for 6 years of my life. In that time I learned how fortunate I am and what a great support system I have and in a way how I was being a support system to others. Letting families know that their loved ones were being taken care of to the best of my ability.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My name is LaNaya. I came to Atlanta, Georgia in 2018 and have been doing my thing ever since. Throughout my life I always loved beauty. I loved getting my makeup done and doing my own makeup, getting my hair done, and most importantly smelling good. On July 26 2023 I launched my very first fragrance called Novasi it is a very light, fresh, citrusy fragrance made for any and everyone. “Novasi” is originated from the Latin root word “Nova” which means “new” in English. I chose to name my perfume in a different language because it was different and I rarely saw it done in other fragrance lines where they used the Latin language. I learned very quickly that there are layers to perfume. For example, there are aquatic notes, green notes, and aromatic notes to name a few. There were so many notes to choose from that when creating this scent I wanted to capture the essence of fresh and clean. The final categories I chose were floral, green, and citrus. I believed it was a balance of citrus but not to much citrus where it is irritating and light but not too light to the point where it is faint. Novasi upon launching my theme was flowers and meadows because at the time of launching, I was going through a lot of transitions in my life. Flowers in my opinion represent tranquil transitions. I was graduating college and I lost a person who was very close to me. These were growth spurts I was going through and I wanted to represent that when launching Novasi. Novasi is available to purchase now. Currently, I am still studying more about fragrance, growing my fragrance community, and learning about what it means to have a business and add value. Novasi has now transitioned from flowers and meadows to a more grown and mature look of black and white. I changed the look of Novasi because I see this going in a direction of self-peace and self-growth. White is the color of cleanliness and purity and black is the color of confidence and sophistication. As I am growing up in this thing called life I see that life has many transitions.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

My top three qualities are Patience, Grace, and Integrity. I believe that in everything you do, whether it is your career or life, always have patience on your path to reaching your goals. In all honesty, patience is one of my major keys to life because when you have patience on your journey you learn to appreciate all the small details that helped you reach your goals. If you rush that process you will not enjoy all of those small details. My next most important quality is always moving with grace. Moving with grace means to me moving strategically, moving silently, and moving prudently. I believe that having grace as you move is the most beautiful thing to me yet it can also be hardest however to me, that is what makes it beautiful. In those times when it gets hard and you are hitting obstacles remain graceful through it all. My last and final quality is integrity. I believe that as long as you are on this earth have integrity in yourself and with others. In having a business you always want to lead with integrity that is what is going to keep your clients connected to your business because you are being honest and organic. The best advice I have for the ones who are early on their journey is always staying true to who you are, being organic in anything you do, and most of all having fun.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

I believe that it is good to do both. I say that because by knowing your strengths in certain areas you can strengthen them even more, while it is also good to try to improve in areas you are not strong in. If you do both simultaneously, I believe you can be strong in all areas. For example, my strong suit is fragrance. I know which chemicals to use, I know what oils I want to use, and I know how long it needs to marinate. What I am improving on is the business behind it all. What I am improving on is marketing, logistics, financial credit dividing all money allocated equally, planning, and branding. Those are the areas of improvement that I am grasping and how I am doing that is studying by taking online courses to strengthen my skills in those areas. I believe that once I improve in those areas and sharpen those skills on the business side. I will be unstoppable. I believe that it is good to strengthen all areas of your life in whatever you want to be proficient in.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://scentcraft.ai/nayaslifestyle
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nayalovescents https://www.instagram.com/naya.neecole/

Image Credits

KAI
Devon Smith