Meet Sharon Falsetto Chapman

 

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sharon Falsetto Chapman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sharon, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

My purpose came out of tragedy (and continues to do so) as is the case for many. I started down the path as an aromatherapist when my husband died suddenly 20 years ago. He always said, “If something happens to me, go and do what you *really* want to do with your life.” So I did. I quit my “steady” job, retrained in aromatherapy and ended up half way round the world starting a new life.

Along the way I also re-discovered my love (and talent) for writing which helped me through an abusive marriage, following my unexpected relocation to the US. Through writing, I was able to build myself a business of aromatherapy training, research writing, and record my processing of the abuse through poetry, when I couldn’t express it any other way.

The combination of scent and writing has also led me to birth some new projects which are still being nurtured, but will eventually teach people how to express feelings through scent writing. I’m now a published author (in aromatherapy), chief editor for a major worldwide aromatherapy journal, writer, and journalist for a local recovery paper. My poetry book is in the works. And my creativity and expression continues to grow through the creation of botanical fragrance.

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

My two major passions in life are scent and writing. Over the past 20 years I’ve been on a journey to merge these two modalities together and create a life and business which represents who I am. I began my second act (after my husband suddenly died in 2004) as an inexperienced aromatherapist. My journey took me from the UK to the US where I went from being an “unknown” in the aromatherapy world to serving on the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy Executive Board, chief editor and designer for their aromatherapy journal, published author of Authentic Aromatherapy (through New York Publishing House Skyhorse Publishing), created custom aromatherapy blends for some well-known names in the hotel and airline industries, to serving mom and pop businesses, students, and customers with the foundation of my own business, Sedona Aromatics.

I founded Sedona Aromatics in 2007 but it has been through many incarnations since then! I have created custom blends for clients, wrote and taught aromatherapy courses, and written for well known aromatherapy brands online. Today, I am focused on my latest expansion into botanical perfumery and merging writing practice with scent. For years I have taught (and written) my own aromatherapy program (which I continue to do so). However, both students and clients have challenged me to stretch myself further and create a different type of scent journey.

In the past couple of years I have been working on creating my own botanical perfumery collection, of which the first full collection will be available by fall 2025. However, I have released each new member of that collection individually and the first release, Brown-eyed Brooks, which is in reference to 1920’s movie star Louise Brooks, has been a great success. Customers have been curious about my process, so I started writing Stories of Scent on Substack to share my perfumery journey and introduce them to some of my scent vocabulary. Although it was not my intention when I set out, Stories of Scent is involving into a process of teaching people how to create scents intuitively from scent prompts (vs therapeutic blending with aromatherapy) and I will be writing a full course on this process in the future.

When I started my journey into aromatherapy 20 years back in the UK, I never envisioned where my journey would go – especially creatively! Following my passion for scent and getting back into writing has allowed me to express myself creatively and be an outlet for the trauma I endured to get here.

My first full collection of botanical fragrances will available later next year but my third fragrance in the collection will be available this winter. My scent writing course maybe available in about a year’s time, but I encourage readers to subscribe to Stories of Scent to get in on the action now!

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

Three most important qualities, skills, areas of knowledge which have been most impactful in my journey:

– learning the art to pivot! Pivot was a term which was popularized during the recent pandemic but I’ve done a lot of pivoting over the years. Pivoting shouldn’t be defined as a failure in one area. It’s learning to recognize that something isn’t working or something has changed (sometimes outside of your control, like in the pandemic) and you need to be able to adapt and move forward accordingly. Learn to recognize what this might be and come up with a plan or solution. For example, a lot of people had to pivot to online in the pandemic and that came with a learning curve. If you are a problem solver (or can learn how to be one), you’ll have the resilience to get through. And that leads me to my next point!
– resilience. As a small business owner/artist/writer, you have to be resilient to survive. Life has been challenging these past few years and resilience is needed now more than ever. One of the ways to do this is to make sure that you don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Spread your risks and talents so that if one source of income dries up for whatever reason, you have something else to work on or fall back on. For example, I practice aromatherapy in several ways; through teaching, writing and hands-on. I also work online and do in-person lectures and workshops (I’m working back up to those post COVID). I’ve expanded my writing into writing about scent and creating my own books/blogs/courses as well as writing for other clients. And I practice what I write about – most recently, the creation of a botanical fragrance line.
– the ability to learn something new. We continually learn. It’s how we evolve and grow. And nothing is more important as a small business owner, artist, and writer. Technology was almost non-existent (at least by today’s standards!) when I was in college. I did study business in college but I have had to learn so much and teach myself and/or study to set up my own business, especially getting it all online and making sure everything works as it should. Yes, you can hire someone else to do this, but based on my own experiences, always make sure you know how something works (a system/process/piece of equipment) before handing it over to someone else. Because when that person leaves for whatever reason, it comes back to you and you either have to figure it out or train the next person – and you can only do that if you know how it works in the first place. Trust me, I know!

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

My biggest challenge at the moment is trying to grow my botanical fragrance line on a limited budget, and finding outlets to sell it in beyond online. Anyone who knows anything about 100% botanical extracts knows that they do not come cheap! Yet to set up even the bare minimum needed to create fragrances (which come with several rounds of experiments before finding the final product) takes money.

One way that I am trying to resolve this problem is to create one fragrance at a time and share that story on my Substack Stories of Scent. I have both paid and free subscribers and paid subscribers help contribute to furthering my line while also learning themselves. However, that is not without its challenges, as it also takes time and commitment to write content and grow a paid subscriber list! But eventually, this helps to grown my reach to potential customers who are interested in buying my fragrances, too.

I am also looking into creating “perfume parties” where I provide the materials and my expertise to small groups who want to create their own fragrance for a party, celebration, or just a friends’ get together. Providing this service can also add capital which will go towards adding supplies to create my own botanical fragrance line – and open up my own fragrances to new potential customers.

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Image Credits

Image Credits: Sharon Falsetto Chapman

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