NOTES ON PURPOSE: WHAT NOVEMBER NICHOLS AND CHÉMIN ARE TEACHING US ABOUT FRAGRANCE, SCIENCE, AND BUILDING AN EMPIRE

Last month, Unlock The Science of Beauty — a web series we produce powered by MyAvana — The Science of Beauty,  welcomed its first fragrance guest, and she did not disappoint. 

November Nichols, Founder and CEO of Chémin, sat down with our founder, Sakeya Donaldson, for a conversation that moved from origin story to business masterclass to fragrance science deep dive without ever losing momentum. November is one of the only Black women in the world running her own fragrance house — and everything about the way she built it challenges what we think we know about who gets to take up space in a $60 billion industry.

This one wasn't just for our lab leaders; our students, who are a key part of our movement, are giving STEM a makeover. What November and Sakeya spoke to on air was for anyone building something legendary. 

SHE DIDN'T SET OUT TO BUILD AN EMPIRE. SHE SET OUT TO SURVIVE.

November Nichols is what she calls an accidental entrepreneur. In 2016, she was excelling professionally — traveling the country and beyond for her career in educational publishing — while privately falling apart. Her son decided not to move to Los Angeles with her for his senior year of high school. She was across the country, alone, and by her own account, she felt like she was close to losing everything she loved.

To settle her nervous system, she built a ritual: pouring a cup of tea, lighting a fragrantly scented candle, and spending some quality time with herself.

When the candle she depended on was discontinued, she didn't accept the loss. She looked up the notes, sourced the supplies, and made her own in a kitchen tumbler, with no label, no lab notes, and no plan. What came out of that tumbler is now known as The Energy Candle at Chémin, a product that is perpetually out of stock and has been featured in Vogue.

What many people don't know is that November's relationship with fragrance runs deeper than that kitchen tumbler. In a profile by Samantha Dorisca for AfroTech, November shared that after reconnecting with her biological father, she learned that her grandmother had spent her life creating fragrances, teas, and tinctures for her community in Lafayette, Louisiana. Chémin is even named in her honor. November calls it a generational blessing,  a thread she didn't know existed until she was already deep into pulling it.

"I'm standing on my grandmother's shoulders and ushering this whole perfumery thing forward," November told AfroTech, "for not only myself, but for other people of color who are interested in this craft."

While November’s journey may have started as an accident, every step she’s taken affirms that she’s exactly where she’s supposed to be. 

THE INDUSTRY HAS A REPRESENTATION PROBLEM

Before we get into the science and the business, we need to talk about the landscape that November walked into. The fragrance industry is worth over $60 billion globally. According to the Nielsen 2026 Beauty Report, overall beauty spending among Black consumers grew 9% — reaching $16.2 billion in the past year — and fragrance remains one of the strongest and most resilient categories in that spend. Black and Hispanic consumers wear fragrance at rates significantly higher than the general population. Why?

Because many sensory fascinations, including an affinity for scents, are cultural, habitual, and deeply personal. Our colleague Elle, a scent artist and the Founder of Black Perfumers, said it best in a piece penned by Carla Seipp for BeautyMatters.com,“it was strange to realize, wondering where all the Black perfumers were, since Black people have always been fragranced from head to toe.” 

According to data cited by AfroTech, nearly 69% of entrepreneurs in the fragrance sector identify as white. Black founders are building brands in a category that is often second nature, and we’re doing it without the infrastructure, capital, or generational knowledge that legacy European houses have passed down for centuries.

The fragrance industry has historically been dominated by those legacy houses, centered in places like Grasse, France, where perfumery knowledge moves through family ties like an inheritance. That is how generational wealth gets built. And that is exactly the locked door that has kept Black and minority founders out. If we spend in the industry, we should be leading it, and November Nichols decided not to wait for someone to open the door.

FRAGRANCE IS A SCIENCE.

One of the most important moments of the episode came when November broke down the scientific backbone of fragrance formulation. 

Every ingredient used in real perfumery has a CAS number, a unique identifier assigned to chemical substances used in formulation. Every formula is governed by industry compliance standards that determine what can and cannot be sold across the world. The percentages, the compounds, and the sourcing of raw materials are all backed by chemistry. And if you don't keep meticulous lab notes? You might create something incredible and never be able to replicate it again.

November laughed, telling the story of her early days as a self-described kitchen bandit, shaking and mixing with no notes, no process, no chemist. But she was also clear about what that cost her:  she lost formulas, potential scent combinations she couldn't recreate. It wasn't until she understood the science behind what she was doing that Chémin could become what it is today.

For our lab leaders, this is the whole point. The products sitting on your bathroom shelf didn't just smell good by accident. Someone formulated them, regulated them, and made sure they were safe for you to use. And if scents and fragrances are something that interests you, then someone could absolutely be you! 

HISTORY WAS MADE AT JCPENNEY

If there is one moment from this episode that captures the scale of what November Nichols has built, it is this: in January 2024, Chémin launched an affordable luxury collection across 50 JCPenney locations nationwide — 32 SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) on shelves — marking the first time a major retailer had gotten behind a Black-owned indie fragrance brand in this way.

Not one SKU. 

Not two. 

Thirty-two.

And the way it happened?  Was off the strength of a genuine community. November was hosting a fireside chat for a fellow founder launching her cosmetics line at JCPenney. She wasn't there for herself. She was there to serve and support someone within her network. When the conversation opened up, she mentioned Chémin. A buyer asked to smell her fragrance. November was prepared, pulling out some samples she had in her purse. One introduction led to another, and after nearly a full year of conversations, the collection launched.

"Every single partnership I've ever had came from someone inside my community," November shared during the episode. "They all came to me. I never had to go after them myself."

That is not luck, that’s what it looks like to walk in your purpose. The right connections always find you; that’s what happens when you build something real, show up for others, and trust that the right doors will open.

SHE'S NOT TRYING TO BE THE ONLY ONE IN THE ROOM

Perhaps the most powerful thing November Nichols is doing right now isn't the JCPenney partnership or the Marriott collaboration or the corporate clients that now include Netflix, HBO, Delta Airlines, and Amazon.

It's the Fragrancepreneur program.

When November entered the fragrance industry over a decade ago, it was, in her words, a shrouded industry. Nobody wanted to tell you anything. Nobody wanted to help you learn the craft. She had to figure it out almost entirely on her own, and she made a decision early on that she would not let that be the experience for the people who came after her.

Through Chémin's house model, November and her team take founders from concept to shelf by helping them with formulation, packaging, marketing, campaigns, photo shoots, launch strategy, all of it. They currently house approximately eight independent fragrance brands from Black founders. And she is clear about why.

"I don't want my legacy to be one where it dies with me. I might be one of the first, but I won't be the last."

In an industry where access, opportunity, and finances have historically kept Black founders out, November is building the infrastructure that didn't exist when she needed it most. 

3 TAKEAWAYS FROM NOTES ON PURPOSE WITH NOVEMBER NICHOLS

1. Fragrance formulation is a science. Treat it like one. CAS numbers, compliance standards, regulated percentages, lab notes — none of it is optional. For any lab leader interested in beauty, this episode is a direct line to understanding that the products you love are built on science. And science is something you can learn.

2. A great product is not enough. Build the world around it. People don't buy products. They buy experiences, aspirations, and emotional needs. If you don't have the story, the community, and the engine behind your brand, you are going to end up with a museum of pretty products. Science matters, and your branding, marketing, and storytelling matter just as much.

3. The most powerful thing you can do is bring someone with you. November didn't just build Chémin;  she built a house that supports and aids in launching other brands. A through line of her entire journey is community and the unwavering belief that there is room for all of us at this table.

NOW YOU KNOW THE FORMULA

November Nichols built one of the only Black-owned fragrance houses in the world from a kitchen tumbler, a discontinued candle, and a meditation ritual. She did it without a roadmap, without a blueprint, and without an industry that was ready to receive her.

And now she's making sure the next generation doesn't have to do it the same way.

Black consumers have always spent in this industry, but now the next logical step is for us to take territory as leaders in it. With proximity to women like November, who understand that the beauty industry runs on science, we’re able to emphasize one simple fact: the only thing standing between our lab leaders and a seat at the table is knowing the table exists.

This summer, our lab leaders will take the conversation off the screen and into the lab at our Xavier University stop on the 2026 Summer of Science HBCU Tour, where the focus will be on fragrance science, hands-on. 

Everything in this episode is exactly what our students will be living inside the classroom.

If you missed the episode, the full conversation is available on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtBCkmkNDmM

Special thanks to our partners at MyAvana, who make it possible for us to keep bringing powerful conversations and incredible guests to our community. We are just getting started.