British perfumer Joanne Lesley Malone, founder of the now Estée Lauder-owned fragrance house Jo Malone London, has overcome many challenges — poverty and severe dyslexia as a child, and a damning breast cancer diagnosis that she bravely fought and survived as an adult. Despite all that — or perhaps, because of it — she has emerged as an innovator in the business, and is greatly respected for her ingenuity and imagination.
“Respect for creativity — what it does for your life, what you do for it. When you walk the road with creativity, it can be very isolating, because you’re the first one with the idea and there’s often no one around who believes in it. I don’t believe you own creativity; I believe it’s a relationship you have with it. When you acknowledge that relationship, really great things can happen,” she once said in a Forbes interview.
Jo Malone global brand president Jean-Guillaume Trottier may have never met the the artisanal fragrance company’s eponymous founder, but yet maintains the importance of this quality as part of his leadership and considers it an intrinsic aspect of its DNA. “Creativity is the way to succeed. With everything we do, we ask ourselves, is it different from the others? Do we have a creative point of view? If we do not, it is not Jo Malone.”
Known for elegantly simple scents with unexpected ingredients and a unique twist, Jo Malone produces some of the world’s most beautiful fragrances, expressed through coveted colognes as well as luxurious products for bath, body and home. Distinctive yet understated, perfect on their own or artfully layered, Jo Malone’s products have become synonymous with gift giving, with each product a thoughtful and generous statement — whether a small token or the grandest of gifts.
Estée Lauder’s then CEO Leonard Lauder reportedly fell in love with the brand and personally worked out the deals of the takeover in 1999 with Malone. Leonard — whose late wife Evelyn was a great comfort to Malone during her breast cancer battle — was hoping to strengthen the company’s fragrance division, which today ranges from mass market brands such as Aramis and Tom Ford Beauty to more artisanal labels like By Kilian, Kiton and Jo Malone. Trottier joined Jo Malone in 2012 as general manager and became global brand president last year.
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