We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lisa Polite. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lisa below.
Lisa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?
I came up with the name of my company because I wanted to leave a legacy for my family and I really wanted to be connected to the name so I googled how to say polite in French and it was Poliè which is my last name and my first name is Lisa so I put it together La Poliè and the fragrance is made in France and my brand name was created now for for the fragrance Phoenix 22 is because I did 22 years as a correctional officer me creating this fragrance is like a rebirth a new beginning for me so, that wear the fragrance name came from.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Lisa Polite and I am the CEO and Founder of La Poliè luxury fragrance brand I was born and raised in Spanish Harlem in the Lehman village housing projects there is were I learned hard work as I watch my dad the sole provider in a one income family house hold worked hard to take care of me and my 4 siblings I wanted to be just like my dad and develop the same work ethics so I went to work for the toughest precent in the world Rickers Island there after 22 years of services I am now retired and rising in luxury with my signature fragrance Phoenix 22 by La Poliè house horning unapologetic black women who’ve earn and deserve to treat themselves and to go after what they want no matter what. We provide luxury products that will empower you to inspire, influence, and lead while feeling sexy and confident every day , and this is why I created Phoenix 22 because I love feeling sexy and confident. And one day as I was going out with my girlfriend spraying on my favorite luxury fragrance I said to my self I should create my own fragrance and the thought wouldn’t leave my mind so I brought the ideas to my two sons and they said mom go for it and I started doing research and my son connected me with a coach and we worked together and she got me connected to a perfumer in France called Galimard and I let her know what I wanted the La poliè women to smell like through my vision board and my inspiration and Phoenix 22 was created I am very proud and inspired and hopeful that my brand will bridge the gap in the luxury fragrance space for me and other women of color to exist in the luxury fragrance space I am very proud of what I accomplished coming from my background I will continue to inspire women to go after their dreams. And to let them know that thing are going to be rough sometimes but every thing that happens in business is a learning lesson and if you fall get back up dust yourself off and try again thus learning from your mistake
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
so as a new business owner you learn a lot form trial and error and I learned a huge lesson that almost cost me a lot of money so I was eager to get my product and thing done and I did my trademark last which as the process was going through a major brand opposed my trademark and I already had my products so I was devastated but through some crying and praying thing worked out in my favor thank god
How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.
I sell my perfume on my website and Facebook, and instagram I chose these tree platform to sell my fragrance because to me they are easy to navigate and a lot of customers are on these sites and you can find just about any thing on these three platform but sometime its difficult for me to reach my target audience as I have a luxury brand and I am a new business owner I am learning how to market in the luxury space
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lapoliefragrances.com
- Instagram: lapoliefragrances
- Facebook: La poliè
- Linkedin: Lisa Polite