We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melissa Baker a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Melissa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
The CHIC CHEMISTRY brand emerged in April 2024 during a pivotal moment in my life and career. After being laid off in 2021, I found myself struggling to reconnect with the work I had loved and excelled at in the beauty industry for decades. Over the course of my career, I had experienced multiple layoffs—each one challenging, but this time felt profoundly different. For two and a half years, I juggled job interviews, relentless job searches, deleting tons of rejection emails and the constant stress of financial strain. Every day was a battle to smile, stay positive and make ends meet.
Survival mode was exhausting. When my unemployment benefits ran out after six months, I had to dip deeper into my personal savings to cover bills, eventually tapping into a 401k. I took on odd jobs that grew increasingly unconventional, but nothing provided stability or fulfillment. Desperation led me to accept a stressful full-time manager position at a cosmetics department in the international airport—a role that, within a few months, began to take a serious toll on my physical and mental health. It was a low point, but it also became the catalyst for change, ultimately inspiring the creation of Chic Chemistry.
What does this have to do with our mission? Everything. Because every day, as I drove to ‘that job’, I found myself in tears, wondering, “How did I end up here?” At 58, I was barely scraping by, stuck in one of the most toxic work environments I’d ever experienced. It drained me of sleep, energy, joy, and nearly my spirit and life. But on my first day—and her ninth—I met my new best friend Grace. It was kismet. We discovered an eerie number of similarities, not least of which was our shared love for sumptuous aesthetics, the beauty industry, and exceptional client service.
We spent countless hours discussing what was missing in today’s IRL customer experience, how much we missed helping customers find the right product, and how brands could do better at so many things. We talked about the lack of tools for businesses to truly succeed and how absurdly priced luxury beauty had become, especially fragrances. I noticed the shift in pricing, what clients were buying, and what they were saying. A gut feeling told me there was a gap in the market for sophisticated, elevated scents that looked and felt indulgent yet were accessibly priced —where you could treat yourself to two different fragrances without breaking the bank.
Therefore, I created CHIC CHEMISTRY where we are on a mission to surprise and delight our customers with elevated scents and experiences that transport or transform them emotionally, without the highly priced, brand and marketing markups. Scent is self-care, and well-being should be attainable by everyone.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I grew up on a farm raising prize-winning cows, pigs, goats, horses, chickens, you name it. I was president of the 4-H Club and won showmanship awards.. But I couldn’t wait to escape the confines of a small town and dirt roads. There was nothing glamorous or ‘fancy’ going on there. I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school. So my ‘gap’ year, at 18, I decided to be an Avon lady, Ahem, girl. And I LOVED it. I had my own business and bank account. I walked down the dirt road in my ‘neighborhood’ and found customers. I enjoyed sitting and talking with them and suggesting items. When I delivered their items and included samples, I enjoyed seeing their surprise and delight when opening their bag. That experience at 18 was unknowingly, an extremely impressionable time for me.
The call of freedom was strong to get out of that little town. I always wanted to go to ‘Hollywood’, where the bright lights and big city were. Not to be an actress. I just wanted to be around the energy of it all. So I applied to college without my mom knowing, got accepted and signed the financial aid papers. I told my mom I needed a one-way ticket and a month’s paid rent as I would be leaving in 3 weeks for Los Angeles. I was going to be a Fashion Buyer, as I stood there in my Mickey Mouse t-shirt, blue eyeshadow, frosted pink lipgloss and Avon Sweet Honesty fragrance. I remember it quite clearly.
When I landed in LA, I took a part-time job at big department store. They put me in the Linens Department folding towels and ordering draperies. I was bored stiff. A few months in, someone told me there was an opening downstairs in cosmetics at the Clinique counter. I fell in love with learning, earning, helping clients, being successful and of course makeup, skincare and fragrance. In the 80’s it was chic to work in cosmetics. It was a badge of honor, pride and prestige. I loved it. And still do. And the rest is history, 40 years later.
In my career I’ve helped luxury and indie brands and their retailers grow sales, train teams, market to customers and execute small to large scale events from beginning to end. I’ve been privileged to work directly for and with brand Founders the last decade or more, getting to see up close what it’s like to build something from nothing. So I have a little knowledge about a lot of things regarding brands. I saw the vision quite literally for CHIC CHEMISTRY one day at lunch with my best friend and co-Founder Grace Hernandez. I knew we were supposed to build this brand together. While our experience in beauty is slightly different, which makes for a great mix in the business partnership, our ethos are aligned. We are Latina and women owned.
I’m most proud of how we have executed on our mission immediately and continually since launching in April 2024. We are bootstrapping this on a budget and going after our dreams while delivering on the promise we make to our clients in our mission statement below. I say clients because everyone is a repeat purchaser, whether it’s the same scent , something different, or a gift. We have achieved client loyalty one by one, paying attention to the quality of the product, presentation of the brand, generous sampling (even better than the big brands) and creating awareness and education around wearing scent.
CHIC CHEMISTRY is a curated collection of perfume oils, offering a versatile wardrobe of scents for everyone, to match a mood, an outfit, an occasion or a mindset. Each has a unique, meaningful number, love story, short story and soul story.
Crafted by two best friends with deep roots in the luxury beauty industry, the brand was born to address a simple yet compelling question: “Where can I find a sophisticated scent, that is attractively priced and long-wearing?”
CHIC CHEMISTRY was created to envelop everyone in the joy of memorable moments, magical experiences and chic scents you can live in, every day. Not just special occasions.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I’ve always been an entrepreneurial thinker. Even as I worked for others throughout my career—whether at Estée Lauder, Urban Decay, Too Faced, Sephora or others—my role as Education Director often involved pioneering new territory. Many times, the position itself was brand new, allowing me to define it from the ground up. Other times, I was building an entirely new department for the brand or retailer, creating something from nothing. In some cases, I was tasked with adapting existing structures to make them relevant for the current market or the needs of the team and business. That kind of work requires vision—a quality I can now confidently attribute to myself in hindsight. I have the ability to see a concept fully fleshed out in my mind, literally.
My philosophy is to be connected with something bigger than all this on earth and to be curious and learn from anyone, anywhere. If it resonates, listen, try and apply. Through this type of thinking I discovered the practice of the Law of Vibration through the teachings of Joe Dispenza and Esther Hicks, along with others like Wayne Dyer. These practices help me translate my thoughts and ideas into concrete words or visuals, making it easier to execute plans or provide clear direction. I also make a point to fill my mind with topics I’m curious about. One of my favorite sources for this is Steven Bartlett and his podcast, Diary of a CEO. He recently released a book, and his podcast features the most fascinating guests—not all CEOs, but certainly experts in their fields. Steven’s natural curiosity makes him an exceptional listener and interviewer, which is why I find his content so inspiring.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
My biggest pivot yet in life—and therefore in my career and business—is happening right now. And it’s completely unexpected, but I’m having so much fun because I’m embracing it instead of bracing for it. I’m turning 60 in July, which feels like a monumental milestone, especially in the beauty industry. Through all the tough times over the last couple of years, it hit me: “You don’t get more runway.” When that realization sunk in, I thought, “That’s it. Make every second, every day, count for yourself first. Take care of yourself, inside and out. Do the damn thing—or things. Apply your law of attraction, stop chasing the carrot.”
So, after the awful airport job, (focused on attracting what I wanted) while starting CHIC CHEMISTRY, I landed in the clouds at an amazing job with the kindest people, working from home and flexing my skills in a new way. It was exactly what my spirit and psyche needed. However, six months in, the company restructured, dissolved the department, and I was laid off—again. This time, I made a conscious decision to handle it differently. No freaking out. Instead, I chose to go with the flow, trusting it would all work out while taking intentional actions. Now, in addition to Founder and CEO of CHIC CHEMISTRY, I’m a fractional copywriter for two beauty brands, pitching my third client, I have a student consulting business, and volunteer monthly as a makeup artist at Lipstick Angels events. Overall, I fit it all in by making my own hours and love the flexibility and satisfaction of doing things on my terms.
And I know all of this is possible because I pivoted and took a chance on a clear vision I had for myself, trusting in my knowing, my idea—how could I contribute to the beauty world with CHIC CHEMISTRY? We’re growing, building brand recognition and momentum, and people are coming to me. I’m not chasing it down anymore. It’s thrilling to watch it all align, unfold and live in the flow.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: chicchemistryscents
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissajobaker/
Image Credits
Image credits: Dee Mock