Emily Frisella. Age 36 living in St. Louis, MO. Emily is an Amazon best selling Author of The Fresh Farmhouse Kitchen Cookbook with her second book releasing in September, Clean Eating Chef, Creator of Fit Home & Health, Co-host of the iTunes top-rated Food in Session Nutrition Podcast, Founder of the Women in Business Workshop, Voted Top 5 female entrepreneurs in St. Louis, MO, public speaker and COO of 44Seven Media, wife and thrice over dog bulldog momma.
Emily Frisella has a passion for all things health, fitness, personal growth and development of myself and helping others.
Growing up in an entrepreneur household Emily knew that she too wanted to be an entrepreneur.
"Becoming an entrepreneur was almost as if it's all I truly knew"
Emily Frisella
Emily took her first job at 14 years old to save money to open her first brick and mortar business. She purchased the building and surrounding property when she was only 20 and opened a flower shop, luxury gift boutique, tuxedo & wedding rental company. Emily built that business for 5 years then sold it to move to a new city.
"Many see entrepreneurship as a high gloss lifestyle when the reality is it's a total lifestyle that you craft and will be a roller coaster of highs, lows, celebrations, and stress but in the end, there is nothing else in the world you would rather do."
Emily Frisella
1. In the beginning, what motivated you to become an entrepreneur?
I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. I never knew what a “9-5” was my entire life. I saw first hand what being an entrepreneur was through my parents and I was fascinated from an early age. I knew that I wanted to work for myself to be my own boss and in control of my own future. I wanted to have the ability to provide for my family as well as my employees’ families as well.
2. Tell me about your first entrepreneurial experience as a kid.
Growing up on a farm we didn’t have much traffic going through our area but my sisters and myself were determined to make our own money because my parents would never allow us to waste money on video games and gumball machines so we wanted to have our own quarters to spend. I was 6 years old. We spray painted a “lemonade $.25” sign on the side of a piece of plywood and asked my dad to take it up into the hay field and lean it against a hay bale to advertise. We were about 2 football fields away from our house and we stood in the field trying to flag cars down, our driveway was about 1/4 mi past where we stood so if we thought we saw a car slowing down we would have to sprint back to the house to tend to our little red wagon we made into a lemonade stand. We only made 1 sale..to my grandparents who tipped us each $1. Lesson learned: location is everything. haha.
3. How have your entrepreneurial motivations changed since you first started?
I feel this is common among young entrepreneurs as I started with my first brick and mortar company at 20 years old. It began with making money as my motivation as I had seen the life entrepreneurship could afford you but I realized within 2 years that it requires countless hours of tapping into your endless passion and to truly help others first then the money comes after that.
4. Describe to me the most exciting minute of your entrepreneurial journey
It would absolutely be the day I saw my first published cookbook in print. It was a dream and goal achieved. I remember holding it and just staring at it and the whole room just went quietly in my mind, I took in the feel of the paper and the smell of the fresh print. It was so surreal to see my name and photo printed on a book cover that was on Amazon and Barnes & Noble for the entire world to see. It honestly took me 3 days for it to sink in that this was a reality.
5. What does a day in your life consist of?
I am a night owl so I don’t wake up until around 8:30 am. I wake up to prepare for the day then work for about 2-3 hours in my home office then I will head to the gym for an hour. After the gym I run any errands I have that day then come home and shower and prepare for afternoon meetings, appointments and calls, head back into my office until aroun6 pmpm then make dinner for my husband and myself to eat at 7pm, clean up the kitchen and do any housework then work from the couch while snuggling our 3 bulldogs until around midnight then I get ready for bed and then once in bed I’ll work for another hour or so. I feel most producitve and creative in the evening hours so I have naturally become a night owl. I am a huge lover of listening to podcast and audio books and reading so to fill in the spaes of my day during my drive time or while working I’m always listening to something to try to learn more.
6. What inspired you to write ‘The Fresh Farmhouse Kitchen Cookbook?”
I have always been an athlete all my life. And my mom and grandmas were amazing in the kitchen. Once I graduated college and quit playing volleyball I realized I couldn’t eat like I was use toon the farm because I wasn’t working out 2 hours a day anymore and I started to gain some weight. I wanted to lose weight and get healthy so I looked into a clean eating lifestyle and wanted to find some recipes to help me adapt to this lifestyle. When I went to the bookstore to look at books and magazines all I found were crazy recipes that were so labor intense, called for wacky ingredients I never heard of or knew where to find them or the recipes would be so expensive to create. The idea was born at that moment. I went through many tiral and errors for a couple years then finally started writing “The Fresh Farmhouse Cookbook- clean eating comfort food” I wanted to make recipes anyone could create that would be budget friendly with easy to find ingredients you could find at any local grocery store. I used my favorite recipes growing up on the farm as inspiration for my cookbook. I wanted to create healthy dinner, sides, smoothies, snacks and sweets recipes that you’d truly enjoy eating because lets be real- if “diet food” tastes like garbage there is no way you’ll be successful on your diet.
7. Discipline and creativity: are they two forces in opposition, or are they complementary?
I think it’s forces of opposition. As a creative your mind is constantly flooded with ideas and future projects and it can be easy to want to jump on them right away and get them moving but you have to have the discipline to follow through on current tasks and projects at hand. The way I have found a good mesh for this is by doing “brain dumps” I keep a notebook in my car, office and a list on my phone of any ideas I have for any aspect of my brand. The moment I think of it I write it down. Then I will marry those lists into a master list. I find that once I get the ideas out of my mind to a place that I can revisit later and no longer have to worry about forgetting them I can remain focused and disciplined on my current work and then once I complete my current jobs I can visit my brain dump list and start acting on my thoughts and ideas.
8. You have a team working for you, what would your advice for someone who is looking for a team? What do you recommend for them to look for?
I love my team so much! They are all young, vibrant, hungry, hyper creative and a great energy! Hands down best advice I ever received is hire for a character because skill can be taught. I feel very fortunate to have the amazing group of people I do. They work so hard behind the scenes to produce a great product for my company and brand. I couldn’t do it alone.
9. What sacrifices have you had to make during life as an entrepreneur?
Every career requires sacrifices no matter if you make $7/hr or a milion dollars a day. You are always giving up something for your career/business. My personal journey has been giving up vacations/trips for the last 6 years, missing family parties & the freedom to take time away from social media. So much business and branding is done with social media so when you own a company you can’t go MIA for days of end. You have to stay relevant and able to keep offering quality content and help to your friends and followers. Think of it like a fruit stand- when it’s filled with fresh fruit daily, people will come to get all the best fruit and will know you have the best stuff daily. If you fill your fruit stand once then wait a week or more to fill it again, the fruit will spoil and no one will want to visit it because they have learned that you don’t provide the best produce there is. Same with social media- stay fresh and provide the best and people will come.
10. How would you describe your work style during the days?
Loving, Doing, Learning & Leading. Slow mornings and fast days. I love my mornings with my husband then to work in my office quietly to ramp up for a hectic and productive day. Listen to podcasts & books and working to help others with their goals in health, fitness & business. I never have a set schedule as the needs of my business & brand can change on the daily so I practice a flexible work/life style versus a rigid balance.
Check Emily on Instagram @Emilyfrisella
![From Music to Perfume: How did your background as a music teacher influence your transition into perfumery, and how do you incorporate your musical sensibilities into creating fragrances? I’ve always thought in terms of metaphors, and music has many that can be related to perfumery! Beyond just thinking in terms of top, middle and base notes [soprano/alto/tenor in choir], I approach each fragrant idea as a composition. When documenting my ideas, song structures often come to mind. As the scent brief is visited, I meditate on what the fragrance should convey - do I want to create an accord or a “chord” of fragrance note combinations? Do I want an a capella soloist (a particular ingredient to stand out more than others?) Many of my thoughts regarding song composition transfers to my scent formulation process, with me treating each note as an intentional soliloquy at some point.
Brand Origin: What inspired you to start Pink MahogHany in 2005, and how has your vision for the brand evolved since its inception?
An avid lover of all things pleasantly scented (with slight modesty), looking back in retrospect, it’s no huge surprise that I’ve created an indie perfume house with just an idea to provide unique options for those who may be sensitive to unnecessary pungency. Initially, I just wanted to evaluate various blends to note their aroma profiles when “played” together…it wasn’t until I had friends and family asking if I knew of brands that catered to those who may be on the more olfactory sensitive side, that I really began to take my research more seriously. In the almost 20 years that Pink MahogHany has been in existence, our micro visions for the brand have evolved to larger territory. Where Pink MahogHany used to only be a personal brand, we are now also a bespoke formulation service provider to other indie brands seeking unique fragrance offerings for their products. These products range from (but are not limited to) perfumes, candles, body butters and lip balms. Ingredient Transparency: You emphasize transparency and the use of desirable ingredients in your products. How do you select your ingredients, and what challenges have you faced in maintaining this standard?
Being an indie brand often comes with a set of assumptions and misconceptions - one of them being more negative than positive as it relates to ingredients used. There is a lot of “fluff” in the industry with labeling falsification. Because fragrance formulas are a trade secret, not every molecular breakdown of a material has to be noted on the ingredient label (it would be incredibly long), but we at Pink MahogHany™️ adhere strongly to the IFRA [International Fragrance Regulatory Association] regulations that state for common and potential allergens to be listed on our ingredient label. We’ve taken this a step further to also include these ingredients listed on our website to promote further transparency, all while protecting our intellectual property. Unfortunately, we’ve had companies to unethically sell lesser expensive “dupes” of our artisan perfumes, so as a way to create a better authenticity stamp, we make it our duty to be honest about our claims. If our perfume says “Rose Bulgaria”, it is in fact just that and not a component of rose being passed off as the source material. Collaborations and Custom Scents: Can you share more about your work with private label clients? What excites you most about creating custom scent solutions for other indie brands? I could easily sum this up in one word and say “Funding.” True, there is money out there, but I’m always thinking outside the box. Having a program that has an “Each One Fund One” mentality doesn’t exist (that I’ve been made aware of). Bootstrapping can be quite the challenge, even when you’ve reached the 6-figure mark annually. Competition to be seen and set apart is extremely high, so having quality packaging and branding is a must. There are lots of factors to consider, though when desiring to make upgrades. If there were a unique, tier-geared funding operation available, it would help perfume brands offset packaging and bulk material costs in the beginning stages.
Industry Challenges: What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced as an independent fragrance house, and how have you overcome them to grow your brand? As the brand continues on the path of organic growth, I would like to expand our reach into schools, offering perfumery as an arts elective for middle and high school. I’d love to partner with botanists, farmers and horticulturists directly to grow and source raw materials for the students to work with in the creation of tinctures. My passion is getting back to nature as best as possible, as nature was my first “scent experience” as a child. We would also love to witness our fragrance creations being used to scent model homes, our focus diffuser blends being used in automobile dealerships as well as partner with Air Bnb and boutique hotels that specialize in highlighting minority, indie brands. Personal Journey: How has your personal experience, particularly as a divorced mother and someone who has experienced the loss of a child, shaped your approach to life and your work in perfumery?
Because I homeschool my twin sons, we are together a lot more than most, so one thing we all do is have moments of sharing where a neutral “floor” is laid to converse about anything. Though they are quite communicative by nature, I realize that sometimes I can be in work mode so much that it spills over into what should be our quality time. My sons see the authentic me and learn how to communicate through seeing authenticity. I’ve learned not to feel as if I have to be the epitome of perfection but allow them to see my imperfections vulnerably but with discernment. Having had two traumatic experiences pretty close together has taught me how to truly slow down and enjoy the simplicities of life - igniting a spiritual aspect that I’ve always carried but never fully explored…until Kenji’s sudden passing (2018.) Grief has a way of catapulting us into a quest for more meaningfulness in both life and business. After Kenji’s passing and my processing through the initial stages of grief, I was able to incorporate our spiritual bond into Pink MahogHany by way of essential oil diffuser blends for both focus and sleep and most recently aromatic perfume elixirs. It’s been quite the process channeling the void of his physical presence, but I also have peace knowing he can be honored in a great way through scent. I noticed once I began to be more open and receptive to spiritual signs, synchs and “winks”, more ideas began to flow. It’s been this way since his transition. Emotional Expression: Fragrance is often tied to memories and emotions. How does your personal life influence the fragrances you create, and do you have a particular scent that holds special meaning to you? My creative process is much more alchemic now, and I include Kenji by talking out loud to him, believe it or not. I’m a firm believer that when our loved ones transition from the physical plane, they are still present - just in another form. I choose to keep his memory alive by not pretending he never existed (even if for a brief period of time). I am working (slowly) on a book and accompanying fragrance, but I know it will require me to revisit some memories I’m not quite ready for, so until then, his big brothers will launch their debut fragrance, The Peaceful Tiger (they chose the name.) I’ve learned that even in what we consider “small things”, our transitioned loved ones want to be recognized and acknowledged. When the twins and I designed their fragrance label (with a designer out of the country that didn’t know anything about me personally), we had issues with the graphic - so much so that the designer asked if they could rework the design. When they sent the proof for approval, the Tiger was not only younger but sleeping, with an uncanny, angelic resemblance to baby Kenji! Becoming more aware and being more sensitive to my intention for launching a fragrance has definitely made room for more divine situations like these to occur. Healing Through Scent: In what ways has creating fragrances been a form of healing or expression for you, especially after the loss of your son, Kenji Mwamba? I know my sons may not necessarily want to be perfumers, but they definitely have an entrepreneurial heart. My desire is that whatever they decide to pursue (acting, script-writing, music or architecture), they know that anything is possible with the right amount of determination, grit, belief and immersion. One reason I chose to homeschool is so they could enjoy learning without restraint and have ample time to devote to their own separate passions and it still be fun. They know Pink MahogHany is theirs if they want it (many, many years from now - lol), and we are already discussing business structures for whatever they choose their role to be once I retire. Work-Life Balance: How do you find balance between your professional responsibilities and personal well-being, and what self-care practices do you prioritize? I’m not just a perfumer; I’m also a consumer, and self-care is huge for me. I often take salt baths to reset my energy and clear my mind after being around large groups of people or free a long day. I’m a habitual perfume sampler, and I have so many to choose from to wear as my “nightcap.” Even if just for 10-15 minutes, I cherish each moment I’m able to have some “me-time.” When time and co-parenting schedules permit, I’m definitely on a flight somewhere to indulge in some delicious food and mouth-watering mocktails!](https://www.womenontopp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_3812-1200x720.jpeg)
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