Launched: 2010
Founder: Barb Stegemann
Key Executives: Barb Stegemann, Founder and CEO
2024 Full Year Expected Revenue Range: $10 to $20 million
Offline Points of Distribution Projected Globally for 2024: 1,500
Primary Beauty Category: Fragrance
Other Beauty Categories: Wellness
Key Markets:
Retail Partnerships: Sephora
Primary Distribution Channel: Prestige
Other Distribution Channels: Sephora at Kohl's
Funding Rounds: Private Equity
Total Funds Raised: $7 million
Notable Investors / Funding Partners:
Notable Advisors / Board Members:
Brand accelerator program: Sephora Accelerate Program
Insight provided by Barb Stegemann, Founder and CEO
I launched The 7 Virtues aromatherapy perfumes out of my garage on my Visa card in 2010 on International Women’s Day. There was no word for social enterprise or clean beauty back then. My best friend had been wounded serving in the army, and I promised him in the hospital I would take on his mission of peace. I realized I didn’t have a way as a woman; I am not a brave soldier or a world leader. Women own the buying power, and I thought if we could harness that power to reverse cycles of war and poverty, then I could build a better world. I began by writing a book, called The 7 Virtues of a Philosopher Queen to empower women to run for office, end bullying, and launch social enterprises. I brought the thesis to life and began sourcing from farmers in Afghanistan so they would not have to grow the illegal poppy. We also contribute to Days for Girls International to end period poverty.
We create a clean, long-lasting perfume with double the fragrance oils to empower our clients to flourish, take risks, and share their gifts. All the aromatherapy benefits are written on the back of our bottles. Because they are clean, we doubled the fragrance oils and infused them with organic sugar cane alcohol to make sure they are the longest lasting clean perfumes.
What are your key business initiatives for 2024?
What are you most proud of having accomplished?
I am most proud of how we started out as pioneers in the clean fragrance space, with no playbook or roadmap. Fully running on instinct, our scrappy little family-run social enterprise persevered and stayed the course despite some very lean times. Our pivot in 2018, when I did the Sephora Accelerate Program, was a pivotal moment for our family and our business. We went from surviving to thriving with the wisdom and knowledge of our mentors at Sephora and the merchant team that leaned in and guided us on a full rebrand with our team and chemists at CPL Aromas.
Fast forward, and to be the first perfume brand Unilever Ventures and True Beauty Ventures chose to invest in really is the testament of how it’s ok, more than ok, not to follow the beaten path; to stay in your own lane and do what feels right ethically as a businessperson, sustainably; and our contributing to building peace by empowering women.
As the first B Corp fragrance brand at Sephora, that sums up our raison d’etre. Make Perfume Not War. We can be activists in a good way. We can make money in a fair way. We can create products and be kind to the planet and one another.
What has been the biggest surprise?
When I look around the fragrance landscape, it's clear we are the opposite of all our competition. The 7 Virtues could not be more of an outlier in the fragrance space. I don't think anyone would have ever expected our little indie brand to become one of the top-selling clean perfume brands in North America. I don't come from beauty or fragrance. I am a journalist and an author of philosophy. And yet, here we are, the only Canadian fragrance brand in Sephora, now in 18 countries. We have spent next to nothing on marketing up until 2023. We don't have any celebrity endorsements, I am not a TikTok influencer; our perfumes are the thesis of a book on philosophy brought to life. And yet, we are the first perfume the titans of beauty chose to invest in; Unilever Ventures and True Beauty Adventures chose us as their first perfume brand to invest in.
The 7 Virtues even has hero perfumes that outsell the biggest beauty legacy brands in the fragrance space, up against their billboards and heavy marketing spend! How does that happen? I am just a person creating real perfumes for real people. I think that's the biggest surprise. Quiet Luxury is for the real person. They connect with us as a movement rather than a brand. I am a retail activist. We are using our platform for good, to empower our clients to flourish, and to end war and poverty.
What fuels your competitive advantage?
The clean perfume category can sometimes get a bad rap because people say they don't last. And for many perfumes, that can be a fair statement. So, when I did the Sephora Accelerate Program, I had the bandwidth and mentorship to really crack the code on how to make a long-lasting, clean perfume. I realized we were all following industry standards at the time, using 10 to 15% fragrance oils. Given we don't have phthalates or chemicals in our perfumes to make them stick to the skin longer, I realized we would need to double the fragrance oils to 22 to 25% to ensure they last—using natural oils such as vanilla and jasmine as natural fixatives to adhere to the skin instead of chemicals.
Then I thought, why are we putting our precious, sustainably sourced oils in regular alcohol? Why not use organic sugar cane alcohol, which is like biting into an organic pear; it just tastes better. So that's what we did. We double the fragrance oils in our perfumes and infuse these aromatherapy oils in organic sugarcane alcohol and aromatherapy on the back of the bottle so our client can flourish. The 7 Virtues perfumes are good for the world and good for your soul.
Please share your insight on the future of the beauty industry.
I hope to see more outliers that serve real people with really excellent products. I think you will see a lot more indies grow into luxury brands.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
"Hire slow. Fire fast." In our 14 years, no employee has ever quit or left us. We take our time hiring each person to ensure they can lead and thrive in our B Corp lifestyle of full transparency, care for the planet, and have kindness for others.
What is the best mistake you've ever made?
When I have rushed decisions because of someone else's agenda. Trying to be a nice person and instead tripping because someone else was pressuring me to make a fast decision. I never make decisions now based on someone else's agenda. I look within, personally and professionally, and ensure we make decisions based on our needs.
Paying it forward, what advice would you give to someone contemplating launching a beauty brand?
Be fully accountable. Don't blame anyone else for anything in your business. Always ask yourself, what can you do to change a situation? If something is not going well, stay positive, ask for help, but take that advice. Listen to your mentors, not your social media feed. Ensure you have wise counsel, and when they take their precious time to guide you, follow through, and you will be more than fine.
If you could change one thing in the beauty industry what would it be?
I would like to see less of the "smoke and mirrors." There is so much that's good and true in the beauty world; so much room for activism and platforms to help others. But there is also a lot of smoke and mirrors, and people fall for it and think they too need to participate in lavish, grand campaigns or stunts. They don't work. People want to see real results, real stories, real people.
