Picture: Courtesy of Brown Sugar Babe
Take heed to the full conversation between Maekaeda Gibbons and Fashionista Employees Author Catie Pusateri on The Fashionista Networkon Spotify.
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Whereas working as a mortgage officer at Financial institution of America, Maekaeda Gibbons started crafting fragrances as a stress-relieving outlet. Her concoctions rapidly gained recognition amongst her colleagues (“ Perfume is not one thing that you could comprise into your cubicles,” she identified), and shortly snowballed into the now-viral model Brown Sugar Babe that first launched in 2018. With cult-favorite scents spanning vanilla-forward gourmands to refreshing florals, the corporate surpassed $20 million in gross sales in 2025 — all whereas remaining unbiased.
Because the fragrance house grows more and more crowded, Gibbons famous that Brown Sugar Babe stays in its “personal lane” of crafting oil-based scents quite than alcohol-based eau de parfums. However what’s behind the label’s continued rise within the perfume world with out having taken on any exterior funding? To Gibbons, it is the model’s devoted group that exhibits up on- and offline.
“ IRL experiences, activating in a really significant manner each time we are able to at Essence Fest and different exhibits like Beautycon and issues like that, I believe these are the issues that actually drive how we have been capable of maintain such nice progress,” Gibbons shared.
On The Fashionista Community, Gibbons mentioned opening Brown Sugar Babe’s Atlanta flagship, navigating order delays and provide chain interruptions, buying its personal manufacturing facility and extra. Watch the full interview on YouTube beneath.
