Some people walk into a room, and you just know they’re special. They’ve got an energy, a presence—maybe even a signature scent that turns heads. Well, my guest on The Debbie Nigro Show for this special Women’s History Month edition is exactly that kind of person. Meet Sue Phillips, the internationally acclaimed fragrance expert, scent therapist, and newly honored Global Women Peace Ambassador! An incredible honor from WOMENS FEDERATION For World Peace International.
If you love a great success story, the science of scent, and a little inspiration to keep going no matter what life throws your way, this is the episode you need to hear.
Sue Phillips: From Broadway Dreams to Fragrance Queen
Sue’s story is the kind of wild, unexpected career journey we all love. Originally from South Africa, she arrived in New York City chasing dreams of singing and acting. But when an immigration lawyer bluntly told her, “We have 20,000 out-of-work actresses. What else can you do?” she quickly pivoted.
Turns out, she had a business background (thanks to her mother’s wise advice), which landed her a job as an executive assistant—a gig that eventually led to a six-year career at Elizabeth Arden, then to leadership roles at Lancôme and Tiffany & Co. (Yes, that Tiffany.)
Her claim to fame? Developing the first-ever Tiffany perfume and later Tiffany for Men. Not bad for a former aspiring actress, huh?
Reinventing Success – Over and Over Again
If there’s one theme to Sue’s life, it’s reinvention. Every time an industry shift or global crisis hit; she found a way to pivot.
When the 2008 economy crashed, she turned to the growing custom fragrance trend, creating scents for brands like Burberry, Avon, and Trish McEvoy.
When COVID-19 shut down her boutique, she unknowingly stumbled into a life-changing discovery—her ability to help people who lost their sense of smell due to COVID, asthma, and other illnesses.
She wrote a book, THE POWER OF PERFUME which went viral and led to her helping over 250 people regain their sense of smell!
And now? She’s taking her Sue Phillips Fragrance brand global, with partnerships in Dubai and India.
The Science of Scent: Can Perfume Heal?
We all know scent is powerful—it can trigger memories, shift moods, and even attract a soulmate. But what Sue discovered during COVID was next level.
She calls it a “scent healing journey.” Using custom fragrance blends, she helped one woman regain her sense of smell after 15 months of nothing. And the results kept coming—hundreds of people found relief through her work.
Now, she’s writing a second book focused on scent therapy for COVID and asthma survivors.
Why Custom Perfume is the Future
We talked about something every perfume lover knows:
A fragrance can smell amazing on someone else—but awful on you. That’s because body chemistry plays a HUGE role in how scents react. And that’s why custom perfumes are the future!
Sue is bringing her fragrance experiences to more people than ever with her Upper East Side boutique, Sue Phillips Fragrance. If you’re looking for a signature scent that’s uniquely YOU, she’s the woman to see. Check out Sues company Scenterprises.
Sue’s Secret to Success? The 4 P’s
Persistence
Perseverance
Passion
And, of course, Perfume!
Final Thoughts: Keep the Energy Moving
One thing Sue and I agree on? Energy is everything.
If you keep pivoting, learning, and staying open, great things come full circle.
If you’ve got a gift, don’t stop sharing it.And if you ever feel stuck? Maybe it’s time to shake things up and reinvent yourself—just like Sue Phillips did.
Want to hear the full story?
Listen to the podcast episode now! Rather READ than listen? the Audio Transcript is below.
Visit Sue’s boutique on the Upper East Side
Check out her book, The Power of Perfume, on Amazon
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show!
0:00:03
(Speaker 3)
It’s always great when you meet people at the absolute perfect time, right, in life and in business, and you feel it when you know it. Happy to have Sue Phillips join me right now. She’s a Scent Guru extraordinaire. Sue, hello. Debbie.
0:00:26
(Speaker 3)
It’s lovely to hear from you. Thank you.
0:00:32
(Speaker 2)
I still can remember how we met in Jeanette’s party house up in the Fifth Avenue party she had a thousand years ago and you were there and I was fascinated with you and her and
0:00:51
(Speaker 1)
all these years later I still follow you everything you do.
0:00:54
(Speaker 2)
Oh my goodness, thank you so much. You’re welcome. I’m thrilled. Well, today I’m honoring you for my Women’s History Month, Honor a Great Woman, for this amazing peace honor you got. Explain to everybody what you’ve been honored with and chosen as.
0:01:27
(Speaker 1)
Well, thank you so much. So I was honored by the Women’s Federation for World Peace International, and they made me a global woman peace ambassador. And there were 128 delegates from around the world who are members of this federation. And this was their night,
0:01:47
(Speaker 1)
their 2025 International Women’s Peace, you know, congregation. Yeah, I saw the pictures, women from all over the world.
0:01:56
(Speaker 2)
That was really cool. It was amazing.
0:01:58
(Speaker 1)
I mean, these women delegates are so incredible. You know, they’re all doing wonderful things for their communities. They’re really helping to empower young women. They’ve got businesses, they’ve got initiatives, they’ve got all kinds of peace initiatives.
0:02:16
(Speaker 1)
And I was honored by the director and the president, Morika Hori, the president, she’s from Japan, and Merle Barlan, she’s the director, based here in New York. And I had met one of the delegates a few weeks ago, Mr. Anupam Dutta, and he said to me, Sue, I love your story, I love what you’re doing to help people,
0:02:39
(Speaker 1)
and I would like to… he didn’t tell me that he was going to nominate me for a Global Woman Peace Award, but he did say that he would like to introduce me to the organization. And lo and behold, on Sunday, I was given this prestigious award with all these amazing delegates. So I’m very honored. Yes. So where are you from initially? So I
0:02:59
(Speaker 2)
know you’re I met you in New York, but where are you from? Yeah, I’m from South Africa. Right. And you have that great accent. I want to borrow for the weekend. I really like that. And you have to give it back to me. Okay, I’ll give it back to you. A little bit about your business and your expertise, and then tell everybody what you figured out during COVID that kind of changed people’s lives. So sum it up.
0:03:21
(Speaker 1)
So originally from South Africa, I was a singer and an actress. I came to New York, spoke to the immigration attorney. He said, forget it. We have 20,000 out of work singers and actresses. What else do you do?
0:03:31
(Speaker 1)
And I said that my mother always said if I’m going to be in theater, I have something to fall back on. So I had done a business and a secretarial course. And when I told him that, he said, well, were you any good?
0:03:42
(Speaker 1)
And I said, yes, I somehow knew that that was my ticket into America. So he said, well, I will hire you to come be my executive assistant in the office. And at night I’d go singing and acting. At the end of the year, when I got my green card,
0:03:57
(Speaker 1)
I got three job offers. One was to work in banking. I said, that’s not for me. I wanted to work in fashion. I didn’t think I knew anything about fashion at that time, but the third job offer was to be at Elizabeth Arden.
0:04:10
(Speaker 2)
Oh, wow, that was a good one.
0:04:12
(Speaker 1)
And so that I knew was synergistic, training, utilizing my acting ability. And so that’s how I started in the cosmetic industry, training at Elizabeth Arden, and then they promoted me to marketing and product development.
0:04:26
(Speaker 1)
I was there for six years. Wow. And Lancome hired me as marketing director for fragrance and men’s skincare. I started to develop skincare products for men. Wow. Fragrances. And then after four years, Tiffany hired me as executive vice president of Tiffany to create and develop the first Tiffany woman’s perfume. I love your story. Love it. Oh, Debbie, it gets better. It was so amazing.
0:04:51
(Speaker 1)
I mean, if you’d have told me growing up in South Africa that one day I’d be executive vice president of Tiffany, I’d say you’re crazy. Wow. Well, then I left Tiffany after four years to I also created the men’s fragrance, Tiffany for men. Then I had my daughter and I started my own company called Scenterprises, Scent and Enterprises.
0:05:12
(Speaker 1)
And people kind of said, you know, what are you doing? And I created fragrances for Burberry and Avon and Trish McEvoy. And then in 2008, the economy crashed. Right. So I had to reinvent myself again. And I know I had to do.
0:05:27
(Speaker 1)
I started thinking about custom fragrances because, you know, customization has started to become quite popular. So people said, what are you doing? Couple wear parties for perfume and they laugh at me.
0:05:39
(Speaker 2)
Meanwhile, how smart were you because that’s what everybody’s doing and I had the pleasure of buying one of your scents for my boyfriend for a special occasion because he loves scents. It was magnificent. You really built something unique and you had a lot of famous people come to your, was it a centurion in New York City?
0:05:55
(Speaker 1)
Yes, and I opened a centurion downtown in Tribeca. Jamie Foxx came, Katie Holmes, Zendaya, and everything was going great. And then of course, another big challenge, the COVID came. So everything shut down. By this stage, I had written my book called The Power of Perfume, and it’s on Amazon.
0:06:15
(Speaker 1)
And wouldn’t you know that I was able to help some woman who had not been able to smell for 13 months. And I took her on a fragrance journey, which I now call a scent healing journey and she was able to smell after 15 months of not being able to smell. Wow
0:06:39
(Speaker 1)
that’s really impressive. The book went viral and I’ve helped 250 people regain their sense of smell. I know it’s crazy fabulous. It’s brilliant. It’s been amazing. I will tell you every day is a different a wonderful experience and
0:06:54
(Speaker 1)
reached out to me from Canada. She wants to write a book with me. So now I’m writing my second book all about this COVID and asthma. And in the interim I have a company from Dubai in
0:07:17
(Speaker 2)
India wanting to help me to go global. I’ve just won this Peace Award. That’s so good. Life is good and now suddenly after years and years and years you contact me
0:07:16
(Speaker 1)
Everything is amazing. It comes full circle.
0:07:18
(Speaker 2)
I think if you just keep the energy going, right? You’re an energy girl and I’m an energy girl. There’s no end to the energy until we’re cut off, right? As long as you have energy, you have possibility. As long as you have possibility and you’re open to it, great things. That’s where your knowledge comes in and your past experiences.
0:07:40
(Speaker 2)
So when I look at people who say, I’m bored, I shouldn’t have retired, I’m like, you still have energy. What else do you want to do with your energy? And that’s why I’m drawn to you because I see you keep going and pivoting and moving and veering. I do think that once you have a gift like you do that the world appreciates, it should
0:07:58
(Speaker 2)
just keep going as long as you do. So good for you.
0:08:01
(Speaker 1)
Well, you know, yesterday, one of the delegates ended his speech with, you know, he wants his persistence, perseverance and passion. And I said, well, there’s another P. You’ve got to be persistent. You’ve got to be passionate. You’ve got to be perseverant.
0:08:16
(Speaker 1)
But you also have to have perfumes. So I always end up with the four Ps.
0:08:21
(Speaker 2)
Can I ask you what kind of perfume do you wear?
0:08:26
(Speaker 1)
I love a really bold floral fragrance that has some woodsy and mossy notes because a lot of people just don’t like florals anymore. But florals are beautiful. They are sophisticated. They are feminine. And there are light florals like fresh florals or there are deeper florals like a gardenia
0:08:44
(Speaker 1)
or a spectacular rose. So I happen to like a gardenia which has a little bit more sensuality and sexuality, but I love to combine it with woodsy notes, which is very sensual, and some oaky, smoky, mossy notes, which gives it some sexy, sexuality, and then a little bit of a bright citrus or tonic note. So it’s a company, it’s bold, it’s feminine, it’s exotic.
0:09:12
(Speaker 2)
I want that perfume, and you know what I’m going to do? Make me a little baby sample, and I’m going to walk around and test it out and see how sexy I am and people react to me. I’ll do that, absolutely.
0:09:19
(Speaker 5)
I’d love to have that fun.
0:09:20
(Speaker 2)
You smell anything? You know what I find that a lot of people are drawn to certain scents on other people. They can recognize a fragrance immediately. They’ll go, oh, are you wearing Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue, for example, one of the more popular ones, or are you wearing Chanel? People actually know a scent and can recognize it on other people.
0:09:39
(Speaker 2)
Fascinating to me.
0:09:40
(Speaker 1)
But here’s the problem with that. What’s the problem? Something that smells great on somebody else might not smell great on you because of your body chemistry, because of your lifestyle, whatever. And I always say, why wear what everybody else wears when you can create your own? You know, I’ve had the situation when I was in Paris once on business that there was a
0:10:01
(Speaker 1)
fragrance that they were selling in the store, Galerie Lafayette. It was absolutely gorgeous in the air. And so I bought it and I went back to the hotel and I tried it on and it was just awful on me. It just didn’t mix with my body chemistry. So just because something smells great on somebody else doesn’t mean it’s going to be
0:10:20
(Speaker 1)
good on you. And that is the reason that so many of my, that’s the reason my business is growing because people recognize that something that smells good on somebody else is not going to smell good on them. Yep. And that’s why customization is so big.
0:10:34
(Speaker 2)
So how are you doing the customization now? Are you back open down at your store now that COVID is over? You have the Centurion back in action?
0:10:41
(Speaker 1)
No. So now I’m on the Upper East Side. I am Madison and Alias. You know, when I, before I started the book and I was trying to rebrand, everybody said, Sue, you’re the brand. It’s got to be Sue Phillips.
0:10:54
(Speaker 1)
I said, no, that’s too egocentric. My company is Scenterprises and my boutique is Scentarium. And three or four years later, I tried to rebrand again. And they said, no, no, it’s got to be Sue Phillips. I said, no, no, no, it’s too egocentric. Well, guess what?
0:11:07
(Speaker 1)
Once the pandemic came and once I wrote my book and once I started to help people, that’s when I said, you know what? God is right. It’s got to be Sue Phillips. So my boutique is now Sue Phillips Fragrance.
0:11:17
(Speaker 5)
Cool.
0:11:18
(Speaker 1)
Up at Eastside and I’m really going full tint ahead, full speed ahead on coming up with my own brand. I’m working with companies to develop a global brand. I will continue to do the custom fragrances, but this will be a Sue Phillips House of Fragrance brand that is going to go viral.
0:11:35
(Speaker 4)
I’m so excited.
0:11:36
(Speaker 2)
I can’t wait to come. I want to be at the grand opening
0:11:39
(Speaker 1)
Thank you, my darling
0:11:41
(Speaker 2)
You choose to I’m very proud of you and proud of this wonderful award you have a great day Thanks for taking the time to stop by the show appreciate you darling. God bless. Take care. Lots of love. Okay. Bye Thanks for taking the time to stop by the show appreciate you darling. God bless. Take care. Lots of love. Okay. Bye All right back with just another segment of the show right after these words
