An entrepreneur at heart Raquel Bouris founder of who is Elijah perfumes was just 23 years old when she decided to pour her savings into a ‘genderless’ perfume business.
“It all started in 2017, whilst I was at Coachella! I was introduced to an oil fragrance that originated from India. When I got home, I tracked it down, and this is when I had my lightbulb moment – why couldn’t I create something like this?”
Full of tenacity, Raquel stood strong amongst the doubts that were expressed to her, and it has paid off in dividends. Today, Bouris runs a multi-million-dollar fragrance business, whilst juggling the demands of motherhood – and whilst she admits the beginning may have been a slow burn, making bold moves and backing herself when others may have not, were the key contributors into her success today.
We sit down with Raquel to talk about her career journey, and the Bold Moves she has made along the way, a conversation where insight is delivered in spades, Bouris talks about letting go of perfectionism and managing the all too familiar feeling of biting off more than you can chew!
Creating WHO IS ELIJAH may have been a light bulb moment, that saw huge growth, but it wasn’t always like that – When I launched WHO IS ELIJAH the first two years proved to be very slow. And, within those two years there was a lot of learnings along the way, I don’t look at them so much as setbacks, just key learnings that led to growth and opportunity, I am a big believer that learning from our mistakes is usually the easiest and quickest way to grow.
In the beginning I had a vision, and not for a moment did I doubt myself – I like to thank my 23-year-old naivety, I created a product that I believed wholeheartedly in, and once I started getting HIS | HER, our first fragrance into people’s hands, the positive feedback fuelled my drive and pushed me to keep going.
“Creating a genderLESS perfume range was a personal preference, naturally I gravitate to a more masculine scent, I thought, why make fragrances gender specific?”
I have always been of the persuasion, ‘everything can be done yesterday’ –I am no stranger of biting off more than I can chew, but I love working 100 miles an hour. Thankfully, I have an amazing team and husband that work alongside me, they are the one of the main reasons for our growing range and the successes along the way.
“When it comes to backing yourself and making that bold move, let go of waiting for perfect, reach out to other women in a similar space and ask for advice, I have formed so many collaborative relationships doing this, female empowerment and support can drive successes in so many different aspects of your life.”
To maintain drive and success, I have formed three habits that I practice daily –
- Work is a part of my lifestyle – it isn’t a traditional 9-5, I give myself flexibility
- I incorporate WHO IS ELIJAH into almost all aspects in my life, I couldn’t tell you a time I am not thinking about it!
- I always ensure I take the time to reflect and celebrate the wins, whilst acknowledging and accepting the mistakes that were made.
My one piece of advice to women wanting to step out and make that next Bold Move – Don’t have the mindset ‘But what if people think this, or what if this happens’, trust your instincts, build your resilience, and just go for it. Living with true authenticity can at times, for some be challenging, but it is also incredibly rewarding; it will allow you to live a life that is unique to you, whilst driving a positive impact to those around you.