s

SmellyBlog

💚🌎💚Happy Earth Day! 🌍💚🌏

💚🌎💚Happy Earth Day! 🌍💚🌏

Celebrating & Appreciating Earth - Commitment to Sustainability, Diversity & Social Justice

Hello and Happy Earth Day!
 
Ayala Moriel Parfums Celebrates 20 Years of Perfumery & Incense Making this year - and nothing means more to me than making this business as sustainable as possible!

Last month we officially kicked off the celebrations by inviting you to join our fundraiser for the Mediterranean oil spill cleanup. And I'm thrilled to be the bearer of good news: 
The first one is that the beaches are almost clean! 
The second is that in March alone, you helped me fundraise almost $1400 that are donated to two organizations that deliver solutions to the tragedy of bitumen cleanup: Zalul/Mediterreanean Sea People and EcoOcean.

Thanks to an unprecedented volunteer drive that relentlessly cleaned the beaches all along Israel, in what was the largest ecological disaster yet - I'm happy to report that now the beaches are clean enough to enjoy this summer, both to sunbathe on the almost tar-free sand, as well as swim without having an oily film cling to one's skin and choke on toxic fumes. However, the reefs and underwater rocks still need professional and volunteer divers to clear away some bitumen that sank and stuck to rocks. So our work here is not done yet. 

These two organizations we're donating to, have not only actively and effectively mobilized volunteers to clean the beaches, and continue to lead the underwater cleanup - they are also demanding to develop legislation to protect from future oil spills, which is of utmost importance. Therefore, I will continue to donate to  Zalul/Mediterreanean Sea People and EcoOcean this year and beyond, as much as possible. And of course, by choosing my products you are also a partner in these efforts to make the oceans cleaner. 
 
Additionally, I encourage you to donate directly to similar organizations you believe in that protest land, sea and freshwater where you live. And take steps, both big and small, to make life on earth better for all the coming generations.

Here are just some of the things we do at Ayala Moriel Parfums to make the planet more sustainable and diverse, keeping in mind alway social justice, which is an inseparable issue of climate change: 

- Our studio is powered by renewable resource: The Sun.
- We use the best quality, natural and toxin free materials for our products.
- We source as much as possible and available from fair-trade suppliers, organic growers and sustainable crops. 
- We reduce our waste as much possible, in both the manufacturing process and packaging. For instance: bottles are reusable (which is why we haven't used crimped bottles); outer packaging for the bottles is also reusable or made from sustainable resources (i.e.: burlap pouches, and handmade paper made from local paper mulberry by a local paper artisan). We continuously strive to better our packaging to fit our philosophy of taking care of the Earth and reducing waste and unnecessary consumption as much as possible. 
- We use shipping materials take as little space as possible (which ultimately cuts on fuel in shipping), and for orders that require boxes, we are reusing carton boxes and packing paper (in fact, we're still reusing wrapping paper from our big move from Canada to Israel). 
- We go through great lengths to provide you with products that are of high quality, and that can be cherished for a long time.  
- We never pressure anyone to buy more than they need. 
- We grow some of our own plants and ethically forage some plants to make our own extracts. 
- We work and live within walking distance to avoid unnecessary fossil burning.
- Reduce plastic to a minimum in all of our packaging. 

Wherever you are - find your way to make a positive imprint on earth, making your community more sustainable, cleaner, more lively and diverse. Be it eating and shopping local, planting trees each year, or making a commitment to protecting a certain habitat. And wherever you go, leave it in a better shape than you've found it. 

International Women's Day & Twenty Year Anniversary

International Women's Day & Twenty Year Anniversary

Twenty years ago, when I founded my perfume company, I was driven by a passion to build a better future for me and my daughter. It was out of a life-shattering crisis in both of our lives that this company was born: my daughter lost her father who disappeared from the scene a year after we immigrated to Canada, and simultaneously, she was recognized as autistic and began to get help navigating the neurotypical world. For me the crisis was losing my partner and best friend, becoming a single mother, sole breadwinner, and learning that my daughter is going to have an unusually challenging life, and not knowing at all what that means - which brought on what I can only in hindsight recognize as a full year of depression and anxiety stemming from what is naturally an identity crisis, and the many hardships that ensue young women facing such circumstances.

After this year of grieving and sorting out my life, I've made a few decisions that would forever change my life: The first one was to stay in Canada, even though I had no immediate family nearby, as this place offered the best support for my daughter's development and least amount of bias against this "diagnosis". The second one was to invest in myself, even if it may seem selfish and unrealistic at the time. So I went to Animation school for a year, practiced meditation, studied alchemy and eventually also decided to start my perfume company. So I went into an entrepreneur program, where I met some of my best friends, who are still part of my life and support systems to this day.

The company, which was originally named "Quinta Essentia Signature Perfumes", was more than just a life raft for me, and more than an escape (although it was also that), from my otherwise very demanding life as a single parent, immigrant, and as if these weren’t challenging enough, I was a mother to a child with disability. My business was a world I've created for myself with new rules that allowed me to defy all these obstacles that stand in the way of talented women who don't easily ditch their caregiving roles in order to "succeed" (a concept that can be very toxic and misleading, at its core being very masculine but mistakenly interpreted as achieving something great at the expense of many other aspects of our lives - health, family, community, environment, etc.

My perfume business was my dreamtime and creative outlet. It was my dream come true - and a living proof that when I envision something, it happens. It was also my rock and anchor - emotionally, mentally, socially, economically, professionally. I wasn't my own boss - I was (and still are!) a reigning queen in my own kingdom.

Office hours - which more often than not, didn't sync with daycare or school hours - didn't apply to me no more. I could take a day off when my daughter needed me for whatever reason - medical appointments, team meetings with the dedicated therapists I hired to help her, school trip, etc. Whatever didn't need to be performed during regular office hours (studio appointments, business meetings, shipping, etc.), would take place after she fell asleep (anything from creative work to filling out orders, etc.). Slowly but surely, I was also able to support both of us without needing to work for anyone else. I became a master of my own time, money, life. I could do all the things that were important to me without ever needing to compromise either of our health and well-being.

On this day, International Women’s Day, and this full month of celebrating Women’s History and many accomplishments, noticing the many challenges and biases women are still facing world-wide - I wanted to share with you something personal. This is in hopes that it will inspire, educate and encourage other women - wherever you are - to overcome these obstacles, and build for yourself the life that you want and deserve. If there is anything I can do to help other women is leading by example - taking care of my own health. Not agreeing for any prejudices. And empowering other women to follow your heart and passion, and make your dream come true. I'm proud to say that through my courses and teachings, I'm able to touch some lives this way. Most of my students are women, and this is radically changing an industry that was largely dominated by men just until a couple of decades ago. We still have a long way to go, but we're heading in the right direction. Women have a lot to offer, and I feel that especially after the pandemic, society at large will need to be more accommodating for a different kind of success: that which takes into the account the home and family life as well as the environment as important parameters for true success. It will be a win-win for all of us: Women, children, men and our beautiful blue planet. 

Back to the top