Emily L'Ami

Tell us a bit about yourself – what drew you to the world of fragrance and ultimately Bodha?

I grew up in New Zealand, lighting incense for my parents’ yoga practice. My mom worked in natural health and used essential oils for everything: cleaning products, colds, you name it. Scent as ritual and healing was just part of life. I started by studying aromatherapy, learning the science of how different ingredients work on the body. Then I went to perfume school, and that’s where it clicked. I realized I wanted to create scents that smell beautiful while working on you at a deeper, subconscious level. That’s what I love most about scent — it’s a direct line to your subconscious, the most powerful part of you. You can use scent to nurture that relationship with yourself in a way nothing else can.

What does an average day look like for you?

Running my own business, things can feel all over the place, no matter how much I plan. Over time, I’ve learned I need some soft daily and weekly structure: rituals that ground me, non-negotiables that give me a framework. Having those rhythms helps me stay centered. Some days, I’m working on a formula — my desk covered in scent strips. Other days, I’m talking with retailers or DHL: a lot of time talking to DHL!

If you could capture one moment or place in a fragrance, what would it be?

That’s so tough. I think it would be my husband after he’s been for a surf — a mix of minerally, salty skin with some sweet surf wax — and our dog Licorice. Her warm fur always has an incense note from being in the studio, mixed with that corn-chip dog-paw scent: warm, a little animalic, a little funky, very comforting. It’s the smell of home and the things I love most.

What should a wearer know about the ingredients in their perfumes, and why does it matter?

Ingredients matter, but ingredient safety, unfortunately, isn't black and white, and there's a lot of misinformation and fear used as marketing. I focus on naturals because I want their aromatherapeutic effects and I love their alive complexity. I think they tap into our subconscious memories of nature and, with something like frankincense, thousands of years of ritual use.

But I take the science seriously. Ingredients need to be looked at with a 360° approach, how they're grown, processed, their effect on your skin and body, and how they break down in the environment. It's an ingredient-by-ingredient discussion that requires continuous research, training, and careful sourcing. Look for a brand with a trained perfumer who's meeting EU standards at minimum. That's your baseline. Then it's about trusting they've done the work.

How did you approach this scent collaboration with ACTIVIST?

Gabby and I are both from New Zealand, both now in LA, and we’d been talking about collaborating for years — but I was waiting for the right concept to emerge. Then I went to a lecture on interspecies communication, where a researcher was describing how beekeepers become obsessed with the smell of healthy hives: it tells them everything is right in their world. As he described this scent — waxy, warm, sweet, a little animalic — I was suddenly back in New Zealand on a hot summer’s day, wild hives surrounded by fragrant Manuka trees. The smell of the bees’ home was the smell of our home. I’m texting Gabby during the lecture — “This is it!”

We spent a year smelling together. I’d send her materials: rock-rose, orange blossom, different woods and resins — and we’d have long smell sessions, slowly building the formula. It needed to capture that comforting feeling of home, but also have strength to it. Not just sweet — warm and grounding. The most comforting scent in the world is the smell of home, and we wanted to bottle that feeling.

What's your favorite way to incorporate ACTIVIST into your day?

My go-to breakfast is raw almond butter, ACTIVIST Mānuka, and a little flaky salt on rye bread toast, with a pot of Earl Grey tea and some ground incense burning in the background — dream! And an ACTIVIST face mask in the bath is my Sunday night ritual: I wish it were my every-night ritual!

How do you remain inspired, what do you draw from outside of your day-to-day work?

Honestly, my challenge isn't finding inspiration, it's choosing which idea to commit to. When I'm working on a new scent, it's all I can think about. It almost haunts me as I work through rounds of formulas and edits. I know that when I decide to bring a new scent to life, it's going to consume me — my brain, my emotions, everything. So the decision of what to work on next is actually the hardest part. I'm constantly collecting ideas, scent memories, materials I want to explore, but the commitment required to do it right means I have to be incredibly selective about what gets my full attention.