For Patti Upton of Heber Springs, the aroma of Christmas — pine cones, acorns, berries — brings more than just holiday memories to mind. It’s the fragrance that kick-started her multimillion dollar company, Aromatique.
Although Upton says she’s “partial” to the scent, it’s not at the very top of her list.
“My favorite fragrance is Orange and Evergreen,” Upton said. “It is a fragrance we have been selling for many years with a smaller, but loyal, following. I like it because it is fresh and clean. It reminds me of a walk in the winter woods.”
Upton began her company with her own literal walk in the woods in 1982.
As she related in an Arkansas Business profile, Upton had promised a friend who owned a local store that she would make something for the shop to sell around the holidays. Her creation? Handfuls of pine cones, acorns, berries, sweetgum balls, hickory nuts and leaves mixed together, scented with a home-brewed recipe of pharmacy oils and named simply “The Smell of Christmas.”
Nowadays, a scented plug-in, spray or candle seems commonplace. However, before Upton, American women brought fragrance to their homes mostly by using live flowers. Upton changed the industry with decorative fragrances in open bowls, as well as fragranced candles. Her idea was a new for American households.
And it was an idea that developed into a company that, 34 years strong, now employs more than 200.
Upton attributes much of the success of Aromatique to those employees. She said that the biggest lesson she learned from starting her company was “how important great employees are to the process.”
“Great people make great companies,” Upton said. “It sounds like a cliché, but you really do not appreciate how important great people are until you try to grow a company without them. They are everything.”
Although Upton was the idea factory behind the company, it took her some time to realize that the only way for Aromatique to succeed was through the work of a well-assembled, hard working team. Plus, she says that working with great people made her job even more enjoyable.
“Hiring people to help grow the business was more of a need than a desire,” Upton said. “But over time, as the company grew, it became increasingly clear that the only way to take the company to the next level was to surround myself with a variety of very talented individuals. Without these employees Aromatique would have never become the national brand it is today and you probably would not be recognizing me now. And on top of that, many of these folks are still in place at Aromatique and some are among my dearest friends.”
She said she looked for one quality above all other when hiring: conscientiousness.
“I could hire the best resumes, but they were not always the best employees,” Upton said.
Upon her induction into the UA Business Hall of Fame in January, Arkansas Business wrote, “Upton put together a company of creative individuals who truly make a winning team. The ingenuity of Aromatique employees built much of the specialized machinery” that the company used.
Upton stepped down from her position as president and chief executive officer in August 2013 but remains a stockholder in the company.
Prior to Aromatique, Upton did not have a background in business — she said that just before the business started she was a stay-at-home mom doing some interior design work on the side and before that worked as a fashion model for various retailers.
Upton was born in Jonesboro in 1938 and earned an Associate in Arts degree from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and won a Christian Dior Fashion Award during her time there as her creativity flourished.
She followed by attending classes at the University of Arkansas but did not graduate, which she jokes about now.
“I bet I’m the only board member of a Fortune 500 company who didn’t graduate from college,” Upton said in a 2010 interview.
In 1993, Upton was named to the board of directors at Southwestern Bell Corp. and its successor, AT&T Inc.
Some of her other accomplishments include Aromatique products being sold at “the finest retailers in the world,” as she says, including Arkansas-based Dillard’s. Her company has also won a FiFi award from The Fragrance Foundation and her story has been featured in People magazine, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” the London Sunday Express, Southern Living magazine and The Washington Post.
Upton has been recognized by Working Woman magazine, the International Women’s Forum, the Society of Entrepreneurs and the Easter Seal Society. She was honored as the Arkansas Business Woman Owner of the Year and her company as the Arkansas Business of the Year.
Her other honors include the Business & Professional Leader Award, Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow; The Nature Conservancy Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Environment; Citizen of the Year, Scottish Rite Masons of Arkansas and the Director’s Choice Award, National Women’s Economic Alliance;
But the awards and money were not Upton’s main motivation or even among her favorite memories — she calls them “notable instances.”
Instead, it was the day-to-day work she remembers most fondly.
“Coming to work at Aromatique every day was so much fun that motivation was never an issue,” Upton said. “My favorite memory of Aromatique is the laughter. Being able to work every day in Heber Springs with my husband and all the laughter we shared with our employees is my favorite memory. We work very hard, but every day it seems there was a meeting, a sales presentation, lunch with the management team, or even a hallway conversation where someone made me laugh.”
Upton’s significant work goes beyond her business accomplishments — her philanthropic efforts have amounted to millions of dollars.
In 1993, she created “The Natural State” fragrance line in part to benefit The Nature Conservancy. Since the launch at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City, more than $1 million has been donated to the Conservancy. Also, nearly $1 million has been donated to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Medical Center Auxiliary for the purchase of equipment for the hospital.
Her charitable donations earned Upton the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Little Rock NBC affiliate KARK-TV and the governor of Arkansas.
Discover more about the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame Class of 2016.
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