2. PHOTOGRAPHYBYZEVSTARRTAMBOR(SLATKIN);JESSICAKLEWICKIGLYNN(CANDLE)
RIGHT: Laura Slatkin
and Alina Cho at
Slatkin’s East
Hampton home.
BELOW: Nest
Fragrances’s
bamboo three-wick
candle ($58).
Business
ScentsCELEBRATING THE SUCCESS OF
HER NEST FRAGRANCES LINE,
EAST HAMPTON RESIDENT
LAURA SLATKIN SITS DOWN
WITH ALINA CHO TO DISCUSS
HER GROWING COMPANY, HER
PHILANTHROPIC EFFORTS, AND
LIFE ON THE EAST END.
T
akeonelookatmygoodfriendLauraSlatkin
and the word that immediately comes to
mind is “lady.” With her trademark bouffant
hair and feminine floral dresses, Laura doesn’t so
much walk as she does glide across a room—pure
elegancewithmannerstomatch.Butlooks,asthey
say, can be deceiving. Slatkin is also a powerhouse
executive and dedicated philanthropist. As
founder and CEO of Nest Fragrances, this former
Wall Street banker has built an empire of candles
and fine perfumes. Body creams and a Manhattan
flagship store are next on her to-do list.
When she’s not running her company, Laura, a
wifeandmotheroftwochildren,isfundraisingand
building programs for autism awareness—a pas-
sion born out of her desire to enhance the lives of
those affected by the disorder, including her own
son, David, who is severely impaired. Here she
talksaboutherbelovedsummersintheHamptons,
how the East End inspires her, and how family
makes it all worthwhile.
Alina Cho: We’ve been friends a long time.
Laura Slatkin: Totally.
AC: I always say I forget how accomplished my
friends are because we’re friends. I did a little
research and discovered that the first interview I
ever did with you was in 2006 for CNN. You spoke
so candidly about what it was like to be a parent liv-
ing with an autistic child. I believe it was the first
substantive story done on television about autism.
LS:Absolutely,anditwassotimely.Youwereright
on the cusp of a major movement that was just
beginning in the field of autism.
AC: Then you started your business.
LS:Welaunchedin2008,whichwasnotagoodtime
to start a company. It was one of the worst years.
AC: The economy was collapsing. What were you
thinking at that point?
LS: It didn’t stop us—we were so excited to launch.
We started out at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman
Marcus, and that Monday after the first weekend
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3. FROM TOP: Laura Slatkin; the
Slatkin children, Ali and David;
two 50 ml Nest Fragrances,
Midnight Fleur and Passiflora
($65 each).
PHOTOGRAPHYBYZEVSTARR-TAMBOR(SLATKIN);COURTESYOFSLATKINFAMILY(CHILDREN)
we sold a thousand candles—and that was before
any of the stores were trained. So what did that
mean? The brand had shelf appeal, and that’s one
of the greatest gifts any label can have. That means
nobody has to be standing there selling it, nobody
needstoknowanythingaboutit—somethingabout
the name, the packaging, and the presentation
draws the customer over. Once the customer is
engaged, the quality of the product does the rest.
AC: It resonates.
LS: Yes. And when you have that, you have some-
thing really special.
AC: In 2012, you launched fine fragrances. What
made you decide to get into that market?
LS:IwasinmylibraryandIwasflippingthrough
the pages of this book on Mrs. Mary Delany, an
18th-century artist, and I came across one of her
botanicals. I was so moved by the beauty of it
that I ripped the page right out of the book and
wrapped it around a small box, put it down, and
said, “Oh, my gosh, that is so beautiful.” Then I
commissioned a brilliant Russian artist to create
three paintings for me based on Mrs. Delany’s
work. I took those works to master perfumers,
and they were inspired by the paintings to create
extraordinary fragrances. The entire journey
was steeped in art and creativity.
AC: How are they priced?
LS:Thesmallbottleis$65andtherollerballis$30.
Throw it right in your pocketbook. It’s nice to
freshen up your fragrance like you would your
lipstick. Often I’ll dab my pulse points at the table.
AC:Whenyoumovedintofragrances,itwasconsid-
ered a big deal because it makes a strong statement
that you’re moving beyond home essences.
LS: That’s the draw, to create a luxury lifestyle
beauty brand. I had been asked for years to enter
thisspace.WelaunchedourfragrancesatSephora,
where we’re now one of the top-selling brands.
Then we went on QVC and sold a quarter of a mil-
lion dollars in 10 minutes. So the brand’s a real hit
in this category.
AC: I am always so fascinated by fragrance sales
on television, because you can’t smell it, so it really
is about how it makes you feel.
LS: Right. I like to talk about fragrance in terms
of “When do I want to wear this scent?”
Fragrance is all about mood. So MidnightFleur
is a very sexy, sensual fragrance that you would
wear in the evening.
AC: That’s how I want to feel.
LS: What woman doesn’t? Then there’s Passiflora,
which you would wear if you were going to lunch
with girlfriends or when you want to feel feminine
continued from page 206
continued on page 210
and pretty. Some of the summer scents, like our
bamboo candle, are inspired by our beach house
here in East Hampton. We have bamboo growing
on our property around the pool and the pond.
AC: Let’s talk about your commitment to philan-
thropy. We met in 2005, around the time you were
opening the first state-of-the-art New York City
charter school for children with autism. You saw
through your own experience with your son that
there was a need for this, right?
LS: Yes. All the exceptional schools were in New
Jersey, and Harry [Slatkin, Laura’s husband] and I
thoughtthatwascrazy.That’swhatledustoopena
charter school, and we thought it should be part of
the New York City public school system, because
that’s where we needed to make an impact.
AC: David is now living in a facility near Boston.
How is he doing? You see him once a month?
LS: Once to twice a month. He comes to East
Hampton. He loves it out here, and we love seeing
him. He swims in the ocean, he swims in the pool,
he goes for long walks to town and back. It’s a
“Some summer scents, like
our bamboo candle,are
inspiredby our beach
houseinEast Hampton.”
—LAURA SLATKIN
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4. PHOTOGRAPHYBYJESSICAKLEWICKIGLYNN(CANDLES)
An exquisite table setting topped off with
Nest’s new lightly scented dinner votive
candles, designed to enhance the dining
experience. Wild tarragon is blended with
hints of thyme, rosemary, and sage.
continued from page 208
routine. We take him out to the Lighthouse at
Montauk Point, and then we come back and go for
lobster rolls. It’s fun when he’s in a good mood. But
when he isn’t, it’s tough—he’s up all night.
AC: He’s 15 years old, yet he has never said a word.
LS: Not one, ever. Not a single word. If you have a
kid who is so impaired, who can’t talk, who has
aggressive behaviors, who’s cognitively so weak he
can’t learn a consistent sign for “I have to go to the
bathroom” or “I’m hungry,” and you realize that
because of his aggression he needs two or more
people around him all the time, it’s very hard. We
speak candidly about how severely affected our
child is because we want people to know how
extremely challenging and difficult it can be.
AC: Will we find a cure for autism in our lifetime?
LS: Probably not. It’s a very complex brain disor-
der. But we will be able to detect it earlier and
improve the lives of those affected by autism. For
example, we just completed building the Center
for Autism and the Developing Brain with New
York-PresbyterianHospital,WeillCornellMedical
College, and Columbia University. This institute
will support individuals with autism across their
lifespan. This is why philanthropy is addictive—
you see what an impact you can make in people’s
lives. We started our philanthropic work with
autism, but when something else pops into our
family, we do our research and we dive into it.
There’s so much to address with so many different
mental health disorders. It’s exciting to build
things, move a field forward, and make progress.
AC: And after you work that hard, you need a
place to unwind.
LS: Yes, and that’s exactly where East Hampton
comes in. H
INSIGHT
For date night: East Hampton Grill, 99
N. Main St., East Hampton, 329-6666;
easthamptongrill.com
For fresh fare: Round Swamp Farm, 184
Three Mile Harbor Road, East Hampton,
324-4438; roundswampfarm.com
To Unwind: Naturopathica, 74 Montauk
Hwy., East Hampton, 329-2525;
naturopathica.com
To browse: Scoop Beach, 51 Newtown
Lane, East Hampton, 329-6800;
scoopnyc.com; and The Monogram
Shop, 7 Newtown Lane, East Hampton,
329-3379; themonogramshops.com
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