My introduction to fragrance was like most people my age, ambushed with troops of sales pitchers and a cloud of perfume at the exit of department stores. Or gazing at the fancy bottles of perfume my grandmother collected, wondering which one she was wearing that day. I would ponder on how perfumes were made, imagining it was as simple as soaking flowers in tap water to draw out the scent.

The first time I ever made a fragrance was with my parents. We would add orange peels and cinnamon to a pot of boiler water, extracting the organic odors. After it cooled, we would strain out a small amount of the mixture into a spray bottle, topping it with a dash of food grade vanilla extract. The perfume would go bad after a few days in the fridge, but that experience made me realize that anyone could make a fragrance.

That revelation would hibernate until 2015, when I combed out my four-year-old locs, wearing my hair in its kinky state. Due to the natural hair movement, there was an abundance of new hair products for me to try. Looking back on it now, I never doubled back to products that just felt good for my hair, I would go out of my way to find products that made my hair smell and feel incredible. The fragrances for my age group didn’t appeal to me, so I would wake up early to add some more curling cream to the top of my 'fro. That was my way of expressing myself through scent.

My more recent path of expression was scenting my home. I hoarded candles I would find on sale, and spritzed room spray onto cotton balls, stuffing them into my closet, and scenting my clothes. The idea that anyone could make a fragrance snuck up on me at the end of 2020, I wanted something unique, and started learning. In October 2021 I launched SoStorme with the original version of The First. EDT, but we are our own biggest critic, and I felt something was missing. I put everything on pause, reworking everything I thought about this fragrance until 2023. Letting my thoughts simmer until I was ready to release it to the world again in 2024.

I believe fragrance is everywhere, and has more of an influence than you would think. Everything has a scent, and when combined, creates an aroma. Scorched sand, salted sea, and synthetic sunscreen; a day at the beach. Isolated scents are mixed throughout our lives to curate aromas, access to ingrained memories with just our noses.