Sabrina’s story

I received a very nice letter from Sabrina Co, a young entrepreneur whose mother Ruth Co is a friend of mine. Sabrina runs ATIN which she founded a few years ago. ATIN is a Filipino brand of reed diffusers, scented soy wax candles, room and linen sprays. ATIN products are available in Kultura at SM Department stores. Sabrina was inspired to come up with her own brand of scents through her constant travels to the cities of Europe and Asia with her parents. In France, she explored boutique perfumeries where she had the opportunity to create her own scent. 

Reed diffuser(left), Linen spray(right)

Sabrina’s letter tells her story and of ATIN. Read on:

Dear Tito Boy:

My mom speaks highly of you and your successes. I remember meeting you when I was much younger. And would very much like to catch up again. Thank you so much for helping me out. I really appreciate it.

The early days of ATIN started when I was 15 years old. My aspirations for the product began when I was on vacation with my family in France. I discovered a new habit of exploring boutique perfumeries where they offered an opportunity to create your own scents. I was inspired by my travels to cities in Europe and Asia, by the smells of places, food, flowers, and experiences that have engaged special memories in me that I still can recall today. I quickly realized that there wasn’t anything in the Philippines that did anything with smells or fragrances that embodies the wonders of our country and that people can associate with.

Growing up and listening in on my parents business meetings and accompanying them on business trips provided the right stepping-stones. With the support of friends and my family, I learned slowly to be an entrepreneur.

I had no idea how or where to begin. I didn’t  know  what people would like or dislike in terms of smell, packaging, pricing, etc. So, my dad and I organized a marketing focus group discussions (ages 50 plus, 30-50 and below 30) to understand Filipinos’ attitudes and preferences towards fragrances. We found that the middle aged 30-50 group was really interested in diffusers and candles and fragrances because these were the people who were recently married, starting new families, purchasing new homes, who all wanted to decorate their new homes and who also like to entertain. Overall, the processing of studying the wants of the Filipino market went on for over four months. Once I got the hang of what the brand’s initial product line was, I wanted to really study how fragrances come together. I went to Grasse, France which is known to be historically the perfumery capital of the world. And interned under a senior perfumer Isabelle Cutri, in a three hundred year old perfumery company called Charabot. There my advisor taught me many things like the difference between natural and synthetic materials, how they extract the oils, what makes a fragrance quality and how to mix oils together to create different types of smells. It was a short stint but nevertheless provided me the basics to launch my brand properly.

The first collection of ATIN consisted of reed diffusers, scented soy wax candles and room and linen sprays. Each of the original 12 scents evokes the best of natural Philippine aromas: our beaches, flora, tropical fruit and wildlife. I really tried to encompass our Philippine culture by naming the scents after what the Philippines is famous for like dalandan, Boracay, Palawan, Intramuros, Burnham Park, mangosteen, guava and more. The fragrance and essential oils are sourced only from the most reliable suppliers.

Kultura has been very supportive of the brand. Although at first it was quite difficult to convince them to consider the product because this category of Filipino fragrances did not even exist and their buyers were not sure whether the customers would buy them. Slowly and surely people started purchasing and were even asking how to purchase for refills. I’m very grateful how it has grown in recent years. Early this 2017, Kultura gave me the mandate to expand the line so I created ny Premuim Line of diffusers (midnight, dawn, dusk) which has six new fragrances. What makes this line extra special is that it contains more than one fragrance note. They each consist of a combination of a Filipino/Asian spice with Filipino/Asian fruit or flower. This year, I plan to expand the brand further by incorporating home decor that encourages people to appreciate and think about Philippines history, culture and nature.

My vision for the brand is to continue to revolutionize the concept of Philippine fragrances and expand with more products to share to the rest of the world. I truly believe in the brand making an impact as well in inspiring us to care for our planet. I personally am very  invested in the conservation  of our earth, climate change, and conservation of wildlife. I’ve been wanting to link up with a lot of wildlife/Philippine nature organization since the beginning. I am quite driven to pursue this business idea that carries a positive impact not only in my community but also throughout the country. Being a young entrepreneur is not easy but I am passionate about my brand and its cause. I want to inspire other young people to do the same. That is why, ATIN  also stands for Aiming To Inspire A Nation.