By Akili King ·Updated March 27, 2026 < /> Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… Welcome to Behind The Beauty. Here, we highlight Black women in beauty who are taking the industry by storm and making history in their own right. Everyone from rising beauty brand founders, to behind-the-scenes PR mavens discuss their career journeys, biggest inspirations, and more.
Harlem Candle Co. and Harlem Perfume Co. founder Teri Johnson is more than a beauty brand owner. She’s a historian, an archivist, and a storyteller. How, you might ask? Every single one of her scents is an ode to a prominent Black icon, mostly from the Harlem Renaissance era. Think: everyone from Josephine Baker to Billie Holiday.
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“My excitement around Harlem as a neighborhood came from my time living in Paris. It was interesting to see so many Black prominent artists,” like Baker and James Baldwin, “who are so celebrated in Paris and in France,” Johnson, whose incredible products can be found on our very own WeLoveUs Market Place, tells ESSENCE.
That said, when she finally moved to Harlem, post-grad, in 2000, she got to experience the magic in real time. “I was like, ‘This is where all the speakeasies were.’ The Savoy ballroom was there. There was something exciting about being able to walk on the same streets and imagine what it was like,” she shares. “Maybe they were all getting together in a brownstone, all elegantly dressed, and creating art together,” she adds. It was these moments that finally inspired Johnson, who had, at the time, been working as a travel and lifetarget="_blank"> View this post on Instagram
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More recently, she launched her RAGTIME candle, in partnership with Lincoln Center Theater, in celebration of the Broadway show. In terms of wearable fragrances, earlier this year, she launched the Eartha perfume, in collaboration with Eartha Kitt’s daughter. The scent itself embodies the singer’s aura through notes like California lemon and Sichuan pepper.
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And, regardless of what she may have coming next, what keeps Johnson going is her drive to inspire the next generation of Black fragrance makers. “I just hope I’m able to set the stage and make this the norm. There will come a time where there are a whole bunch of us in the room, and it won’t be so rare.”
Below, in honor of Women’s History Month, Johnson discusses her journey as a founder, biggest inspirations, and much more.
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The Story Behind Harlem Candle Co.:When I first started making candles, my idea was not necessarily to start a brand. I was making candles because I wanted to give them as Christmas gifts and my love language is gifts. At the time, I was going to be seeing a lot of people and so I made about 50 different candles in my kitchen and I branded them. I called it Terry’s House of Candles. It was just cute. It was fun. And I’d gotten the fragrance oils from a chemist. And everyone was like, “Oh my God, these are so good. I’ll place an order. Can I buy some?” And that was the beginning. They just loved the scent so much. When I first started, the candles looked terrible, honestly. I was printing the labels on my printer at home.
But I thought, if I were to turn this into a business, I’m here making these candles in my Harlem kitchen, I’m listening to jazz. So, it makes sense to call it the Harlem Candle Company and use all of these incredible figures from the Harlem Renaissance as the inspiration for the fragrances, to carry on their legacies.
I started selling at these pop-ups and started mostly in Harlem and then all around New York City. I was probably doing a pop-up like once a week. Eventually, I’d done the Architectural Digest Design Show multiple times, which is actually how I got discovered by Sundial.
How Harlem Perfume Co. Was Born:During the pandemic, in 2021, I was getting a lot of requests to do perfume. So Macy’s actually wanted to find out if we could contribute perfume samples for this beauty box they were doing. Even though I had never done perfume, I said yes.
Luckily, the perfumers I was already working with had done fine fragrances for the likes of Bath and Body Works, Estee Lauder, and L’Oréal.
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Life Before Beauty Entrepreneurship:Before I launched in 2014, I was a travel lifetarget="_blank"> View this post on Instagram
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Her Favorite Creations:I would say the one that is probably the most special to me right now is the Eartha fragrance, because I got to work with Eartha Kitt’s daughter and the perfumer in order to create this scent. And even though Eartha’s not alive today, she was very involved in the process because she kept showing up in my dreams.
I also really love our Josephine items. Even the perfumer that was behind both of those, she grew up in France and so just has the familiarity with Josephine Baker: her being an anti-Nazi spy and just all the contributions that Josephine Baker made as an activist. She’s also the one who did our Billie Holiday perfume.
What It Means To Her To Be A Black Woman History Maker:I think what I feel the most proud of is knowing that I’m setting a target="_blank"> View this post on Instagram
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TOPICS: Behind The BeautyThe post Teri Johnson Celebrates Black Icons With Harlem Perfume Co. appeared first on Essence.