We are so excited to announce that the Humanity Fragrance Third Edition is under way! Each year I volunteer with a different organization, and based on my experience create a fragrance to reflect the people and place, and feelings encountered during the process.

The Humanity Fragrance series was born out of the desire to create fragrances that mean more to the wearer and maker. This year I am working with a community organization in my very own neighborhood of Brooklyn (last February I was in rural Cambodia, and the year before in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico).

El Puente is a non-profit organization that services the south side of Williamsburg. I am working with their summer youth leadership program by offering a perfume apprenticeship to 15 young women in the program over the course of six weeks. This past week, I worked with the girls to write a brief, or the inspiration for their fragrance. I asked them to think about a person, place or experience that's been important in their life. From there, we will choose ingredients to represent the various aspects of their story. In the end, I hope to find my own inspiration from who they are and create the next edition of the Humanity Fragrance.

So far I've met Stephanie, whose name means Crowned in Victory; Leidy who wants to become a tattoo artist; and Alba, who wants to create a fragrance based on the flowers of her hometown of Santiago in the Dominican Republic. Stay tuned...