Nedahl Stelio was working her dream job as a magazine editor when she upended her career at age 43.
The mother of two left her corporate job so she could start her own business from the garage of her family home in Bondi Beach, Sydney.
“I started to think that I had been a journalist for so long and I had done everything I wanted to do. I thought it was time to start something different and new,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I love challenges, so I decided that it’s never too late, and you’re never too old, to start a business… and I completely changed my career.
‘I took a big leap, quit my great job and became a freelancer to focus on the business.’
The spontaneous decision led the woman, now 49, to build a $15 million luxury, natural fragrance business.
“It’s hard, really hard to start a business while trying to work and pay the mortgage and also raise young children,” she explained.
‘In those early stages, I was running around visiting my formulators, getting packaging, working with designers and literally driving all over Sydney. Plus, my kids were quite young, so I feel like that whole time was a blur, everything was going on at a fast pace.’
Nedahl Stelio was working her dream job as a magazine editor in Sydney.
Nedahl with her husband and two daughters, ages 10 and 12.
Long before starting her business, Nedahl was a lifestyle journalist for 20 years, working as an editor at Cleo, Cosmopolitan and Good Food, as well as having bylines at the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
After years of struggling to get pregnant, she began using all-natural products after eliminating harsh chemicals from her life.
“It took me years to finally conceive and one of the many things I did in that time was transform my beauty cabinet and home with completely clean products,” she said.
But when she switched to natural alternatives, she noticed there was a lack of non-toxic fragrances on the market.
The mother “missed the luxury of spraying a wonderful fragrance” on her skin, but knew that a scented product can contain up to 3,000 chemicals.
“Fragrances are one of the worst offenders,” Nedahl said.
‘The fragrance industry is self-regulating: companies don’t have to list individual ingredients on the box because the formula is considered proprietary, so they all appear under the “parfum” umbrella on the ingredient list.
‘I stopped using perfume completely when I got rid of toxins all those years ago.
‘At the time there was nothing on the market that was clean and filled that luxury void I was craving without the nasty chemicals, so I decided to create one.’
The mother of two is pictured with a car full of boxes containing her products.
He started his humble business from his garage, before moving things into the family home.
This is how his brand RECREATION was born in 2019.
After leaving her office job, Nedahl began working with world-renowned perfumers to develop her own range of clean fragrances.
“Once we started, I focused exclusively on the business. There was no other income from me, which is very difficult, and I had to completely cut back on all my expenses. No more designer shoes,” she said.
“I started the business in my garage. I remember getting the first shipment of packaging and it was everywhere: in the living room, the kitchen, the garage and even the kids’ room.”
But shortly after the launch, COVID-19 hit, which came as a huge surprise.
“We were in quarantine, so I was also trying to homeschool the kids while doing everything business-related since I couldn’t bring staff into my home due to COVID. It was hectic, to say the least,” she said.
“She was using our house as a location for photo shoots, to store products and to ship orders. It was a mess.”
Two and a half years after launching, her husband was able to leave his job to work with her in the business full-time.
The mother of two left her corporate job so she could start her own business from her garage.
“It was a very important moment for our family to be able to sustain itself solely with our business,” he said.
‘There were a few years where our house was literally overrun with boxes before we moved into our first office.’
Her hard work paid off as her business generated nearly $15 million in revenue over the past five years.
“We were very lucky at first because it generated income straight away, but I reinvested almost everything back into the business to grow it. So basically, the money is spent as soon as it hits the bank account. It took me some getting used to that,” he said.
Despite her hectic work schedule, this busy mom always finds time to exercise and spend time with her two young daughters, ages 10 and 12.
“I work out as soon as I wake up four times a week and one morning a week I coach my daughter’s netball team. After breakfast, I get ready, take the kids to school and then go straight to the office,” she explained.
‘The job is a mix of different things: we have a production meeting every morning which is basically a get-together for everyone to catch up on where they’re at, so I’m on top of all aspects of the business.
“It’s a mix of everything from marketing to finance, logistics, product development, future planning and strategy.”
Her husband and two daughters help pack orders at home.
From 4 pm onwards, she took one of her daughters to play sports.
“It’s very important to me to take time to be with the kids while they’re young and they still want to spend time with me before they hit their teens,” Nedahl said.
‘Then I usually work from home before or after dinner to make up for the free time I spend in the afternoon with the girls.’
Before going to sleep at 10:30 p.m., he likes to enjoy some time alone.
“A little bit of TV or screen time, winding down before bed… I still make sure I have a full skincare routine in the morning and at night,” she said.
So what makes your fragrances different from any other brand on the market?
“We’re creating them using real ingredients without all the nasty stuff, so I think that’s a big difference,” Nedahl said.
‘We focus on the full package and the way our fragrance makes you feel – it’s our mission statement to make people feel good after using our products and that’s what drives us as a brand and drives every decision behind product development.
‘I wanted a custom bottle that only RECREATION would have, it needed to look organic, clean and minimalist, but also beautiful and luxurious, so I found an amazing designer and worked with him to create our bottle.’
His business has generated nearly $15 million in revenue over the past five years.
The brand’s packaging is made from bamboo, making it 100% sustainable.
“If I was going to put something out there, I wanted it to be in line with my values and not contribute to the mountains of plastic we throw away every year,” she said.
For those looking to start a business, Nedahl says, ‘I would say take it step by step, put one foot in front of the other, and suddenly you’ll see how far you’ve come.
‘I didn’t know if I could even start a fragrance company in Australia, so I thought, “I’ll see if I can find a perfumer to work with me on this,” and I did.
‘Then I started looking at packaging and it was one step, then another, then another. It seems like a very slow process, but after putting all the steps into practice, you have a business.
“I kept thinking that if I did every step incredibly well, everything would work out. You have to have a lot of self-confidence to start something, so you can’t lose it.”
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