Maryland woman turns passion for perfume into profession

BALTIMORE -- A Maryland woman started her own fragrance business and can teach you how to make a signature scent. Linh Bui attended one of her workshops.

Fragrance designer Bontu Itana teaches her customers how to create their own custom luxury scent. She starts by teaching the basic structure of a fragrance, then shows a wide variety of ingredients. 

It's a meticulous process because a single drop will change the scent completely.

Itana has always had a nose for this, as a fine fragrance collector who dreamed about starting her own perfume business. She worked in the beauty industry, but a few years ago, her dream became reality.

"When the pandemic hit, my passion resurfaced. I wanted to explore it again. I started taking some courses on how to do the blending, and not just be a consumer of fragrances. And started the business in 2021," she said. "It wasn't easy, but I was driven by the motivation of I can do what I love every single day. And that's what really pushed me toward pursuing it full-time."

As the owner of "B Parfums," she makes and sells her own collection of fragrances. Itana also does custom scents for private clients. And she hosts these workshops, teaching people how to make perfume and cologne.

"It's been incredible. I started actually last year. I had a couple of girlfriends over, and the plan was I was going to make scents for them," she said. "And I thought that would take too much time. So I thought maybe I should teach them how to do it. Taught them and it ended up being so much fun. I felt so alive doing it that I thought - I wonder if there are other people out there who want to do this, too."

Itana said she has taught classes in Philadelphia and different parts of Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. 

"It's been amazing," she said. "It's been worth all the risk. It's been worth all the sleepless nights and sweat and tears. It's been worth it to see the joy it brings other people. But also the fulfillment I feel doing it."

Itana said people are requesting her workshops for birthday parties, date nights, and bridal showers. She is looking for a bigger venue to host her events because she's getting requests for groups of 50 people.

"I love perfume," says Briana Jordan-Anderson, who attends her workshops. "I love fragrance. So I actually found her perusing social media. And I've always wanted to do this but I thought I would have to go to Paris to do it. So to find it here, it's like oh my goodness this is something I've always wanted to do. No one will smell like me! No one!"

Itana would love to travel to Paris to take more perfume courses. And she still has one big personal dream.

"I want to make the state scent for Maryland. I'm born and bred in Maryland. I've been here my whole life. I'm pursuing my dreams here. And there's a country in Europe, Lithuania, they have a national scent. So I'd love to do a state scent."

In the meantime, with her business taking off, she's enjoying the sweet smell of success.

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