This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
From childhood memories in Guyana to building a luxury fragrance brand, OUI the People founder Karen Young is redefining how Caribbean culture is experienced through scent.
What does home smell like? For Karen Young, founder of OUI the People, it smells like the warmth of wooden houses in Guyana, the familiar rituals of family and the fragrances that connect us to our roots.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Guyana until age seven, Young’s Caribbean heritage has shaped her identity and entrepreneurial journey. After building a career in fashion and beauty, including a role at Estée Lauder, she launched OUI the People, a body care and fine fragrance brand inspired by personal experiences and cultural traditions.
While Caribbean-inspired fragrances are often associated with tropical notes like coconut and pineapple, Young is expanding that narrative. Her fragrances explore the region’s deeper sensory identity, from wood and sea air to the comforting aromas of family traditions.
In this episode of the Style & Vibes podcast, we sit down with Young in Brooklyn to discuss growing up Guyanese, building a beauty business, navigating the challenges of retail and why Caribbean stories deserve a place in luxury fragrance.
Growing Up Guyanese: Finding Home Between Two Worlds
You were born in Brooklyn but spent your early childhood in Guyana. How did that experience shape your identity?
I’m obviously American by birth, but I am a Guyanese girl. From two months to seven years old, I lived in Guyana. I was raised by my grandmother and uncles, surrounded by my cousins and fully immersed in the culture.
Everything from the food to the environment informed who I became. When I returned to the United States at seven, that foundation gave me a strong sense of self.
Even though I was born here, coming back felt like immigrating. I had to figure out how to ground myself in a new environment. Those seven years surrounded by family and Guyanese culture informed everything that came afterward.
What do you remember most about transitioning from Guyana to Brooklyn?
I remember hearing people talk about America as this incredible place. There was this idea that the streets were paved with gold. As a child, I imagined arriving and seeing something spectacular.
Then I landed at JFK and thought, “Turn back!” Everything felt gray and cold. I remember the buildings and how different they looked from the greenery, warmth and lushness of Guyana. That contrast has stayed with me.
When you think about the smell of home, what immediately comes to mind?
Wood. We lived in a wooden house raised above the ground, with outside stairs, wooden shutters and wooden floors. I remember constantly being surrounded by that smell.
Wood remains one of my favorite fragrance notes. There’s something grounding about it. When I started developing our first fragrance collection, I brought that memory into Window Fruit.
I wanted to recreate the warmth of walking through that house and feeling the wood beneath my feet. Scent has this incredible ability to take you right back to a moment.
From Fashion to Beauty Entrepreneurship
Before OUI the People, you built a career in fashion and beauty. How did you find your creative path?
I studied psychology at Fordham because I’ve always been curious about people and how they think.
Growing up in a Caribbean family, there were certain career expectations. My family was full of doctors, lawyers, engineers and chemists. I had a creative side, but I didn’t necessarily see anyone around me pursuing that path.
I secretly took an internship in fashion and fell in love with the process of turning an idea into something tangible.
After graduating, I was offered a job in fashion that paid significantly less than another opportunity. I took it anyway because I wanted to be in that creative environment.
I spent more than a decade working with designers of all sizes. Seeing independent designers create something from an idea made me realize I could build something myself.
Eventually, I started a textile business. That experience led to an opportunity at Estée Lauder, where I entered the beauty industry.
What inspired you to leave Estée Lauder and create OUI the People?
When I entered beauty, I noticed how much attention was going toward makeup and skincare. But I kept thinking, why are we stopping at the neck?
In my family, body care was always important. We had rituals around oils and caring for our skin. I wanted to explore that category. Shaving was my first focus because I struggled to find products that worked for my skin.
I started experimenting while I was still working. I’d stay up late packaging orders and carry these huge IKEA bags filled with shipments on the subway. I’d drop everything at the post office before heading into work.
Your first product was a razor. How did your childhood influence that decision?
I remembered watching my uncles shave in Guyana. They used these beautiful metal safety razors, and I remember the sound of shaving and the smell of shaving powder.
Meanwhile, I was dealing with irritation and seeing other women struggle with ingrown hairs and hyperpigmentation.
I wondered why we couldn’t have a better shaving experience.
That became the starting point for OUI the People. As we developed shaving products and body care, I began experimenting with scent. Eventually, I studied fragrance in France in 2019.
Redefining Caribbean Luxury Through Fragrance
Your fragrances have such distinct names and stories. Was storytelling always intentional?
Very much so. In the beginning, I was focused on proving that our products worked. We talked about ingredients, performance and effectiveness because that was what the beauty industry demanded. But I struggled to connect that conversation to my culture.
When we expanded into fragrance, everything opened up. I could finally tell the story of where I came from and the culture that inspired me. For example, Sunday Lime is inspired by the seawall in Guyana. It has salty Tahitian vanilla and driftwood.
Fragrance gave me the opportunity to pour my background, memories and cultural experiences into something people could wear. That’s when the brand really started finding its identity.
Caribbean fragrances are often associated with coconut and pineapple. How are you challenging that perception?
When people create Caribbean-inspired fragrances, they often go straight to pineapple or coconut. But that’s not the full story of who we are.
We’re wood. We’re pimento. We’re palm leaves, wet earth and sea air. There are so many beautiful, complex elements of the Caribbean that aren’t represented in fragrance.
I wanted to take those stories and elevate them because they’re worthy of being part of fine fragrance and luxury fragrance.
If someone is discovering OUI the People for the first time, which fragrance would you recommend?
Island Milk. It’s a fragrance that gets an emotional reaction from people. Some people actually cry when they smell it. What I love about speaking with people from the culture is that they understand the memory before I even explain the fragrance. We’re pulling from shared experiences.
Body care rituals are such a familiar part of Caribbean households. How do those traditions influence the way you develop fragrance?
Body care has always been part of our culture. From childhood, we’re using lotions, oils and powder. These are rituals we grow up with and often pass on.
I have a childhood photograph of myself covered in powder that our team shared on TikTok. It received more than 500,000 views because people immediately recognized that experience.
That connection to ritual also influences our fragrances. One of our signatures is skin musk. I love fragrances that sit close to the skin.
Growing up in the Caribbean, you also think about how fragrance interacts with heat. I wanted to create scents that feel intimate and personal rather than overpowering.
Building OUI the People and Finding Her Voice
OUI the People entered Sephora in 2023. What has that retail journey taught you?
Retail has been an incredible learning experience. I remember walking into the Sephora at Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn and seeing our products. That was surreal because it was right here in Brooklyn. But getting into retail is one thing. Building enough brand awareness to sustain that presence is another.
You have to know your story, who you’re speaking to and why your brand is different. Then you have to communicate that consistently.
Brand awareness is expensive, and retailers have expectations that don’t always align with the time it takes to build a business.
You mentioned that one of your biggest breakthroughs came when you started appearing on camera and sharing your story. What changed?
For a long time, I believed the product should speak for itself. I focused on making beautiful, effective products and assumed people would recognize the work. But that’s not how it works.
When I finally started getting in front of the camera and telling people who I was, where I came from and why I created the brand, people connected. Some customers told me they had seen OUI the People before but didn’t realize it was Black-owned. Once they heard my story, they wanted to support it.
The product’s effectiveness still matters, but people also want to understand the person and purpose behind the brand.
That resonates with many Caribbean people. We’re often taught to be humble and let our work speak for itself. Was that difficult to overcome?
Karen Young: Absolutely. There’s that Caribbean mentality of being humble, staying small and being seen rather than heard. I spent so much time focused on the details of what I’d created, hoping people would notice.
But customers aren’t necessarily thinking about everything that goes into creating a product.
You have to tell people what you’re about. I wish I’d started sharing my story sooner, but now I’m leaning into being authentic and letting that connection grow.
What’s Next for OUI the People?
As the brand continues to grow, what are you most excited about?
A few months ago, I probably would have talked about expanding into more body washes and other products. But right now, I really want to get more of our story out into the world. I want people to understand how beautiful, nuanced and incredible the Caribbean is.
We’ve taken those stories and filtered them through fine fragrance. I want more people to experience that.
For Karen Young, fragrance is more than a beauty product. It’s a way of preserving memories, honoring family traditions and creating space for Caribbean stories in an industry where those experiences haven’t always been represented.
Through OUI the People, she’s showing that the everyday rituals and sensory memories of Caribbean life are worthy of being celebrated as luxury.
Explore OUI the People: ouithepeople.com
Watch or listen to the full conversation on the Style & Vibes podcast for more on Karen’s journey, Caribbean identity and the power of storytelling through scent.
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