Top and bottom:
The family at
UCLA; middle:
Kickboxing in
Pearl River, NY
Today, Karen Manheimer, MBA, is Vice
President Natural Products at Kerry and
serves on Fragrance Creators Association’s
Board of Directors. But her ties to the
fragrance industry trace back to her days as
a young girl, tagging along with her father,
Stephen Manheimer, on his business trips to
essential oil distilleries. A long-time leader
in the fragrance industry, Steve is currently
Executive Vice President at Kerry. Formerly,
he was President of J. Manheimer Inc., a
family-owned business started by Karen’s
great uncle Jake in the 1860s and family-
run until 2004, when the family sold the
company to Kerry.
It’s clear Karen loved growing up in
the industry and learned a lot from her dad.
“When I was really little, my dad would go
in and work on the weekends and I would
roller-skate through the plant,” she said,
noting with a laugh that you likely couldn’t
get away with that these days. “From an
early age, my dad would take us on some
of his sourcing trips. I remember going
to France when I was little and traveling
around visiting vendors… we would kind of
make it into a family vacation. The essential
oil industry was, and still is, a very family-
oriented world, full of family businesses. So,
it was totally normal to bring your family
with you and go look at distillation or go
look at the fields.”
Working at Manheimer in the summers
during high school and college, Karen
gained valuable insight into the industry,
but still wasn’t sure she’d end up in
fragrance. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree
in Anthropology from the University of
Pennsylvania and says she pictured herself
with some kind of international career.
“What I really loved about anthropology was
learning about other cultures, and I pictured
myself traveling the globe, getting to know
people who were different from me. And
then, at some point during my senior year
of college, it dawned on me that the family
business offered just that.”
After her a-ha moment, Karen realized
that she wanted to join Manheimer. As
the first of her generation to do so, she
also knew she needed to gain some
real-world experience first. She took a
job at Francosteel, the U.S. subsidiary of
French steel company Usinor Sacilor, and
went on to earn her Master’s of Business
Administration from the University of
Michigan. “Then, I finally I got my
interview with my uncle Arnold and joined
FEATURE
the family business in 1993 as the Oleoresin
and Spice Essential Oil Product Manager,”
she said. Oleoresins are a naturally
occurring combination of oil and resin
that can be extracted from plants and are
typically used to flavor food and beverages.
A NATURAL FIT
“You have to read The New York Times
every day and see what’s going on
around the world. You have to listen to
the weather man, you know?”
Working in this segment, Karen has a
unique perspective on the importance of
naturals as well as the challenges involved
with natural sourcing. “First of all, natural
is trendy right now,” she said. “Everybody
wants things that are natural. And
aromatherapy is really trendy, too. People
are starting to appreciate naturals, both in
essential oils and fragrance ingredients—
even natural fragrances are big.” Plus, the
vast majority of essential oils are made as
a cottage industry, “so you have thousands
of small producers, who are making the
essential oil at the source. It’s very much
done on small-scale, by-hand kind of thing,”
and that’s attractive to many people. From
her point of view, it’s very hard to duplicate
the whole olfactive experience of a natural
essential oil, although we’re seeing great
advancements in synthetic ingredients
through innovative technology and
approaches. “It’s also encouraging to see
the sustainability surrounding many natural
ingredients– how communities are been
supported and sustained by the industry.”
“Naturals are really cool, but they also
present a variety of challenges,” she
said. “Of course, natural ingredients are
vulnerable to weather, they’re vulnerable
to sociopolitical events, so being in the
naturals business really keeps you on your
toes. You have to read The New York Times
every day and see what’s going on around
the world. You have to listen to the weather
man, you know?” Karen acknowledges the
need to think globally in order to stay on
top of the naturals business. “For example,
the floods in Kerala, India, in August of
2018 affected some of the naturals that
come from there. When there are volcanic
eruptions, earthquakes, or tsunamis in
Sulawesi, Indonesia, or when Russia
annexes Crimea, that all affects availability
the of some of the important naturals in our
industry.”
Issue 3, 2018 | FRAGRANCENOTES.ORG | 9