For Funmi Monet, fragrance is more than a finishing touch to personal style. It is a way of expressing identity, preserving memories and communicating emotions that words cannot always capture. This philosophy has become the foundation of Influxious, the fragrance brand she founded to explore the relationship between scent and the many dimensions of human identity.
Born in Nigeria and raised in the United States, Funmi grew up with influences from different cultures. Those experiences shaped her understanding of beauty and the role personal expression plays in how people present themselves to the world.
Today, the Nigerian-born entrepreneur and perfumer is bringing that perspective into the fragrance industry through Influxious, a brand built around the idea that people should be able to choose a fragrance based on how they want to feel, not simply where they are going.
Her journey combines formal perfumery training in Paris, recognition through Sephora’s founder development programme and a vision for creating fragrances that connect emotion, heritage and individuality.
Funmi Monet and the Cultural Influences Behind Influxious
Growing up between Nigerian heritage and American culture gave Funmi a perspective on identity shaped by more than one environment.
Her experience influenced how she came to understand beauty as something personal, with fragrance becoming a particularly meaningful form of expression.
Unlike clothing or accessories, scent is invisible. Yet it can evoke memories, influence emotions and become closely associated with an individual’s presence.
That connection became central to Funmi’s entrepreneurial vision.
She founded Influxious on the belief that fragrance can carry memory, heritage, emotion and identity, allowing people to communicate different aspects of themselves through the scents they choose.
The brand’s approach reflects an understanding that identity is not fixed. People experience different moods, emotions and moments, and their fragrance choices can become part of expressing those changes.
For Funmi, this creates an opportunity to develop products that connect with consumers beyond traditional fragrance categories.
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Funmi Monet’s Journey From Paris to Sephora Accelerate
Building a fragrance brand required Funmi to develop her creative interests alongside technical knowledge of perfumery.
Driven by her passion for scent and storytelling, she pursued formal training at ISIPCA in Paris, an institution recognised for its education in fragrance, cosmetics and flavour-related disciplines.
That training became an important part of her development, connecting her personal interest in fragrance with the knowledge required to approach it as a professional creative discipline.
Her entrepreneurial journey later reached another milestone when she became a Sephora Accelerate fellow.
The programme supports emerging beauty founders, providing opportunities for business development, industry exposure and mentorship.
Funmi’s selection placed her among entrepreneurs recognised through the initiative for their creativity, innovation and perspectives on the beauty industry.
For a founder developing a fragrance brand shaped by cultural identity and emotional expression, the experience represented another step in building a business within the competitive beauty market.
Influxious and Four Expressions of Identity
At the centre of Influxious is a collection of four fragrances, each designed to represent a different emotional state.
Rather than organising the collection around occasions, seasons or conventional fragrance trends, Funmi approaches scent through the feelings people want to express.
The collection explores four distinct expressions: softness and intimacy, joy and radiance, confidence and power, and charisma and magnetism.
This structure allows consumers to approach fragrance as a personal choice connected to their emotional state and sense of identity.
The brand captures that philosophy in its defining message:
“Four fragrances. Four expressions. Infinite ways to show up.”
For Funmi Monet, the collection represents more than four individual products. It reflects her belief that people contain different versions of themselves and should have the freedom to express those identities intentionally.
Through Influxious, fragrance becomes part of a daily ritual, offering consumers another way to determine how they want to feel and how they want to present themselves.
Funmi Monet and a Personal Approach to Fragrance
Funmi’s approach brings together two elements that have shaped her journey: storytelling and scent creation.
Her Nigerian heritage and American upbringing inform her understanding of identity, while her perfumery training provides a foundation for translating creative concepts into fragrances.
This combination is central to how she positions Influxious within the beauty industry.
The brand does not present fragrance solely as an accessory associated with luxury or special occasions. Instead, it encourages people to consider scent as an everyday expression of personality and emotion.
That perspective also creates room for conversations about how personal experiences and cultural backgrounds influence the products entrepreneurs develop.
For Funmi, fragrance offers a particularly meaningful medium because of its connection to memory. A scent can become associated with a person, a place or a significant moment, making it part of how experiences are remembered.
Her work seeks to bring that emotional connection into the fragrance experience while allowing each individual to define what a particular scent means to them.
Building a Fragrance Brand With a Distinct Identity
As Funmi Monet continues developing Influxious, her story reflects an entrepreneurial journey shaped by cultural influences, professional training and a clear creative philosophy.
From her Nigerian roots and American upbringing to her education in Paris and participation in Sephora Accelerate, each stage has contributed to how she approaches fragrance and brand development.
The result is a business built around an idea that remains consistent throughout her work: fragrance can be an extension of identity.
With four fragrances representing different emotional expressions, Funmi is developing a brand that encourages consumers to think about scent in a more personal way.
Her journey also contributes to a broader conversation about the perspectives African-born entrepreneurs bring to international beauty markets, drawing on their experiences and creative interests to develop businesses with distinct identities.
For Funmi Monet, the ambition behind Influxious is ultimately about giving people another way to express who they are, how they feel and the different versions of themselves they choose to share with the world.
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