2014-03-04 21:45:09

Bill Clinton Headlines Fragrance Foundation Event

2014-03-04 21:45:09

By Jamie Matusow, Editor

 

Former President Bill Clinton speaks with Elizabeth Musmanno, president of the Fragrance Foundation at the group’s inaugural program “Fragrance Foundation Talks.”

It’s unlikely that any of the hundreds of people who attended the Fragrance Foundation’s gripping program on Wednesday, January 29, didn’t leave feeling at least a little bit more inspired, challenged, compassionate or determined—or, amused. 

After all, they had just attended an event that featured some of the most knowledgeable, passionate and creative thinkers and doers of our time. The enlightening speakers offered a balance between serious issues and humor as they addressed some of the world’s greatest challenges.

First up at the podium on the stage at NYU’s Skirball Center Auditorium was none other than former President Bill Clinton, who spoke to a rapt audience of fragrance industry executives and students about everything from world hunger to embracing diversity. 

He pointed out what he deems to be the three major problems in the world: inequality, instability and unsustainability. 

He offered his thoughts on a variety of ways that these issues could be ameliorated, all leading to the same conclusion: We live in an interdependent world where we must help one another, with shared responsibility and a sense of community. 

He said: “It is every citizen’s responsibility to build more shared responsibility and a sense of community, and appreciate that common humanity means more.”

In the fragrance world, one way these measures can be carried out is through thoughtful attention paid to the way ingredients are sourced. For instance, in Haiti, where Clinton concentrates many of his efforts, vetiver is grown in a sustainable way that not only serves the fragrance industry, but provides many Haitians with a livelihood. He said that 30,000 families now make a living selling vetiver plants to oil distilleries. 

Clinton called for more investors in Haiti and other poor and developing countries to develop more crops for fragrance and food. He commended Donna Karan for the work she had done in Haiti, and said Firmenich had made a commitment for ingredients there, in line with Nomad Two Worlds, which had made vetiver part of its story line.

[ED NOTE: Beauty companies have also reported similar mutually beneficial projects in other developing and underprivileged parts of the world, with ingredients such as shea butter, vanilla and patchouli.)

(L-R): Sir Ken Robinson, Caryl Stern, Jill Belasco, chair of The Fragrance Foundation, Elizabeth Musmanno, Stefan Sagmeister.

At the end of Clinton’s stirring, nearly hour-long presentation, Fragrance Foundation president Elizabeth Musmanno had the opportunity to ask the 42nd president and “citizen of the world,” a few personal questions, ranging from vacationing to reading—and of course, what fragrance he favors.

Clinton said that vacations and exercise are a must “because you have to rest the brain” sometimes. And he says that he and Hillary and Chelsea remember all of their relaxing times spent together.

When it comes to time management, Clinton said daily exercise has to fit in. While he knows he also needs his rest, he hates to turn out the lights. He just wants to keep reading, “because before my time on Earth runs out, there are still so many things I want to understand.”

Then came the question that Musmanno introduced as “the elephant in the room,” asking Clinton which fragrance he wears. Likely, he’s now being sent samples by the scores because he admitted that he doesn’t wear fragrance. He said when he was younger, he used to wear cologne or splash on aftershave, but “these days, I just try to stay hygienic.”

Caryl Stern, president & CEO, U.S. Fund for UNICEF took the stage next, commenting on her daunting task of following the ex-President. 

She gave a heartfelt, emotional, plea for helping to reduce childhood deaths around the world. She presented the alarming statistic that more than 18,000 children under the age of 5 die each day. Her determination is to help bring that number to zero, and spells out the direction the world must take to amend these preventable deaths in her book I Believe in Zero.

Injecting a little comic relief into the program was Stefan Sagmeister, a talented graphic designer and typographer, who has done work for the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed, to the Guggenheim Museum, and has held many creative exhibitions throughout the world.

On Wednesday, he treated the Fragrance Foundation audience to his Happiness by Design project, in which he showed visuals of how art could increase peoples’ sense of happiness and wellbeing.

At the end of his presentation, after a final show of hands that indicated how much the level of joy had gone up since the onset, Sagmeister concluded, “The fragrance people are a happy bunch.”

This set the stage for Sir Ken Robinson, PhD, an internationally acclaimed expert on creativity, innovation, human resources and education—and a chipper presenter—who above all, stressed the need for individualism and creativity, which he argued are not part of our current educational systems. “Seeing things differently,” he said, “is the precursor of innovation.”

And in case anyone is wondering, he told the group: “I wear Armani.”