How Melissa Scanlon Went From Hollywood Assistant To Founder Of Essential Oils-Centered Brand Fleur 333

When Melissa Scanlon was a personal assistant for actor Kevin Connelly, she’d typically wind up at Erewhon three times a week picking up provisions for the “Entourage” star. As she perused the kombucha and organic bone broth at the natural grocer, Scanlon dreamt of placing her own products on its shelves.

“I would talk to all of the employees and put all of my energy out there,” she recounts. “I called them one day and said, ‘I’m the owner of a small business. I make face oil, and I would love for it to be in your store. Who is your buyer?’ Back then, the buyer was Erin Bovard. I emailed her, and she said, ‘Send it to me.’ I sent it to her, and she responded, ‘I love your product. Let’s do it.’”

Scanlon’s small essential oils-driven business, Fleur 333, premiered at Erewhon in 2016 with its debut product, The Oil, a facial cleanser and moisturizer containing jojoba, rose otto, sea buckthorn berry and rose hip seed oils, and ylang ylang, carrot seed, lavender and vetiver. The brand’s presence at the retailer has since been elevated to feature its toners, and it’s expanded beyond Erewhon this year to enter Clean Beauty Mart.

“I really have to believe in myself and in the brand, and be comfortable going out there and using my voice. Self-promotion for me is really hard. I have to have a strong backbone and really be courageous,” says Scanlon. “It’s competitive. There is a lot of great brands, and being able to rise above competition and know there’s a place for everyone is important.”

“Self-promotion for me is really hard. I have to have a strong backbone and really be courageous. It’s competitive. There is a lot of great brands, and being able to rise above competition and know there’s a place for everyone is important.”

For eight years, she served Connelly, not an ideal position from which to learn self-promotion. Scanlon became Connelly’s assistant after meeting him during her holiday break at a bar in Patchogue, N.Y., his hometown that neighbors Scanlon’s hometown Blue Point. While they met in New York, Scanlon was working in post-production in Los Angeles, that is until she jumped ship to become a member of Connelly’s entourage. She says, “In my life, there’s been a lot of coincidences that I’m grateful for.”

Although Scanlon may not have mastered self-assurance as an assistant, there’s plenty she picked up from her tenure under Connelly that has helped Fleur 333. “I shopped at a lot of different stores that I wouldn’t have necessarily gone into. I encountered all kinds of people from makeup artists to celebrities to everybody in between. I got a great feel for LA, and I was really flexible and able to hustle to get things done,” she says. “Every day, you never knew what would pop up. I knew I could handle whatever would come my way. That was really important for me.”

Outside of her day job, Scanlon began experimenting with essential oils for household cleaning solutions. “Even inhaling them while using them for cleaning, I could tell they were medicine. The benefits of using them were immediate,” she says. Enamored with the healing properties of essential oils, Scanlon and friend Ben Johnson began a company in 2010 selling cleaning products centered on them called Blue Jay Way. The company didn’t feel completely Scanlon’s own.

“I encountered all kinds of people from makeup artists to celebrities to everybody in between. I got a great feel for LA, and I was really flexible and able to hustle to get things done. Every day, you never knew what would pop up. I knew I could handle whatever would come my way.”

In 2015, she invested $2,500 to launch Fleur 333 and go it alone in the beauty industry. The brand’s name comes from Scanlon’s passion for flowers and the number three, one of her favorite numbers. “It’s important for me to bring as much of myself into the brand as I possibly can,” says Scanlon. “As early as four, I’d be out in the backyard making potions with different plants. That love and appreciation for Mother Nature has never left me. I’ve always felt very connected to plants and flowers.”

Fleur 333’s assortment spans 10 products and among them are three toners and four oils. Prices run from $48 to $111. “If it were up to me – and this is where I need to stay grounded – there would be 20 facial oils for different seasons and body changes,” says Scanlon. “In the summer, I love using our Moon Mermaid Facial Oil. It’s blue chamomile and peppermint are very cooling. I have an oil coming up that I’m going to call Earth Angel that’s inspired by New York in the spring and flowers that bloom at that time. Your sense of smell is so powerful, and it’s important you are using something that speaks to that and to your intuition.”

At the moment, Scanlon, who left her assistant post in 2016, the year her second child was born, doesn’t have aggressive retail growth goals for Fleur 333. She expects it to generate $20,000 in 2018 sales and is concentrating on business at the brand’s existing retailers. “Erewhon is just happening. You go in there, and it’s such a busy place. It’s just a great store to be in right now,” says Scanlon. “I want to make sure I’m showing up there myself and spreading the word.”

In the long term, The Detox Market, CAP Beauty and Anthropologie are target distribution partners for Fleur 333. Scanlon says, “I would love to have a bigger following, and more people aware of Fleur 333 and the intention behind the brand, but I’m also a part-time stay-at-home mom, and life balance has been really important to me.”