BORNTOSTANDOUT® – JUN LIM
Jun Lim is the founder of BORNTOSTANDOUT®, a global luxury fragrance house built on two simple convictions. Rebellion against the standard. Originality over familiarity.
Before perfume became his work, it was his lifelong obsession. Jun has collected fragrance for over twenty years, buying at least one bottle every week. He fell in love with scent not as an accessory, but as a medium of self expression. Scent was his language long before it became his business.
Alongside perfume, there was art. Painting is one of the ways he releases tension and resets his mind. Weekends were spent in galleries, asking the same questions again and again. What feels alive. What feels fake. Why some things hit before you understand them. That tension shaped everything that came next.
By day, Jun spent nearly a decade in global investment banking as a consumer sector analyst. Finance was never the identity. It was training. Discipline. Pattern recognition. Understanding how brands rise, stall, and disappear.
In 2022, he launched BORNTOSTANDOUT® to challenge a fragrance industry that had grown too safe. He honours craft, slow maceration, and perfumers treated as artists. But he rejects predictability, market testing, and politeness.
Veronique Gabai – Veronique Gabai
Veronique Gabai, the eponymous brand of Veronique Gabai Pinsky, all inspired by sunshine and positive energy, is growing well ahead of the market. The brand is significantly outperforming both the niche fragrance segment and the overall fragrance category. This exceptional momentum is driven by their powerful storytelling and uncompromising product quality, which together foster deep emotional connections, lasting loyalty, and strong consumer retention.
2025 saw the launch of two further innovative creations for the brand: Eau D’Azur, light and fresh like a cologne yet powerful and long-lasting as an oud to allow the brand to connect authentically with a growing male audience, and Le Spritz, a unique portable wearable fragrance format for fragrance lovers on the go.
Veronique’s contributions to the fragrance industry continue to be extensive and impressive. From launching classic fragrances, building brands, introducing fashion brands to the category, spearheading corporate interest in niche fragrance, and now linking luxury scent to wellness and sustainability through her eponymous brand.
PARFUMS DE MARLY – JULIEN SPRECHER
Julien Sprecher is the founder and creative director of Parfums de Marly. [PARA] Sprecher is renowned for his ability to blend history with modern elegance.
MIND GAMES – Alex Shalbaf
Over the past year, Alex’s vision has translated into significant global impact. [PARA] MIND GAMES has expanded internationally, secured prestigious retail partnerships, including Selfridges, and achieved strong commercial growth, all while emphasizing sustainability and innovation through its exclusive partnership with Symrise. [PARA] Innovations such as perfumer-forward storytelling, raw-material transparency, and multi-sensory retail experiences have challenged industry conventions and reshaped consumer expectations. [PARA] More than a founder, Alex Shalbaf is a cultural architect whose work bridges niche artistry and global relevance. By demonstrating that intellectual depth, ethical sourcing, and commercial success can coexist, he is inspiring the next generation of fragrance creators – and redefining luxury fragrance as both an art form and a cultural force.
KAYALI – Mona Kattan
Since it’s inception in 2018, founder & beauty mogul, Mona Kattan has taken KAYALI from a homegrown brand to one of the most beloved fragrance brands globally. Inspired by her Middle Eastern heritage & the art of layering fragrances, Mona has launched 33 fragrances across a wide spectrum of olfactive families in just 7 years, building a global brand with a community of over 7 million followers who are encouraged to “unlock their imagination” through the power of scent. Through the global partnership with Sephora, KAYALI has a retail presence across more than 3,000 doors worldwide. Through education, eventing, & a community first-approach, KAYALI fragrances reflect Mona’s vision of scent as a multi-sensory expression of emotion, memory, and mood, experienced as acts of self-love. This philosophy came to life with the launch of KAYALI’s Freedom Collection, a deeply personal milestone inspired by Mona’s journey into independence and creative ownership. Built around four musk fragrances, the collection celebrated self-expression & individuality, inviting people to wear scent on their own terms and find their light through layering. Beyond innovation, Mona expanded KAYALI’s purpose through KAYALI Cares, launched in January 2026.