“The effect of scent is really interesting. It can create a mood and change a feeling immediately. I wanted to create a modern wardrobe of fragrances … fragrances that can be very personal to the woman who’s wearing them.”

People always ask what I would have done if I weren’t doing what I’m doing. And I say I’d [still] be in fashion or in beauty. It’s such a dream come true now because I have the ability to go into home [goods] and accessories as well.

I love Pilates, I really do, and I do it three times a week because it works well for me.

I figure if I take my children’s work seriously, maybe they will too. And it reinforces the idea that art is not something alien and esoteric. Anyone can make art.

And balancing motherhood and career makes you both a better mother and a better businesswoman.

I’ve always loved the beauty world. Ever since I was a child, I looked at magazines and wore fragrances and tried out samples and sets. I worked at Clinique in the creative department for a summer during high school. And when I graduated from university,

I discovered I was passionate about the creative process, the product development, creating a concept around a fragrance or lipstick.

Beauty is my heritage and my core. But my passion is design for the spaces where we live and work.

You always have to stay true to yourself.

I love market research because you really have an idea of what your consumers are looking for.

I think talented people are priceless. And I think people that are knowledgeable and experienced – and I think there’s a balance of new talent and experience, which makes, I think, Estee Lauder really special.

There’s something really interesting about that as a trend, that whole idea of lifestyle and being happy in your surroundings.

My mom has always been kind of my backbone. She keeps me strong. She is a mother, a friend. She is really everything to me.

It can be a walk on the beach, it could be a kiss from your child,or it could be a beautiful picture frame, a special fragrance. I think luxury doesn’t necessarily have to mean expensive.

People love buying into a lifestyle and an overall concept. So when they buy a shell-colored lip gloss, they can also buy shells for their house, as well as sunglasses and [items in] other categories [in that shade] to create one consistent image.

I’ve always been inspired by beautiful interiors.

I love to decorate a room – from the furniture to the objects to the books.

People who live at a distance are naturally less faulty than those immediately under our own eyes.

You start chasing a ball and your brain immediately commands your body to ‘Run forward, bend, scoop up the ball, peg it to the infield,’ then your body says, ‘Who me?’

Soyinka’s Death at Dawn, Auden’s Musée des Beaux Arts, Stevie Smith’s Not Waving but Drowning and Wislawa Szymborska’s Some People come to mind immediately. But there are plenty, plenty more that I enjoy.

The writer probably knows what he meant when he wrote a book, but he should immediately forget what he meant when he’s written it.

Just as you were about to step on it, I asked you “Do you want to cross the footbridge to me?” – Immediately you did not want to anymore; and when I asked you again you remained silent.

Often I’ve had problems automatically bending to a lover’s will, becoming what I know they want me to be. Immediately, I learn all the music they love, listen to it, study it, instead of being like, ‘This is what I love!’

Just being satisfied with Him and nothing else, immediately you scent the fragrance. There is a savor of the Lord. Something has been crushed, something has been broken, and there is a resulting odor of sweetness.

If something doesn’t work, it becomes obvious immediately. This just isn’t going to work.