Meet Keta Burke-Williams | Founder of Ourside, luxury non-toxic fragrance brand

We had the good fortune of connecting with Keta Burke-Williams and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Keta, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I grew up in Ohio as the daughter of a Jamaican immigrant mother and American father. My family is integral to who I am and to Ourside, the business I’m building today! My mother would often tell my sister and me a story of visiting Tunisia and smelling midnight blooming jasmine for the first time. That story has had such a profound impact on me that I’ve carried it with me through the years. I’ve long loved the power of scent and fragrance as self-care, whether it’s the smell of my mother burning candles, my sister cooking and baking, or my dad’s cologne. Smells are how I try to remember, calm myself, and energize myself. They can take us to times and lands we’ve never visited and connect us to others.
I never saw scent as a potential career path until discussions with my sister. We were discussing how some perfumes caused us to sneeze and get headaches and my sister was sharing that she largely forewent perfume because she felt there were very few non-toxic options that she identified with. Just as COVID-19 hit, we arrived at the conclusion that someone should do something about that…and then we realized that maybe we could be that someone!
I’m proud of the journey we’ve embarked on to build this company – although I’m what some would call a solo founder, my sister and mom have been integral to the journey of creating this company…it truly takes a village!

I’m so excited for where we are headed – our business Ourside is getting incredible mentorship from two programs we have the fortune to be part of (Techstars Atlanta powered by JP Morgan and the Ulta Muse Accelerator), we have some awesome investors along for the ride, a supportive community, and maybe most important, we have three very special fragrances we will be launching! One is even inspired by my mom’s story of first smelling midnight blooming jasmine.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m the founder of Ourside. Ourside is a luxury non-toxic fragrance brand. We’re building a world of our own and doing it through story and through scent, because they have the power to transform and connect us. Sometimes I’m still surprised to call myself an entrepreneur, since it’s not a journey I ever saw for myself! Growing up, my mother always encouraged us to do what brought us joy. My joy at the time derived from figure skating, but after injuries abounded, I decided I needed to find another path. Around high school, my immigrant upbringing kicked in and I searched for a practical profession that would bring me financial security so I planned on becoming a lawyer. That quickly changed, though! I love reading but don’t enjoy writing! My path to entrepreneurship has zigs and zags. Each role I’ve had prior to creating Ourside has taught me something different that I leverage today. For example, during my internship at General Mills I needed to work weekends in a bounce house and taco truck to make extra money – that scrappiness has led to my ability to find a way to make things work. I’ve worked many long hours to get things done, and I’ve been in roles that filled me with joy and those that left me feeling empty. I needed to cross roles off the list that I didn’t like to find something I love.
The first spark of this happened during a class at Harvard business School. I saw entrepreneurship take on different shapes and forms – it wasn’t just one type of person who was cut out to be an entrepreneur. That learning gave me the push I needed to take a risk and try building something from scratch, and I haven’t looked back since!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Throughout my journey I’ve learned that it really takes a village! I’m forever thankful for a former boss and current advisor/ mentor, Marcos Lima. I learned through him that many things are possible with some vision, grit, and bias for execution. Amy Liu at Tower28 gave us our first shot (back when we went by the name Aspen Apothecary). Thank you to Annie and the entire Credo team for the fantastic Credo for Change program. It was during this program that we dove deep into branding and started the process of discovering the pillars of the brand we really wanted to be. I’m thankful for Ulta Beauty for giving us an incredible insight into retail readiness in their current accelerator, and to Melissa Pegus and her team at Techstars Atlanta powered by JP Morgan for helping us build the most sound business we can. I’m also thankful for my partner who is our biggest fan and hype person on the days I need it most!

Website: https://www.ourside.nyc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ourside.nyc

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/oursidenyc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ourside.nyc