Kathari: The Black-Owned Travel Fragrance Brand Celebrating Nigeria's Yoruba Culture And The Comforts Of Home

Scents have always played an integral part in Ope Dina’s life. Growing up in a Yoruba household with Nigerian parents, she was used to the smells of incense and spices.

Dina was also exposed to the world at an early age. She was born in the United Kingdom, moved to Nigeria, and attended college in the United States. From her upbringing to her travels, she carried her passion for scents into adulthood.

After graduating college, Dina secured her first “big girl” job and found herself on the road a lot. No matter where she traveled, one thing Dina always carried in her bag was candles and essential oils in a mini diffuser.

“I stopped carrying candles quickly when I realized they were a fire hazard,” she tells Travel Noire jokingly. “[The more I traveled], I realized hotels and larger residential buildings with lobbies used the cold diffuser technology.”

However, many manufacturers didn’t sell the technology small enough for apartments and hotel rooms. Dina had to do some deep digging and eventually found something suitable for smaller spaces just in time. She had to move back home to the UK quickly during the pandemic.

It was no surprise that her essential oils were the first items in her luggage. As chaos ensued throughout the world, her scents calmed her.

“I was happy to take my scents with me and make that space home,” she says. “I was able to settle quickly and experience the feeling of ‘home.'”

Kathari Co. Creates A Feeling of Home No Matter Where You Travel

Exploring the world is no doubt exciting and invigorating, but there is also comfort with familiarity, like those times when relaxing at home. Dina is making sure people have access to that feeling through Kathari.

She launched two different products that are easy to pack. The fragrance nebulizer is a waterless, cold-day fusion machine. It also serves as an eye-catching piece in your home, Airbnb, or even the comforts of your hotel room.

“This brings the technology hotels use to scent their space consistently into your home,” Dina says. Meanwhile, her essential oils pay homage to her foundation as a Yoruba woman from Nigeria.

Here’s What To Know About Kathari Scents

“All the scents have a Yoruba name. In developing them, I looked at covering the four main fragrance buckets, including floral, woody, fruity, and fresh,” Dina shares.

The floral scent is Ewa. According to Dina, Ewa means “beauty” in Yoruba. She says it’s easy for the Ewa scent to brighten up anyone’s day. The woody scent is Ire, which means good fortune. She says it’s a nod to the firewood used at home in Nigeria to make an excellent warm meal or the warmth you feel from the fireplace. Ina is the fresh scent. Dina says in Yoruba, Ina directly translates to a light feeling. This best-seller scent is a sage blend. The Ola scent is fruity and gives a nod to the fruit of the earth.

“With Kathari, the goal is to become the standard in everyday luxury in just how we live,” she says. “We want people to think intentionally about their spaces and have them infuse character by scent.”

According to Dina, research shows that 75% of people’s emotions are generated by what they smell.

“This is so fascinating to me because [smell] is even stronger than sight and hearing,” she adds. “For our customers, we want to influence how people experience the spaces they interact with daily through smell. Smell is an easily overlooked part of our daily lives and routines. We want you to feel that treating yourself is a form of self-care.”

As for what’s next for the brand, Dina hopes to expand it to make bespoke scents based on the company’s needs to enhance customers’ experiences in hotels and fitness centers.

For more information on Kathari, including where to buy it, visit the company website.