Surviving a Boardroom Takeover Attempt with Nicole Eckels

Building a company is one thing. Keeping control of it is another. Nicole Eckels moved to Australia armed with nothing but a hunch that the country's beauty market was missing something. She didn't have a business plan or industry experience, just an obsession with fragrance and a refusal to accept "there's nothing like that here" as a permanent answer. Twenty years later, that hunch is the largest fragrance brand in the Southern Hemisphere. Takin’ Care of Lady Business Episode 167 In this candid conversation, Jennifer Justice sits down with Nicole Eckels, Founder and CEO at Glasshouse Fragrances, to trace her path from expat makeup artist to CEO of a global luxury brand. Nicole walks through finding her one and only investor, becoming her own manufacturer when no contractors existed for the category, and the boardroom crisis where her own leadership team nearly pushed her out of the company she built. She's unflinching about the mistake that caused it: assuming instead of directing, and letting a board dilute her ownership of her own vision. Together, they dig into what pay equity actually looks like in practice, why long-term incentives matter more than annual bonuses, and how Nicole scaled into the notoriously crowded US market during COVID by refusing to copy what every other candle brand was doing. What You'll Learn: Why protecting your vision is just as important as building your business How to spot real opportunities before everyone else sees them What founders get wrong about leadership, ownership, and long-term growth How to filter advice, trust your instincts, and make decisions you can stand behind Highlights: (00:00) Meet Nicole Eckels (03:00) Spotting the gap in Australia's beauty market (04:15) Deciding to build the world's best bath and body brand (07:33) Finding her one and only angel investor (09:05) Becoming her own manufacturer when none existed (13:17) Making her first hire and early team growth (14:51) The danger of relying on one advisor's opinion (19:06) When her leadership team tried to push her out (25:03) Rethinking pay equity and long-term incentives (38:17) Nicole's worst advice ever received About Our Guest: Nicole Eckels is the Founder & CEO at Glasshouse Fragrances, the largest fragrance brand in the Southern Hemisphere. Originally from New York, Nicole moved to Australia as a single mother with a 12-year-old son, drawn by a desire for a safer, more balanced life. Noticing a gap in the market for luxury home fragrance, she built her scented candles from her own kitchen, secured a single angel investor, and became her own manufacturer at a time when no contractors existed for the category. Over 20 years, Nicole grew Glasshouse into a global brand, weathered a boardroom attempt to push her out of her own company, and expanded into the notoriously crowded US market during the height of COVID. Today, she shares her experience building a business on her own terms, learning to trust her instincts over any single advisor, and creating a company where pay equity and long term investment reflect the value people bring. Nicole Eckels’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicole-eckels-32649a46/   Nicole Eckels’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoleeckels/  Explore Glasshouse Fragrances: https://www.glasshousefragrances.com/  About Jennifer Justice and The Justice Dept. JJ’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-justice-354a0b99 The Justice Dept: https://www.thejusticedept.com/ JJ’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferjusticel/  Newsletter: https://tkolb-newsletter-a50814.beehiiv.com/ JJ’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TakinCareOfLadyBusiness  The Justice Dept. is a female-focused advisory, consulting, and law firm advocating for female founders, talent, execs, and brands. We represent bo$$ ladies to make them 💰💰. If you love what you hear, please subscribe and share with a friend.