Title: Vice President

Company: Allure Home Fragrance

Location: Dallas, TX

Initially, Kristin Maples chose her career path because her father co-owned the company 20 years ago and sold out to his business partner, Judy Havelka. When Ms. Havelka was ready to sell the company in 2009 she reached out to Jamie Furrate who in-turn asked his daughter if she wanted to partner with him on this business venture. At the time Ms. Maples wanted a career change and loved the industry, so she entered the partnership with her father.

Ms. Maples prepared for her career by simply jumping in. She had a degree in marketing and was able to use that. Essentially, Ms. Maples shadowed the previous owner for a month and learned the trade from her employees. She went to many trade shows until she became an expert in the industry. Her biggest challenge was being young in the industry, as she sells mainly to gift stores that are often owned by women. Ms. Maples’ greatest accomplishment was being able to land a big account with high volumes, as her company has a lot of private label customers.

Within her sixth year at Allure Home Fragrance, now as vice president, Ms. Maples would most like to change her weakest part, which is her management.  She built a strong team around her that can manage a large warehouse crew.  She will continue to work on that skill and lean on them. She wants to continue to grow the company, open some retail sites and expand their building to have more warehouse space.  They are also working on special projects, such as going to hotel lines, and getting into niche marketing and corporate gifting. Ms. Maples is very passionate about what she does and she loves the product.