The culture is shifting towards acceptance of gender neutrality and brands like Nick Ricardo are at the forefront. Nick Yeast is the proud founder of Nick Ricardo Collection, the gender neutral fragrance brand with a mission to slash gender norms and elevate the narrative of the POC, non binary, transgender, and gender non-conforming individuals.

Embracing the beauty of coming out to his father in rural Kentucky at age 16, Nick believes that beauty unfolds when we embrace our own truths. A fellow Kentucky native, I spoke with Nick about his proudly black and queer owned brand, and tried some of the fragrances.. 

I’ve heard so much about your brand. I know you recently did an event at The Phluid Project here in New York. Tell me more about the brand and how you got started. 

Thank you! The brand was actually inspired by a solo trip I took to South Korea. I wanted to get away. It was my first solo trip. I attended a fragrance making class and I got really inspired. The ladies there were just so passionate about fragrance. I always loved fragrance. I just really loved how it made me feel. When I came back to the states I decided I really wanted to have my own fragrance brand. I knew how fragrance made me feel and I wanted to make other people feel the same way. There was a void of gender neutral products out there and fragrance shouldn’t be gendered, period. Fragrance is just an extra boost of confidence. I developed my brand to be more mission-focused and speak to issues such as gender equality. 

Talk to me about the process of creating fragrances and building out the brand.

The question I’m asking is what makes people think a particular scent is masculine or feminine? Working with the lab has been great because I’m able to really put together what essential oils and ingredients go into each fragrance. For instance, Bergamot is a great essential oil that I use in all of my fragrances. It relieves stress. Being a POC, we have stressors that affect us every day just from walking out the front door. By putting bergamot in my fragrances I’m looking to alleviate that stress and further the conversation surrounding mental health.

Let’s talk about the fragrances! What do people like about them and what makes each special? 

• Mention ($64): This was actually the first fragrance from my collection. I made it in South Korea and brought it back. Mention is your everyday fragrance. It makes you feel unapologetically you.

• Desire ($64): I call Desire that fluid beauty. It’s a great fragrance for a night out to turn heads. It’s very lustful. 

• Onyx ($64): This fragrance is bold and beautiful. An onyx is a black diamond. Imagine a trangender woman - she’s strong and commands the room. 

• Turbulent ($64): This fragrance gives you that adrenaline to take on the fight. Whatever that means to you. 

What are your goals for the brand and why do you think it’s important to have a gender neutral fragrance line?

I definitely want to be able to use my brand to give back to the community. I had the pleasure of being able to donate a part of the proceeds from my brand to the TGI Justice Project in San Francisco. It serves as a re-entry program for our transgender brothers and sisters. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done and that’s why it’s important to have more gender neutral products to speak to everyone.

Learn more about the Nick Ricardo Collection and shop fragrances here.