Kim Van Dang: Turning Her Passion For Fragrance into a Profitable Beauty Business

Kim Van Dang has a nose for success especially when it comes to connecting luxury beauty brands, fragrances, and the ever-fickle beauty consumer. Dang began her career as an intern for WWD and W and later became the Beauty News Editor for WWD. Her editorial career also includes a stint as a Beauty Director for InStyle before she embarked on a path to become a serial entrepreneur. Her businesses include a boutique branding agency, a fragrance distribution company, Havens by KVD, a beauty boutique in Sag Harbor, and now you can add brand founder to her résumé. Recently, she launched Van Dang Frangrances at the height of the pandemic.“I’ve completed the circle — I’ve done everything one can do in beauty,” she said.

It was Dang’s 360-degree view of the industry that led her to create a successful brand, although she said it’s more about passion than filling white space. Fragrances have been an essential throughline in her life, starting with her first bottle of Jean Naté, the first beauty product she ever purchased. After being invited to an Estee Lauder fragrance launch party “I was sitting next to the head of fine fragrances at the time and I confessed to her that in my next life I wanted to be a perfumer” From that meeting Van Dang received an opportunity to receive private lessons from a perfumer.

As a woman who wears many hats, Dang’s unsung skill is getting things done. She succeeds by surrounding herself with people whom she loves and trusts. “Being able to delegate and having a strong team whom you are close to and who you support, having a wonderful partner in my husband and business partner,” she explains. “At Havens, I have a fashion designer partner who does all the dresses and accessories for the store and I do all of the curations for home and fine fragrance. Essentially it’s surrounding yourself with people you love and trust.”

Dang has managed to take her love for fragrance into several viable businesses. She shares these five tips on how to turn your passion into a success story.

1. Believe in Yourself—-Period!

2. Stay focused—Lots of opportunities come our way every day. It’s about recognizing them but also choosing the one that is most true to you, your passion, and your skillset. I think people are often sidetracked by money, comfort, ease, or something they think they should be doing because their parents or partners steered them that way.

3. Time management—-that has to be in there, for me it's google calendar (laughs) with alerts.

4. Have a Vision—-The last piece is the big picture. A vision piece helps to keep your eye on the ball.

5. Keep Going— Obviously, [my career] looks fantastic in hindsight, but at any given moment you only know what you know. and [success] is about putting one foot in front of another. It comes from trusting your gut and taking chances.”