Raquel Bouris, the founder and creative director behind Who Is Elijah, began with $12,000 and a desire to upend the centuries-old fragrance industry. Today, her rebellious tactics put her at the helm of a $20 million business, with her fragrances on the shelves of some of the world’s top retailers.
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Raquel Bouris is in her warehouse at Taren Point when she speaks with Forbes Australia, but her visit is short-lived. Soon, she’ll return to London, the city she now calls home, with her husband, Adam, the CEO of Who Is Elijah, and their two children. Nine weeks into the move, the 30-year-old is still adjusting.
“It was hard to get set up,” Bouris admits. “My five-year-old had to start school, and there was a lot to organise before I could really hit the ground running”.
Building a $20 million company comes with sacrifices, and for Bouris, that meant uprooting her life in Sydney. The move wasn’t easy, but with her family now settled and a landmark deal with one of the UK’s largest retailers secured, Who Is Elijah now sees itself entering the next stage of its journey: global expansion.
Before launching Who Is Elijah, Bouris had no background in retail or perfumery. As an executive assistant at a boutique hotel group, she never imagined stepping into the fragrance industry, let alone running her own brand. But in 2018, a chance encounter with an exotic scent at Coachella set her on an unexpected path.
“I came across this incredible oil fragrance on someone at the festival,” Bouris recalls. “It was so exotic and different, like nothing I had ever smelt.”
Intrigued, she took a photo of the bottle and tracked it down when she got home.
“I was wearing the fragrance, and it felt like a hundred people were coming up to me, tapping me on the shoulder, asking what I was wearing.”
The reaction sparked an idea one rosé-infused afternoon – if a single fragrance could turn so many heads, there had to be something bigger at play. “That’s when I thought, why don’t I just make my own fragrance?”.
The idea quickly turned into action, and Who Is Elijah was born.
Determined to turn her idea into reality, Bouris partnered with a Sydney-based perfumer to develop her first fragrance. With nothing but a hunch that she was onto something, Bouris poured $12,000 of her savings into production, purchasing 200 empty bottles and a drum of fragrance.
“I was literally in my lounge room, pouring perfume into a kitchen mixing bowl and then funnelling it into bottles,” she recalls. “It was scrappy, but I think that’s what made it so special. It wasn’t about big budgets or polished campaigns – it was about building a brand that people genuinely connected with”.
With a limited marketing budget and no industry connections, Bouris had to get creative. Competing with established fragrance houses with traditional advertising was out of the question, so she took a more direct approach.
“I walked into boutiques across Sydney, fragrance in hand, and introduced it myself. If they were too far, I sent samples. I just wanted people to try it.”
The gamble paid off. Store owners loved the fragrance, and she secured a growing network of independent stockists.
Building a brand on rebellion
Who Is Elijah has come a long way from Bouris’ lounge room. Last year, the brand generated $15 million in revenue. It was valued at $20 million– a figure Bouris believes has likely doubled, thanks partly to its recent partnerships with the likes of David Jones, Adore Beauty, and Boots UK.
Reflecting on her brand’s success, Bouris credits the same rebellious approach that got her into boutique stores in the early days.
“I couldn’t compete with the big brands with their big fluffy campaigns,” she explains. “So, I leaned into guerrilla marketing. Getting the fragrance directly into people’s hands was the cheapest and most effective way to make an impact.”
Some tactics were riskier than others. At one point, Bouris slipped samples into the pockets of jackets hanging on the racks at David Jones, betting on customers finding them at home and getting curious. “I almost got in trouble for that one,” she laughs.
That rebellious mindset propelled Who Is Elijah onto the international stage, securing its biggest deal yet.
“In 2023, I sent samples to Boots in the UK because I wanted to go big,” Bouris says. “I got in contact with one of their fragrance buyers, and they said, ‘No one knows who you are here, so we’re not interested.’”
Most entrepreneurs would have taken no as the final answer. Bouris booked a flight instead.
Five days later, she was in London, armed with 500 discovery sets and a mission to make Boots take notice. “We stood outside their stores, handing out samples to customers, getting the fragrance into people’s hands,” she says. “I filmed the whole thing, put it all over Instagram, tagged them – everything.”
The next nine months were met with silence – no follow-up, no second meeting. Then, out of nowhere, an email landed in her inbox: Boots was ready to launch Who Is Elijah.
Bouris believes these kinds of bold moves set her brand apart. “We’re not just another fragrance brand. We are modern, we are rebellious, and we do things differently. That’s why people remember us.”
With major retail partnerships and sales soaring, Bouris is now looking to take Who Is Elijah to the next level. For the first time, she’s considering outside investment to help the brand scale. “We need funding to grow now,” she says. “I’m off to New York next month to meet with a major investor who can open all the right doors for us.”
She’s also eyeing high-profile ambassadors to elevate Who Is Elijah’s profile further. Though she remained tight-lipped on details, Bouris hints at a partnership with one of Sydney’s biggest influencers – a move that she expects will heighten the brand’s visibility at home and abroad.
“Looking ahead, I see Who Is Elijah continuing to push boundaries,” she says. “I don’t want to follow the traditional fragrance industry playbook – I want to rewrite it. We’ll expand our product line, grow our retail presence, and explore new markets, but we’re staying true to what makes us different: modern, rebellious, and always evolving.”
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