Daughter undertakes late father’s fragrance ‘hobby,’ adding health component
TOLEDO – Happyland Fragrances could be the best-kept secret in Toledo. Ever hear of it? Likely not, unless you’re a patron of perfumes, a connoisseur of colognes, or a fan of, well, fragrances.
Its products – in bottles of an ounce or ounce and a half-plus – are nowhere to be found in stores in northwest Ohio. Or anywhere in the country, for that matter. But buy them you can, and in a recent development, by doing so you’ll help promote addiction recovery and suicide prevention.
The essence – so to speak – of Happyland was EJ Wells, who dabbled in the fragrance business from his basement lab in Perrysburg.
“Dad was always interested in fashion and music,” said his daughter, Chloe Michael. “He worked odd jobs all his life. He got into hobbies; one was perfume. He was interested in how to make it and sell it. He had a serious perfume collection.”
Michael said he began developing and selling fragrances in 2019 under the name Happyland, which was what he called his recording studio.
Michael said her parents had divorced and her mother had custody of her. As a young adult, Michael visited Wells and got to know his enterprise.
“He had about 300 ingredients on shelves, beakers, packaging products, measuring tools and instruments,” she recalled.
She added that her father battled health problems, including addictions to narcotics and alcohol. He had been in recovery, and was a strong advocate of Alcoholics Anonymous, and acted as a mentor and sponsor to others.
He also had a bad back. In September 2023, while in a rehabilitation center for physical therapy and undergoing pain management, he went into cardiac arrest and died. He was 66.
“My stepmom approached me a few months after dad passed away,” Michael said. “She didn’t know what do to with the business and didn’t want to liquidate, so she asked if I could try to take it over.”
Michael, working in finance and with a business degree and an MBA from the University of Toledo, said, “I’d been thinking of starting my own business, and I always loved fragrances.” Her dad’s hobby, she said, “was an element I thought I could work with.”
Work with it she did, pouring over her father’s paperwork. “Dad was not a guy for organization,” she said, “but he had notes.”
She also learned the extent of his “hobby.”
“I didn’t know he was known in the fragrance community. He’d been connecting with perfumers and boutique owners, including one in Beverly Hills,” she said.
In January of this year, she officially took over the company as its creative director, while maintaining her full-time job in finance. Fragrance production was shifted to South Toledo and is on the rise.
Michael said using her father’s notes, she developed three new fragrances this year, making 38 total offered by Happyland. One of those is Sol Orietur, Latin for “the sun will rise.” Michael said, “It’s a warm kind of fragrance, with vanilla and spicy notes.”
She said the name is to evoke an image of hope and new beginnings, important in the message to those battling addiction or contemplating suicide, which leads to the component Michael has added to the business.
Some proceeds go toward local agencies that focus on addition and recovery treatment and mental health, specifically the Zepf Center, Team Recovery Toledo, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She added that she lost a friend to suicide last year.
Michael said she’s made small donations and is saving some income from fragrance sales to make larger awards in the upcoming colder months and next year.
Giving to such agencies “is not something my dad made it about, but I think he would’ve been on board with it. He gave to charity and helped people in AA.”
Michael said her fragrances are available in bottles of 1 ounce and 1.6 ounces through the company’s website, happylandfragrances.com. She said she tries to keep them affordable and offers discount coupons.
“We definitely have a lot of exciting things planned,” Michael said, including attending fragrance events and trade shows. “I want to raise awareness of the brand. My dad did a lot of good things with his life. He would’ve wanted to see Happyland continue. That’s the motivation behind this.”
