How Marc Chaya Built Maison Francis Kurkdjian by Putting the Creator First: From Beirut to Paris and a Decade at EY

For this episode, Ashley sits down with Marc Chaya, CEO and co-founder of Maison Francis Kurkdjian, to unpack the philosophy, the partnership, and the fight behind one of luxury perfumery’s most distinctive houses.The career didn’t start in fragrance. It started in survival, then finance, then a dinner party conversation that changed everything.The perfumer has always been the best kept secret in the room. Francis Kurkdjian was behind some of the most loved scents in the world and almost no one knew his name. That was the injustice Marc set out to fix.The dupe debate is being framed wrong. Perfumers are the only creators in the world who cannot legally protect what they make.Commercial success was never the goal. It was the consequence.