Kathryn Balcerski
Principal and Co-Founder
A passion for fragrance, brands and global culture lie at the root of Kathryn Balcerski’s expertise. She received her chemistry degree at university, then earned her masters from the renowned Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Marketing and International Business. Kathryn’s first love was chemistry, spending many years working in the beauty care specialty ingredients sector, then discovering the allure of the perfume world where she has remained for twenty-five years.
After a stint with Haarmann and Reimer (now Symrise), Kathryn honed her fragrance development skills at world leader International Flavors and Fragrances. Her time based in their New York and London offices allowed her to work with perfumers globally to develop fine fragrances, hair care, skin care, home fragrances, personal cleansing, and deodorants. She has collaborated on brands such as Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, Perry Ellis, Mary Kay, Bath & Body Works, Ponds, Axe Deo-Cologne, TRESemmé, TIGI, and Lux.
In 2016 Kathryn and former colleague Tami Katz formed Serendipitee NYC, with a mission of working closely with companies to expertly guide them on a journey to translate their brand vision into a winning fragrance. Serendipitee NYC offers fragrance evaluation and development services; they are ‘noses for hire’. They are also the official training partner of Cinquième Sens, the renowned fragrance training company in Paris, and The Fragrance Foundation in New York, where they train the world’s top brand teams to understand the language and art of perfumery.