Jesse Broyles: More Than a Fragrance

When Jesse Broyles talks about the man he used to be, he doesn't try to make himself sound better than he was. Before meeting his wife, Erica, Jesse says he was selfish. He didn't want kids, his priorities were different and faith wasn't a big part of his life. Then he met Erica while working at the sheriff's office, and things began to change.

"When you know, you know."

Jesse doesn't hesitate when he talks about what Erica has meant to his life. She brought faith into it, challenged him and changed the way he looked at his future. The man who once didn't want children became a husband and a dad, and Jesse will be the first to tell you Erica played a huge part in the man he is today. "She's the greatest thing that ever happened to me."

Jesse was born in Lewiston and spent part of his childhood in Nezperce, Idaho before eventually moving back to Lewiston with his sister. He graduated high school in 2003 and began working at the sheriff's office in 2012, where he still works today. Fragrance wasn't part of some big plan Jesse had for his future. In fact, the whole thing started almost by accident.

In 2018, Jesse was outside splitting firewood when he stopped to take a break. Tired from swinging the axe, he sat down while listening to "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Jesse has always loved artists like Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Elvis, and while he rested, he casually started researching Dean Martin.

That's when he came across a YouTube interview with Dean Martin's daughter. During the interview, she was asked what she remembered about her dad. One of the things she said was that he always smelled good.

Jesse got curious and started researching what Dean Martin wore. When he finally found the fragrance, he discovered it had been discontinued. That's when Jesse decided he was going to figure out how to recreate it himself.

What started as curiosity quickly became something he couldn't put down. Jesse began researching fragrance, learning about different materials and studying how scents were built. He spent more than a year reading, learning, and experimenting before buying materials and beginning to create his own scents.

This was never supposed to become a business. Jesse loved the process of creating something from nothing. Eventually, he started sharing what he was making with coworkers and friends. People liked it, and then they started asking him to make fragrances specifically for them.

Still, Jesse didn't see himself as someone building a fragrance company.

That changed because of a conversation at work. Jesse was training a coworker named Elijah when another coworker who had purchased one of Jesse's fragrances approached him and asked for a refill. Elijah watched the interaction and asked Jesse why he hadn't started a business.

Jesse gave him his reasons, but Elijah wasn't buying them. "No, that's not it. The reason is because you don't believe in yourself and your product."

Jesse admits that was hard to hear. He went home and told Erica about the conversation, and after sitting with it, he realized Elijah was right. Jesse had spent all this time learning, creating, and watching people come back for more, but he still hadn't completely believed in himself or what this could become. Jesse gives Elijah credit for that "aha" moment, the conversation that finally made him see what everyone else was already seeing.

So he decided to give it a chance, and Vintage Traditional began to grow.

Some of the moments that have meant the most to Jesse have nothing to do with selling a bottle of fragrance.

One of Jesse's friends wore one of his fragrances while going through chemotherapy. As his friend fought cancer, that scent became part of the experience for the people who loved him. When he beat cancer, his family associated that fragrance with everything they had just been through.

Another fragrance became part of a completely different story. Jesse learned that something he created had played a role in helping a couple reconnect during a difficult time in their marriage.

For something that was never supposed to become a business, Jesse began seeing just how far something he created could reach.

Fragrance has a way of doing that. A scent can take you somewhere instantly. It can remind you of someone you haven't seen in years, a house you grew up in, a certain time in your life or a person you love. Sometimes you don't even realize a memory is still there until one familiar smell brings it all back.

Even the names of Jesse's fragrances have a connection to home. Each one is named after a local place, and Jesse wants the fragrance itself to actually feel like the place it represents. He used Selway as an example. When Jesse thinks of Selway Falls, he remembers two trees overlooking the falls and the white water rushing below. When he created the fragrance, he wanted it to have that same feeling: fresh, aquatic and reminiscent of being near the water. For Jesse, it isn't enough to just put a local name on a bottle. The scent needs to make sense for the place it was named after.

Years later, the man who started our conversation by describing himself as selfish now talks about almost everything through the lens of his wife and his kids. You can hear how much he loves them in the way he talks about Erica, the way he talks about being a dad and the kind of man he wants his children to remember.

Jesse started this journey trying to recreate a fragrance that had disappeared. Somewhere along the way, he learned just how closely the things we smell can become tied to the people and moments we never want to forget.

Someday, when his own kids think back on their dad, Jesse hopes scent will be part of those memories too.

"I want that same legacy for my kids."