Sophia Grojsman was born in Belarus. She moved to the United States in 1965, and has been with International Flavors & Fragrances (she started as a lab technician) since 1966. Her early mentors were Ernest Shiftan and Josephine Catapano. She is now semi-retired.
Sophia Grojsman was given the Living Legend Award by the American Society of Perfumers in 1996, and the Achiever Award by Cosmetic Executive Women in 1994.
Background
Sofia Khodosh (Grojsman is a married name) was born in Lyubcha, Novogrudok district , Grodno region ( the Republic of Belarus) in 1945. Parents took Sofia in Poland, and later - in the United States (by the invitation of the Jewish family, which was saved in Belarus during the World War II by S. Grojsman).
Education
Sophia Grojsman started her life in Belarus, a former Soviet state. Her family moved to Poland when she was fifteen, and she received a Bachelor of Science degree in analytical inorganic chemistry there. In 1965, Grojsman immigrated to the United States and a year later began to work at International Flavors and Fragrances as a lab assistant.
Career
Sophia immigrated to the United States in 1965 and began her career a year later at International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF) as a lab assistant to Ellie Fox, a senior perfumer at IFF. Her mentors included Josephine Catapano and Ernest Shiftan, two legendary American perfumers. Sophia’s creative energy and passion flourished as she went on to create some of the world’s best-selling fragrances including Vanderbilt by Gloria Vanderbilt, Yves Saint Laurent’s Paris, Calvin Klein’s Eternity for Women, Lancome’s Tresor, Boucheron’s Jaipur, Exclamation! by Coty, Perry Ellis’ 360˚, Christian Lacroix, Neblina by Yves Rocher, Elizabeth Taylor’s Diamonds and Rubies, and True Love by Elizabeth Arden.
Sophia received the 1994 Cosmetic Executive Women’s (CEW) Achiever Award for her lifetime contributions to perfumery. In 1996, she was honored by the American Society of Perfumers with the Living Legend Award. She was elected a Corporate Vice President of IFF in 1998. Sophia was honored again by the beauty industry’s CEW in May 1999 for her lifetime achievements in the fragrance industry. Cosmetic Executive Women cited Sophia as “having created more fragrances sold today than any other perfumer in the history of mankind.”
Sophia Grojsman is the author of Rose Rebelle Respawn and S-Perfume 100% Love.