LINDA L. GERLACH
FOUNDER
Professional Biography
© Leslie Fayard Laurans
Love, The Key to Life is the inspiration of Linda Gerlach, founder and owner of the New York-based company, The Gerlach Group, Inc. She established her fragrance house after a successful, 30-year career that had its beginnings in an international commodities trading house. A move to Wall Street brought her to a major securities firm, after which she founded an international executive search firm, focusing on business and finance.
Gerlach earned a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. She has also studied at New York’s Art Students League, the School of Visual Arts, the Fashion Institute of Technology, The National Academy of Design School of Fine Arts and the International Center of Photography.
An accomplished photographer, Gerlach’s work has been shown, since 2002, in 17 exhibitions. Further, several of her images are included in the permanent collection of the Museum of The City of New York.
Gerlach brings her business acumen and immersion in the arts to the world of fragrance. “I have always been attracted to everything that fragrance represents, and in my heart, this is what I always longed to do. I think every woman – wherever she is, whatever she does and whatever her age, is somehow, in some way, looking for the true key to life, which is ever and always love. And that is the inspiration, the vision and the concept behind my new fragrance.”
Love, The Key to Life is an aromatic and tactile interpretation of the Ankh, the ancient symbol of eternal existence known as the “Key of Life”. Intrigued by the Ankh’s powerful legacy, Gerlach combined it with the most powerful emotion – love – creating a modern-day icon by replacing the ‘o’ in love with the top loop of the Ankh’s elongated key shape. The fragrance mirrors the symbol’s strong, enigmatic presence with a potent fragrance blend as exhilarating as love at first sight and as deeply revealing as all-embracing passion.
“In Love, The Key to Life I have created a modern classic,” Gerlach says. “An eau de parfum with a concentration of 26.3% essential oils, this is a rich and elegant, memorable fragrance that lingers, yet never overwhelms; one that’s universal in its appeal and yet completely individual to the woman who wears it. It is truly the realization of my dreams.”
Gerlach earned a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona. She has also studied at New York’s Art Students League, the School of Visual Arts, the Fashion Institute of Technology, The National Academy of Design School of Fine Arts and the International Center of Photography.
An accomplished photographer, Gerlach’s work has been shown, since 2002, in 17 exhibitions. Further, several of her images are included in the permanent collection of the Museum of The City of New York.
Gerlach brings her business acumen and immersion in the arts to the world of fragrance. “I have always been attracted to everything that fragrance represents, and in my heart, this is what I always longed to do. I think every woman – wherever she is, whatever she does and whatever her age, is somehow, in some way, looking for the true key to life, which is ever and always love. And that is the inspiration, the vision and the concept behind my new fragrance.”
Love, The Key to Life is an aromatic and tactile interpretation of the Ankh, the ancient symbol of eternal existence known as the “Key of Life”. Intrigued by the Ankh’s powerful legacy, Gerlach combined it with the most powerful emotion – love – creating a modern-day icon by replacing the ‘o’ in love with the top loop of the Ankh’s elongated key shape. The fragrance mirrors the symbol’s strong, enigmatic presence with a potent fragrance blend as exhilarating as love at first sight and as deeply revealing as all-embracing passion.
“In Love, The Key to Life I have created a modern classic,” Gerlach says. “An eau de parfum with a concentration of 26.3% essential oils, this is a rich and elegant, memorable fragrance that lingers, yet never overwhelms; one that’s universal in its appeal and yet completely individual to the woman who wears it. It is truly the realization of my dreams.”