The African creator economy is constantly evolving. Gone are the days where brand partnerships looked like copy-and-paste influencer placements. In 2025, we’ve seen a major shift in how collaborations are done, allowing creators and influencers to shape, build, and co-own the story behind the product.
Glade SA has done just that with their latest collaboration, Scents of Africa; a trio of signature scented mist air fresheners crafted in partnership with three influential South African women namely Mpoomy Ledwaba, Liesl Laurie, and Natasha Joubert.
Not as ambassadors, not as faces on a campaign but as creators whose lived experiences, values, and sensibilities have been translated into product.
The collection has been in development for most of 2025 and officially debuts on shelves at the end of January 2026. Each scent is a personal narrative, a sensory extension of who these women are and the places that shaped them.
Mpoomy Ledwaba — Serengeti Oud
Mpoomy’s Serengeti Oud is bold, grounded, and unmistakably rich, a scent inspired by Africa’s expansive landscapes and the warmth of home. Notes of rose, vanilla, amber, and oud blend into something serene yet commanding, much like Mpoomy’s presence in the digital space. This is not a fragrance created for her, it’s one created with her; echoing the depth and grounding that defines her brand.
Liesl Laurie — African Violet
Where many brand collabs stop at aesthetics, Glade SA allowed Liesl to co-shape a fragrance that honours her upbringing and values, turning personal memory into something tangible. The result feels intentional: a scent that bridges modern living with history and identity. Rooted deeply in heritage, family, and home, Liesl’s African Violet is enriched with sweet honeyed and syrup-gourmand notes of ripe figs, a fruit profoundly connected to African soil and culture.
Natasha Joubert — Zambezi Sunset
Natasha’s fragrance is a love letter to warm horizons and river breezes. Zambezi Sunset layers creamy coconut and blooming jasmine, grounded by warm vanilla, creating a tropical stillness reminiscent of watching the sun melt behind the Zambezi. It’s a scent full of ease one that captures travel, nature, and the quiet nostalgia of golden evenings. Glade SA allowed Natasha to lean into her flair for elegance and atmosphere, letting the final product reflect the softness and calm her audience associates with her lifestyle content.
What sets this campaign apart is not only the final products but the process. Glade SA didn’t recruit influencers for amplification, they enlisted creators for creation. The trio spent months shaping the direction, balancing scent profiles, adding personal inspiration, and ensuring the final mists were true expressions of themselves.
This signals a necessary shift in how brands collaborate, seeing creators and influencers not just as accessories to product launches but as collaborators and that lived experiences can be great sources of storytelling and innovation.
When brands move beyond visibility and step into meaningful partnership, creators produce more than content, they produce culture. And with Glade SA’s Scents of Africa, Mpoomy, Liesl, and Natasha have done exactly that.
