SHE IS
LIVING
HER DREAMS
Michelle Roark is an Olympic competitor
with her very own perfume company
Written by ELLEN GRAY
Photography by KIT WILLIAMS
Michelle Roark is a rarity. A vivacious,
energetic athlete who, through sheer determination, grit
and an unwavering belief in her dreams, single-handedly
pulled herself up by the bootstraps to compete in the Winter
Olympics, obtain a degree in chemical engineering, marry
the man of her dreams and create a successful perfume company.
A world-class skier and creator of a magnificent line of
perfume, Roark is a testament to the power to overcome
obstacles and touch the stars. Or, more specifically, to
go for the gold in a phenomenal way.
Today, Roark trains and competes for the U.S. Ski Team,
concentrating her talents on downhill bump skiing. In the
off-season, and even during her peak training, she puts
her creative and intellectual energies into Phi-nomenal,
a line of perfume boasting all-natural ingredients. What
makes her achievements even more remarkable is that her
transition into the world of perfume stems directly from
her skiing experience.
“When I first made the U.S. Ski Team, our sports
psychologist sat down with me and told me I had to be able
to visualize all five of my senses when I’m training
and competing,” she says. “I could visualize
everything but the smell, because when you think about
it, how do you visualize the smell of skiing? I became
fixated on finding the scent of the zone, which embodies
energy, confidence and focus.”
Seeking something that could encompass all three of these
characteristics, Roark began researching the medicinal
purposes of essential oils. Aided by her degree in chemical
engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, Roark worked
with the knowledge that the sense of smell is directly
related to that part of the brain that affects mood, or
emotion.
Next, she embarked on a quest to combine these oils in
a manner that would appeal to the missing sense.
“I wanted to incorporate the Phi aspect, which is
known to mathematicians and engineers as one of the world’s
perfect numbers. Things in nature grow in Phi proportions,
so it just makes sense,” Roark explains. “DaVinci
used the concept of Phi in his artwork, understanding it
was pleasing to the sense of sight, and Mozart used it
in his music, because it’s pleasing
to the sense of hearing.”
After months of research, Roark was able to successfully
blend a perfect combination of essential oils to create
her Phi-nomenal product line, expressly designed to appeal
to the elusive sense of smell. Her satisfaction with this
life’s work shines through: “Our mission statement?
We want to be worn by the first female president of the
United States!”
Creating the line is no small feat, considering it can
take up to one year to develop a perfect scent. Perfect,
that is, when the research and development are being handled
by a self-proclaimed perfectionist, for whom only the exact
combination of ingredients in the exact proportions will
suffice. Roark travels the globe to source the best vendors.
“There is a marked difference between my products
and most others,” Roark says. “The majority
of perfumes have synthetic ingredients and use a lot of
heavy alcohols. My perfume can last in a bottle for 100
years, compared with commercial perfumes, which typically
last nine to 12 months. My scent will remain on the skin
for six to eight hours, and because it has a true essence,
it will change with you and will vary with each person’s
body chemistry. It’s developed through a process
that uses the ancient art of perfumery, which dates back
to the Egyptians, who used these natural scents in their
true form.”
Even
the packaging of her perfume illustrates perfection and
grace. Each bottle is in the shape of a beautiful flower,
which has special significance for the scent it holds. “Take
this one, for example,” Roark says, holding up a
delicate bottle made of beautiful crystal that comes from
a small town in the Czech Republic. “It’s in
the shape of a little flower, but now it will bloom into
a tiger lily that is strong, smart and badass!”
That last statement is the very essence of Roark’s
dauntless spirit. As a young child, she was exposed to
the highly competitive world of figure skating and had
the good fortune to train with the cream of the crop: Debbie
Thomas, Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan. The financial burden
of the sport took its toll on the family, and at the age
of 15 she hung up her skates.
Clearly she had potential in the sport, but this was not
her dream, and this was not the end of her sports life.
Her father was an avid skier, and Roark shared his love
of the sport.
“My father skied every weekend, and I realized early
on that if I wanted to see my dad, I had to ski,” she
says. “My figure skating teachers hated it when I
went skiing, but that was the only way I could spend time
with my dad. But looking back on it, I really do think
I developed a great deal of coordination and balance from
all those years of skating.
“Since I was 5, I knew I wanted to be a chemical
engineer, and that I wanted to compete in the Olympics.
I remember being in a small town in Utah, and I was walking
with my dad when we came to a natural gas plant that was
being built. There was a woman in a hard hat, and my dad
explained she was a chemical engineer. I knew one day I
wanted to do that.” Her skating career ended, Roark
began competing in freestyle skiing, winning the junior
nationals at age 16, her first year out of the gate.
She qualified to compete on the U.S. Ski Team, but sustained
a bad knee injury in her first major competition, ruining
her chance to compete in the 1994 Winter Olympics. Her
bad luck continued when she sustained another knee injury,
preventing competition in the 1998 games. “I could
have thrown in the towel, but instead I looked at my rehab
time as an opportunity to begin my studies at the Colorado
School of Mines,” she says. With no financial resources,
she was trying to make ends meet, paying for school and
skiing.
“I was 19 years old, living in Winter Park, and wondering
how I was going to be able to compete. The U.S. Ski Team
funds your skiing, but you still have to pay them back.
I was working three jobs, at a bakery, movie theater and
T-shirt shop, when I came up with the idea to buy a house.
I took all the money I’d
saved, found a renter, and used that renter’s first
and last month’s rent and security deposit to purchase
a home. I rented out all the rooms in the house and slept
in the loft,” she says.
Literally broke, Roark was more determined than ever to
reach her ultimate goal, to compete in the Winter Olympics.
Several blown-out knees and ensuing surgeries had left
her bruised but undaunted, and she continued to pursue
her dream: “I remember being 16 years old and living
on my own. I couldn’t afford the lift ticket to compete
in the competition, so I would get up at 5 a.m. and hike
up the mountain so I could make the run down. I would sell
Olympic hats and pins just to get bus fare to return to
Colorado following training camps or competitions in other
areas.”
In 1999, Roark won a World Cup Championship and again qualified
for the Olympics. Then, another serious knee injury. “It
was a pattern. Every Olympic year I would be injured, every
year following the Olympics I would be fully rehabbed and
ready to go,” she reflects. Now it was 2002; again,
another injury kept her on the sidelines.
But it was not all discouraging for Roark, who throughout
her setbacks managed to remain strong and determined. A
sharp investor, she had purchased a place in Park City,
which sold for a hefty profit just before the Olympics.
She took that money, hired a ski coach and won back-to-back
World Cups, which left her primed for the 2006 Olympics.
All the while, she was working on her new line of perfume.
In 2005, she took third place in the World Cup in Lake
Placid, and then went to Fernie, British Columbia, where
she admittedly had some of the “best runs of my career.” In
January of 2005 she went to Deer Valley, Utah, and successfully
competed on the same course that earlier had left her injured.
“I wore my Phi-nomenal ‘confidence’ fragrance
on that run, and I was on a mission,” she says. “I
began to search the world for the best rose petals, which
I eventually obtained from the Valley of the Roses, in
Bulgaria.”
By this time, Roark had become recognizable for both her
fantastic skiing and her fantastic scents. “I was,
and still am, definitely the girliest girl on the tour.
I ski with sparkles on my clothing and lipstick in my pocket.
The clothes are somewhat boyish, so I’ll embellish
them with fur collars,” she
explains.
But most notable of all was that finally, after years of
waiting, she made it to the Olympics. It was 2006, and
the Olympic Games were being held in Torino, Italy. Roark
was there, this time as a competitor.
She recounts the experience: “So here’s what
I remember. I’m standing at the top of my run and
thinking of my coach, who had won the Silver at the Olympics
in Lillehamer, Norway. I was thinking I’ll either
finish first or nothing. It was a 26-second mogul run,
and I hit a bobble and came in late. But all I thought
was I’d rather go for it than wonder for the rest
of my life.
“I lost, but I came away with so much more. I learned
life lessons there. I realized how great it was to have
role models who aren’t Britney Spears or Paris Hilton.
This is such a great sport to encourage kids to get involved
in. It teaches kids to stand on their own, and there’s
a huge amount of camaraderie and support.
“I remember my first competition, when I heard two
girls on my team standing at the side of the slope cheering
me on. It was so different from figure skating, with the
intense competition from your own teammates.”
So
where has all this life experience brought her? Today,
she is happily married to the “man of my dreams,” whom
she met while rehabbing at a gym in Winter Park. “I
was wearing a sparkly headband and looking kind of cute,” she
recalls. “He saw me and thought I was from Texas!
He asked me at one point why I traveled so much, and because
I wasn’t
sure I would be able to ski any more, I told him I was
a chemical
engineer, and he immediately thought, ‘how boring.’ But
that night a friend told him I ski on the U.S. Ski Team,
and after a time, the rest was history.” A storybook
romance ensued, and the couple married in 2004.
“I’ve learned so much along my way,” Roark
says. “I had my last knee surgery in 2002, and, knock
on wood, I’m
feeling great. I know now how important it is to live fully,
love wastefully and be happy in the present.”
And, she adds, with a huge smile, “I’m probably
the only person in the world who can ski moguls like I
do and make perfume. I mean, think about it. Coco Chanel
could never shred the moguls!”
