LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Lexington business owner is beating the odds and moving life’s chess pieces at his speed after a long-term battle with addiction.
Nubian Oils and Hi-Def Entertainment’s Sly Noel brings fragrance royalty to Lexington. Visitors passing by can take one look at multiple shelves of colorful scents and oils and watch him bottle up just about anyone’s favorite feeling or memory.
“You’re partaking in how we grew up in a Black neighborhood and how we have things that are essential to us,” Noel said.
The Lextran bus driver not only offers chart-topping beats but also fragrances that resemble top-shelf scents made from essential and natural oil products.
Noel said having a business in brick-and-mortar-like shops and is essential to actually being able to share personal experiences and connect with the people in Lexington.
Although, the journey wasn’t always easy as he makes it seem. These have been several of his passions since he was about 9 years old.
“Whether I’m on the bus or not or whether I’m home, I’m always making up a playlist for events that I’m about to do,” he said.
Around that same age, he would first be introduced to drugs and before opening the perfume bar, Noel said he struggled with heavy drug use. A battle over 2,000 Kentuckians know all too well, according to the latest overdose data.
It has also been a challenge he says felt like a rollercoaster that would’ve eventually ended his life. Recovery groups like Lexington’s Hope Center were some of his major supporters and continue to be to this day.
Now, 4 years into recovery, he helps those at the very center that changed his own life. Often Noel volunteers his Dj efforts to communities that specifically work with those who are in recovery or for groups who help those affected daily.
“I have lost dreams that were awakened and new dreams that I’m chasing as well, so to bring these guys my passions and share with them gives them a lot of help and I get a lot of guys coming up to me and saying they love it,” Noel explained.
The Julietta Market is just a block away from where it all started for Noel in this city, and it’s the place that he enjoys coming back to at the end of every week.
“And come to find out I started a business inside this building, amazing,” he said. “You never know the blessings.”
With a smile on his face even while closing, Noel shows and shares that he has rediscovered his drive and motivation for helping others in life and perhaps bringing services to this community and beyond in the future.