BARB STEGEMANN is all about women’s empowerment.

The 41-year-old mother of two, whose self-published book The 7 Virtues of A Philosopher Queen launched her on a full-time career as author and motivational speaker, is venturing into the retail world with a perfume she developed called The 7 Virtues Afghanistan Orange Blossom.

So it’s entirely fitting that she’s MCing the Dress for Success 10th Anniversary Tea Party on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. at Pier 21 in Halifax.

The event features a runway show of Halifax designer Lisa Drader-Murphy’s Turbine Design Spring 2010 collection as well as raffles, music, silent and live auctions, psychics and a fashion marketplace.

Proceeds go to Dress for Success, a volunteer-driven organization whose mission is "to promote the economic independence of under-privileged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and life," according to www.dressforsuccess.org/Halifax.

"I believe in anything that empowers women," Stegemann says, sitting in a Halifax coffee shop, looking fashionable in a fitted white trench coat.

She believes if women can gain confidence by packaging themselves in a new outfit and ace their job interviews, they can become self-sufficient, which is her goal.

The Bedford resident is hoping to help women in Afghanistan — and, by extension, their families — to become self-sufficient by growing orange blossoms from which the essential oil needed to create the perfume is produced.

Last year, she bought as much as she could find of the oil, which costs $2,000 for one cup. She produced 1,000 bottles of eau de parfum, sold only in one boutique in the trendy Toronto Yorkville district, in Halifax at Mills and through her website, www.the7virtues.com.

Launched on March 8, International Women’s Day, nearly one-third of her stock is sold. The 50 ml bottles are priced at $70.

"It’s selling incredibly well," reports Angie Taiani, general manager of Mills.

"People are buying it as gifts for friends, two or three bottles at a time. It’s a wonderful scent, very uplifting. Such a happy scent for spring. Everyone loves it."

Taiani says sales of the perfume are exceeding most of the others the Spring Garden Road store sells.

She says she was impressed with Stegemann’s vision of giving Afghan women money directly for their work. She took the scent to a department meeting and her knowledgeable staff all liked it.

“It made absolute sense. It’s the perfect opportunity for Mills."

Stegemann spent her teen years in Antigonish, graduating from Dr. J.H. Gillis Regional High, and then heading to the University of King’s College in Halifax, where she earned a de­gree in sociology and returned to study jour nalism.

She says seeing her perfume on display at Mills, nestled next to her book, is a “pinch me" mo­ment.

“It takes the thesis in the book, that women own the buying pow­er in North America, and brings it to life," she says.

She was inspired to do some­thing to help Afghanistan after her close friend, Capt. Trevor Greene, was seriously wounded while serving on a peacekeeping mission there in March 2006.

Searching the Internet, Stege­mann stumbled across an article entitled Perfume Not Poppies, and realized how the lives of Af­ghans could be improved if they were growing legal crops instead of poppies used in the production of heroin.

After discussions with the Canadian International Devel­opment Agency, a non-govern­mental organization, the ambas­sador to Afghanistan and the Canadian Afghan Business Council, she was ready to em­bark on the perfume project.

“One thing that I believe is really important is that it has to be a long-term commitment," she said.

“Perfume is a $600-million-a-year industry in Canada. I’m hoping to harness some of that."

She found a perfumer in Cana­da — Susanne Langmuir of Su­sanne Lang Perfumes — and shipped her a sample of the oil to ensure it was of high quality.

She told Langmuir she wanted a scent that was fresh, light and could merge with other scents.

“She designed six scents and I took them to events with me and very informally had friends smell them," Stegemann says.

She settled on a fragrance that has notes of freesia and jasmine. She financed the project on her credit card, which she paid off during the first months of sales. For now, she’s saving the money from sales to reinvest in the next crop for another, hopefully big­ger, round of production.

Publicity in the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail has al­ready helped. And a Facebook group — Oprah must try The 7 Virtues Afghanistan Orange Blossom Eau de Parfum!! — has been created.

Stegemann is hoping to create more scents from countries touched by war and is on a re­search mission to see if the Swee­tie grapefruit can be converted to oil for a perfume she envisions as Israel Sweetie Grapefruit.

Meanwhile, Stegemann, the mother of Victor, 15, and Ella, 10, has a July wedding to John Mac-Donell to plan. She’ll be Greene’s best person when he marries Debbie Lepore in B.C., and with­in the week, she and MacDonell will marry in a simple ceremony for close friends and family with Greene giving her away.

As she twists a Tiffany silver link bracelet with a peace sym­bol, she stresses her hope that she can help countries experi­encing strife move towards peace.

And she repeats her conten­tion that if people have an idea, they should not let themselves be overwhelmed or be afraid to take risks, but work towards their goal, no matter what. 

(anemetz@herald.ca)