How Burnout Inspired Sophie Marshall To Build Gentle Habits
Creating gentle habits
By Kiri Johnston | 6th July 2026Before Gentle Habits became one of Australia’s most-loved ritual brands, founder Sophie Marshall spent almost three decades working in the global surf industry. As a former Global Product Manager at Rip Curl, her career revolved around international travel, relentless product calendars and the constant pressure of working across multiple time zones. From the outside, it looked like a dream job. Behind the scenes, it eventually led to burnout.
Stepping away from corporate life, Marshall relocated her family to Yamba on the New South Wales North Coast, where she built Gentle Habits around a simple idea: slowing down doesn’t have to be complicated. What began as a daily incense ritual has since evolved into a lifestyle brand inspired by Australian places, nostalgic scents and mindful moments, encouraging people to reconnect with themselves through small, intentional habits.
As conversations around burnout, presence and wellbeing continue to grow, Gentle Habits has struck a chord with people looking for a gentler approach to everyday life. We sat down with Marshall to talk about the realities of burnout, balancing business with motherhood, and why the smallest rituals often have the biggest impact.
Before Gentle Habits, you spent almost three decades working in the surf industry. Looking back now, do you think burnout was inevitable in that kind of fast-paced environment, or did it slowly creep up on you over time?
“Honestly, it was both. It was a fast pace that also crept up on me. The pace during the covid pandemic was unsustainable.
The surf industry was our lifestyle – it’s creative, fun and all-consuming. It looks like a dream from the outside but the pace behind the scenes is relentless – working on five different seasons at a time all on different stages of a RDC calendar, with remote teams across the globe and across multiple time zones with a lot of travel.
It felt like a hamster wheel and I think I confused busyness with purpose for a long time. I’ve had adrenal fatigue twice and your body really does hold the score.”
You’ve spoken openly about struggling to switch off as a working mum. Was there a particular moment where you realised something needed to change?
“There wasn’t one dramatic moment – it was more an accumulation over the years.
Being a mum makes you acutely aware of how you’re showing up, because kids feel everything. I started noticing I was physically present but mentally work was taking up so much of my space. And because of the role I was in, I was also missing out on a lot of time with my two boys.
That gap between where my body was and where my mind was – that’s what needed to close. That’s where Gentle Habits came from.”
Gentle Habits began with incense, but it feels like the brand has evolved into something much bigger, almost a lifestyle philosophy. Did you always envision it becoming more expansive than product alone?
“Not consciously at the start.
I started with incense because it was the one thing that started the journey for me to be more present. The scent was what I looked forward to at the end of the day. Lighting a stick was the only ritual I had that forced me to pause, just for that moment. But I think when something is rooted in a real feeling, it naturally expands. The products are almost just entry points for me and I soon discovered more products I wanted to bring to life by exploring other rituals.
For instance, the dive masks and snorkels came about because I was trying to break the habit of eating lunch at my desk. I’d take my lunch and an old dive mask down to the beach and spend some time in the water. Floating there, with only the sound of my breath, helped me slow down and be present in the middle of the day.
I knew that I had created a brand and lifestyle that I was living so Gentle Habits was born.”
The brand feels deeply connected to Australia – the bush, the beach, slow mornings and salt air. How much has your environment shaped the way Gentle Habits looks, smells and feels?
“The Australian connection has shaped our brand. Each scent has a story and is created by myself with a brief to a perfumer.
To create something bespoke for a place, I go back to my own experiences there, the way it made me feel, the memories it evoked. Bells Beach came from getting married at Bells Beach. Margaret River is my teenage years, surfing those breaks. Yamba is my home – it’s my paradise in a box.
I’ve always lived a salty, surf lifestyle, so I guess the vibe comes naturally. Australia has such a distinctive sensory identity and I wanted Gentle Habits to smell like here. I wanted our products to represent actual places and moments, not a version of them filtered through a brief or a trend report. When you’re rooted in a place the way I am, it just comes through in everything.”
In a world where wellness can sometimes feel overcomplicated or performative, Gentle Habits feels intentionally simple and grounded. Was that a conscious response to the industry?
“Wellness can get noisy. It became another thing to achieve, another thing to do.
This feels like the opposite of what it’s supposed to be as I want people to love exploring habits and rituals to fit into where they are at. To make something that doesn’t require a routine and you can build on what you love doing.”
You’ve built a brand around slowing down and being present, while also running a fast-growing business. How do you personally navigate that balance now?
“This is the hardest part of being a business owner but I have become a lot better – I’ll be so honest.
I am a better mum/partner and boss when I am in flow and doing the baseline – incense, swim, movement. There are weeks where I’m deep in a season of work/launches and this falls away. But I think that tension is actually part of the story – everyone is in a different season of life, and small, accessible moments of calm can become incredibly important.
The rituals exist for me as much as for anyone buying the products.”
There’s something nostalgic and emotional about scent. When developing a fragrance like Byron Bay or Tasmania, are you trying to capture a place, a feeling, a memory, or all three?
“All three, but the feeling comes first. Byron Bay isn’t just a location or our best seller – it’s a mood, a chapter of my life and people can create their own memories with it.
I love hearing about families who adopt a scent as their “home scent,” creating a memory they can take with them wherever they go. Tasmania is something cooler, masculine and moody – how I experienced Tassie. I want someone to smell it and feel something shift, even if they’ve never been there.
We have matching playlists to all our scents too – a full sensory experience to create a mindful moment.”
The rise of ritual-based products seems to reflect a broader cultural shift, particularly among women looking for small moments of calm in everyday life. Why do you think brands like Gentle Habits are resonating so strongly right now?
“I think women are exhausted in a way that’s finally being acknowledged.
There’s been this long period of being told to do more, push through more and people are rejecting that. Ritual gives you back a sense of control over your own time, even in a small way. It’s not about a luxury, it’s about reclaiming five minutes that are just yours.
That’s not a trend, it’s a deep need to switch off that mental load we carry. And I think brands that understand that are the ones cutting through.”
Gentle Habits has grown incredibly quickly since launching in 2020. What have been the biggest lessons, both personally and professionally, from building the business so publicly?
“My biggest lesson professionally is that slow and being intentional can work.
I didn’t want to build something fast and a brand that was flash in the pan – I wanted to build something that meant something, to us, and to the people buying it. I want Gentle Habits to outlast me as it’s a family business and create a beautiful work environment also for our local community.
It’s taken discipline, especially when you see other brands scaling aggressively. I learnt if you are being true to your brand and business values, plus being consistent, that growth will come. The other thing is that your authentic story matters more than your strategy.
People have connected with Gentle Habits because it’s a brand that cares about our community, customers and staff. I’ve never tried to be something I’m not, and I think that’s what’s made it last.
Personally, my biggest lesson is to always trust your instincts. If you get an inkling something could be wrong or not right, chances are that you are right the first time.”
When someone lights one of your incense blends at the end of a long day, what do you hope they feel in that moment?
“Like they’ve arrived home and they’re calm. Like wherever they’ve been all day – whatever they had to hold together, whatever didn’t go right – they can finally put it down and decompress. That’s the whole intention behind it.”
From its signature Australian-inspired scents to its philosophy of embracing slower, more intentional living, Gentle Habits has become far more than a fragrance brand. Through every product, Marshall encourages people to find presence in the everyday, whether that’s lighting an incense stick, taking a swim or simply pausing between moments.
In a culture that often celebrates busyness, her story is a reminder that success doesn’t have to come at the expense of wellbeing. Sometimes, the most meaningful habits are also the gentlest.
