How to Reinvent Yourself & Start Over with Jenna Lyons, Fashion Icon & Founder of LoveSeen

Dubbed by the New York Times as ‘the woman who dresses America’,
Jenna Lyons, is a fashion icon and the co-founder/CEO of the
beauty brand, LoveSeen. 


Having kicked off her career as an intern at Donna Karan, Jenna
went on to join the design team at J.Crew, eventually becoming
its President. She is recognized as the main driver behind its
incredible rise to success, and is a regular feature in print and
online media, including having been recognized as one of Time
Magazine’s 100 most influential people.


After 27 years at J.Crew, Jenna was finally ready to start her
own empire. She launched her company LoveSeen, a
direct-to-consumer beauty brand that is reinventing fake lashes,
which was largely inspired by her genetic condition that impacts
her lash growth. And she was most recently, the Executive
Director and main star of her reality competition show, Stylish
with Jenna Lyons on HBO Max.  


On today’s episode, you’ll hear how Jenna’s challenging childhood
experiences shaped who she is and how she experiences the world
today, including her attitude to finances and her love for
fashion. She tells us what it was like to live in New York in the
1980s and discover a new standard of beauty which was largely
different from the beach town she grew up in. Jenna reveals what
it was like to work with Mickey Drexler, former CEO and Chairman
of J.Crew Group, the skills she needed to develop to manage the
people she worked with, and what it was like to enter the public
eye. 


You’ll also hear why Jenna decided to reinvent herself later in
her career, how she overcame the most difficult transition in her
life when she left J.Crew, what she loves about working in beauty
when compared with fashion, and the biggest lessons she’s learned
on running her entrepreneurial ventures.


In this episode, we’ll talk to Jenna about: 


* The impact of Jenna’s mother’s attitude towards financial
independence on how she approaches money today. [3:10]


* How knowing you can take care of yourself affects fear and
trust in relationships. [4:30]


* The poignant experience of interest in her work and style when
she began to make clothes after growing up feeling unattractive.
[5:20]


* What it was like to grow up with a genetic disorder and how
sewing a skirt led to a popular girl in school asking Jenna to
make one for her too. [6:40]


* What it was like to live in New York in the late 1980s. [9:04]


* How Jenna didn’t meet the standard of beauty in the beach town
she grew up in. [10:30]


* The discovery of Antonio Lopez as a pivotal point in
discovering her own beauty. [11:38]


* How she came to intern at Donna Karan and study at Parsons
University in the 90s. [12:35]


* The listing that led Jenna to take a job at J.Crew without
asking about the salary. [13:35]


* Why she was so unhappy at the start of her career at J.Crew.
[15:48]


* The dramatic change at J.Crew that completely turned things
around [17:20]


* What it was like working with Mickey Drexler (CEO of JCrew);
his alchemy skills, attunement, and insight. [18:18]


* Jenna’s lifelong drive to make beautiful things that she could
be proud of. [18:43]


* How she needed to develop skills to manage people she worked
with. [21:20]


* What she learned from Mickey’s desire to hear from everyone.
[22:18]


* Entering the public eye starting with Domino Magazine, then
Vogue with Annie Leibovitz, and the internal struggle Jenna
experienced. [25:01]


* Find out how Jenna navigated different transition periods in
her life. [28:29]


* The nine-month period of silence that helped her regroup and
see what’s important. [29:10]


* Being approached to do television and what it was like to shoot
the reality show. [31:43]


* What Jenna loves about the beauty scene: she doesn’t have to
think about size. [36:05]


* How Jenna realized the significance of eyelashes and decided to
start her business. [37:00]


* The areas of running her own business that are new to her and
how she is learning new things along the way. [40:50]


* How admitting that you don’t know things can open you up to
learn new things. [42:00]


Follow Jenna:


* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennalyonsnyc/


* Website: https://loveseen.com/ 


* LoveSeen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loveseen/


* Stylist by Jenna HBO Max:
https://www.stylishwithjennalyons.com/ 


Follow Yasmin:


* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/


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