August 24, 2021

Jenna Lyons | Founder of LoveSeen

30 minutes

In episode seventy three of the Glow Journal podcast, host Gemma Watts talks to the founder of LoveSeen, Jenna Lyons.

Jenna Lyons has always been a creative- but a younger Jenna did not imagine she’d end up in beauty.

Jenna was 6 feet tall by the time she was 13 and had a genetic disorder that affected her teeth and left her with bald spots, scars and no eyelashes. She shares that she was teased for the way that she looked, however after learning how to sew in a Home Economics class, she discovered she had a flare for design. Upon seeing one of her designs, the most popular girl in school complimented her on her taste and her talent, a moment that Jenna explains “changed everything,” and a future in fashion suddenly felt like a path she could take.

Jenna studied at Parsons School of Design before graduating and taking a role at J Crew. She began as an assistant designer in menswear, then womenswear, worked her way up to Vice President of Women’s Design, was appointed Executive Creative Director in 2008 and, in 2010, became President of the brand.

In 2017, after 27 years with the brand and having been credited by the New York Times as “the woman who dresses America,” Jenna Lyons left J Crew.

Given the link between fashion and beauty, Jenna found herself consulting on a beauty project and began to research the industry itself. She had long been fascinated by false eyelashes, given she has about 10 lashes herself, but had never been able to find false lashes that still made her feel like herself- lashes that were pared back and allowed her to look like herself, only amplified. Recognising a white space, Jenna called makeup artist Troi Ollivierre and the pair began work on LoveSeen.

LoveSeen’s collection of lashes were created by gathering 21 men and women, aged 17 to 72, with the team physically building each lash set onto their faces. 973 zoom calls, 2 trains, 6 planes, 10 cars, 22 cases of prosecco, 34 sample rounds, 1 global pandemic and 18 months later, LoveSeen launched with 14 unique sets of lashes- and this month, the brand finally arrives in Australia.

In this conversation, Jenna shares what it was like making the move to a startup after over a quarter-century at one of the biggest brands in the world, her advice for anyone growing and building their own team, and why hitting 98% of a goal simply isn’t enough.