Jenna Lyons started as assistant at J.Crew 25 years ago , now she’s the president and creative director of the brand, we can really learn a lot from her story .
She got into fashion when she was young. Since she was tall and awkward and there was nothing available for her to wear she started making clothing herself and people really loved her works .
She went to Parsons and interned at Donna Karan when she was in college. When she graduated she went home to California , she met with someone in the HR department of J.Crew and applied for a job in men’s . After 2 weeks she was put in the women’s department and we all know where she is now .
In an interview with Glamour Jenna Lyons said “The thing I think is most important for young people to know is that today there’s this idea of having everything quickly, that you’re going to walk in the door, be a designer, and not have to do any of the grunt work. It’s just not realistic. The things you don’t learn in school are the skills you probably need more: what it’s like to work with other people, how you build a team and collaborate. ”
She started as assistant in men’s department that she doesn’t like but at the end she got her dream job , so if you’ll find the opportunity to apply for a job that it’s not your dream job at the moment don’t miss it , because we can learn a lot from any job and we can build connections which is fundamental if you want to work in fashion and you’ll never know where this job can bring you next .
Now she’s the president of J.Crew so she has to manage all the things like oversee all of J.Crew creative men’s design, women’s design, accessories , marketing, styling, the catalogue ,the website; she went from assistant to be the boss .
You learn to be a good boss by being a subordinate…. You realize, “Wow, it feels really good when somebody compliments me.” Or when someone takes out their frustration on you, it’s like, “OK, I’m not going to do that.”
Jenna truly believes in the power of the people , she do her best work when she’s surrounded by the best people for her and she thinks that the key to any successful business is finding and working with people that you have a common synergy with. Jenna’s advice for people who want to be a designer or entrepreneur is to hire the most intimidating, smart and talented people you can find .
“I liken a perfect business run to winning the lottery: People’s expectations are so high. But if you look at business…the mistakes often end up being the best things that could have happened. The only sad part about down business is if you don’t learn from it, you know? Get in there and be humble. If you’ve had a great run, now’s the time to sit back and put down your feathers.”
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