Celebrating Jennifer Yen's Entrepreneurial Leap
Jennifer Yen is the creator of the skincare line Pur~lisse that was founded from her Grandmothers’ Asian beauty wisdom with modern philosophy. Jennifer’s grandmother worked hard to take care of her family. After moving from China to Taiwan she then decided to bring her family to the United States. Jennifer was five years old when her family immigrated to the US, where her mother became the breadwinner of the household. From her mother and grandmothers characteristics, it’s easy to see that Jennifer comes from generations of strong and ambitious female role models.
Just like her parents and grandparents before her, Jennifer is not new to building, or taking Leaps. She will be the first to tell you that if you Leap and you fail, and you will, it is how you pick yourself up and keep going that determines your success. Jennifer’s success did not come easily. It took hard work, dedication and persistence. Like many young girls, she dreamed of getting out of the rough winter during her time at Boston University and moving to California to pursue acting. After graduation she moved to Los Angeles and started auditioning. She didn’t know it at the time, but the pursuit of an acting career would be the best training ground for becoming an entrepreneur.
“To be a successful entrepreneur you have to get comfortable with rejection and be good at sales, you have to love sales actually”
Jennifer began auditioning and was told no again and again. The rejection was difficult at times but it did not discourage her. She stayed persistent which led her to a successful acting career, her role as Vypra on Power Rangers. To play Vypra, she went through hours of wearing heavy makeup every day and filming under bright lights. At the end of the day, it was difficult to get the makeup off. Once she did, the heavy makeup was affecting her skin. She tried the latest and greatest and nothing helped.
When Jennifer’s family immigrated to the United States they settled in Alabama. Jennifer wanted to fit in so she pushed her roots aside - including the use of Chinese herbal medicine. After trying the many skincare products on the market, she decided to go back to her ancestry. She remembered that her grandmother washed her own face with soymilk and treated any irritated skin with room temperature white tea. “One time my brothers and I were riding our bikes when we were little and I scraped my knee. I remember my grandmother pouring room temperature white tea on my scratch as an antiseptic so it would not get infected.”
“Actresses have to be good at telling a story and as an entrepreneur you have to be good at telling your brand story. As an actress you are always selling. You have to know how to bring a character and words on a paper to life. You also have to sell yourself as the person who is the right fit to play a character.”
Jennifer honed her skills at telling a story, selling, and staying motivated when faced with rejection.
The start of pur~lisse beauty did not come easy. Jennifer launched Pur~lisse ten months before the recession. Like many other businesses, they experienced very difficult times during this phase and she was very close to losing her business. “Most business owners would have closed their doors but I was determined to keep going. I learned that if you have confidence and do everything that you possibly can to keep moving forward, eventually you will experience success and once you do it is up to you to keep it going.” Today, after her years of building her skin care brand and staying persistent, Pur~lisse is a thriving success and used by actors throughout Hollywood.
Jennifer is a single mother of a beautiful little girl and she takes being a role model for her daughter very seriously. She likes that her daughter gets to see her as a self-sufficient and working mother who has tremendous gratification for her work. Jennifer knows that children are very impressionable and she hopes to shape her daughter to be a happy, strong, self-sufficient, and independent woman.
After taking her Leap into entrepreneurship, Jennifer is stronger, more confident, and wiser.
“As an entrepreneur you are constantly testing and bending yourself to become better. There are a lot of headaches, things never get easier, however you definitely get better at pushing your business forward.”
She Built It celebrates your Leap. Cheers to you Jennifer Yen!