Jenna Lyons

We are so excited to have Jenna Lyons as one of our Keynote Speakers for the third annual Michigan Fashion Media Summit! Jenna is someone who has inspired many throughout her career at J.Crew, starting as an assistant and ending her tenure at the company as President and Executive Creative Director. She is a branding expert who has successfully made J.Crew into one of America’s most coveted brands to date. While working with CEO Mickey Drexler, Lyons assisted in tripling J.Crew’s revenue from short of $690 million in 2003 to nearly $2 billion in 2011. By the time of her exit, she had been listed on the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list, named a Glamour Magazine Woman of the Year, dubbed by the New York Times as “The Woman Who Dresses America”, attended numerous Met Gala’s, and even made a presence on HBO’s hit show Girls. Lyons became a celebrity in her own right. 

Known within the fashion industry for her collaborative spirit, Jenna has worked with a multitude of designers on not only J.Crew limited edition collections but through mentorship as she was a judge on the Council for Fashion Designers of America’s Fashion Fund television show with the likes of Anna Wintour, Andrew Rosen, Diane von Furstenberg, Steven Kolb, Marcus Wainwright, Mark Holgate, and more. Her desire to help the next generation of designers is deeply intertwined with her forward-looking vision. 

Jenna turned J. Crew into a brand that promotes female empowerment in the workplace and beyond, and this spirit has carried over into her new venture. After Jenna left J.Crew in 2017, she took time off to garner the headspace to decide what business opportunity she felt was of fit to pursue next. In 2019, she announced that she is developing a new venture that includes a direct-to-consumer product offering as well as a weekly, unscripted television show in partnership with Warner Media. Her new venture, Lyons L.A.D., where Jenna is the current founder, and where our current Chief Operating Officer Katarina Kovac will be joining her as her Project Manager, will be officially unveiled in the summer. 

We cannot wait to hear more about her multimedia platform and her vision for the ever-evolving fashion industry!