Jenna Lyons Gives Career Advice in Glamour's September Issue

Back to school is creeping up and some of you are brushing up on your resume for that next job, this is  good time to get some career perspective. Jenna Lyons, the Creative Director at J.Crew gave some inspiring words about career, success and failures. Jenna is one of the most stylish and very compose ladies in a high rank fashion position, but she is humble by her early beginnings.

See what she had to say in Glamour's September Issue.

Lyons on what she learned from her assistant days…
Jenna Lyons: “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.”



Lyons on what accomplishments make her the proudest…
“Sometimes it’s the small stuff. I remember this woman wrote me a letter and said she had to give a speech and was incredibly nervous. She had gone into J.Crew and got something to wear, and people said, ‘You look great!’ She said, ‘I’m a scientist, I’ve never had anybody compliment me on my clothing before.’…I do think sometimes people assume that what you wear isn’t important, but I know it can make someone who needs a little boost feel beautiful.”

Lyons on how to move up in a company...
"The person who makes herself indispensable, that's the person you want to promote. But when someone comes in and starts asking—it's such a disease. Demanding, "I've done all this and I want X," doesn't work for me so much. [Instead] ask questions: "I'm ready to take it to the next step. What is it that I can do better?" That, to me, is an engaged, collaborative way to get somebody to the next level. You're not going to get there just because you think you're ready or because someone else got promoted. We don't sit here and create a scale where we carefully ratchet everyone up evenly. Because if that were the case, we'd all be drones. No one is a drone.... You are you."


pics via nymag.com