TL;DR
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In a Who What Wear Podcast interview, hairstylist and entrepreneur Jen Atkin described moving from St. George, Utah, to Los Angeles with $300 and asking salons for receptionist work. She said a job at a busy salon led to years of assisting and developing her skills before she expanded into fashion shows and later founded Mane Addicts and Ouai.
Jen Atkin said she moved to Los Angeles from St. George, Utah, with $300 and sought her first salon job by going door to door to ask about receptionist work. In an interview with Hillary Kerr on The Who What Wear Podcast, she described how landing a job at a busy salon led to years of assisting and training before she worked with celebrities and expanded into business.
Atkin said she moved to Los Angeles with her best friend, Lindsay, and little sense of what would follow. “I started literally going door to door to salons and asking if I could be a receptionist,” she told Kerr. She said she found work at a salon that was “the buzzy place to be,” where she met Jessica Alba around 2003, though she qualified the year by saying, “I want to say.”
Atkin described spending a long period assisting and learning from other people before taking on broader work. She said she worked in the salon for about 15 years, honing her craft, and later began styling hair backstage at fashion shows. Her account presents the first salon job not as an instant leap to celebrity work, but as the entry point to a lengthy period of practice and professional experience.
The interview also traced Atkin’s later ventures. She said Mane Addicts began in 2014 as a project she and Mike Rosenthal ran from their kitchen. She said she began developing the idea for Ouai in 2014 and the hair-care brand launched in 2016. Atkin described wanting Ouai to be a digitally connected hair-care brand, and said she sought potential investors among people she knew or could reach through acquaintances.
From Salon Assistant to Founder
Atkin’s account offers a specific path into a high-profile beauty career: finding an entry-level salon role, assisting for years, building technical skill and then moving into fashion and entrepreneurship. That progression helps explain how her work developed beyond hairstyling for clients into projects with separate audiences and purposes, including Mane Addicts and Ouai.
The interview is also a first-person account rather than an independently verified career history. Atkin’s recollections give readers her description of the early steps, while the source does not provide records or additional interviews to confirm details such as the exact date she met Alba or the circumstances of her first salon hire. The value of the conversation is its account of how she says she built experience over time, not a newly announced appointment, product launch or award.
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The Early Career Timeline
Who What Wear presented the conversation as part of its 20th-anniversary coverage, dedicating October to people it described as having shaped fashion and beauty since the publication began. The episode, hosted by co-founder Hillary Kerr, ranged from Atkin’s early interest in pop culture and glamour to the growth of her brands.
Atkin said she was drawn to hair and makeup after growing up watching MTV and admiring performers including Paula Abdul, Madonna and Janet Jackson. She also recalled loving movie makeover scenes, although she said she did not initially realize that working in beauty could be a career. Her timeline places the move to Los Angeles before her salon work, the salon years before backstage fashion styling, and Mane Addicts and Ouai later in her career.
In the conversation, Atkin compared the relationship between her ventures using fashion labels as shorthand: “Mane is Miu Miu,” she said, after comparing Ouai with Prada. She also said Mane began with tools and that she wanted to pursue innovation in thermal heat styling after working with Dyson for six years. These are Atkin’s descriptions of the brands’ origins and positioning.
““I started literally going door to door to salons and asking if I could be a receptionist.””
— Jen Atkin, speaking to Hillary Kerr on The Who What Wear Podcast
Details the Interview Leaves Open
The interview does not identify the salon where Atkin first worked or specify when she was hired. Her recollection of meeting Jessica Alba is approximate: she said it was around 2003 and added, “I want to say.” The source also does not lay out the exact steps between her salon work, assisting, celebrity styling and backstage fashion assignments.
Some descriptions are Atkin’s own assessments rather than independently established findings. For example, she recalled being named the world’s most influential hairstylist in a 2015 New York Times article; the interview does not reproduce that article or independently verify its wording. It also does not provide details about Ouai’s investors, financing or the commercial results of either company.
No New Career Move Announced
The source reports a podcast conversation and retrospective account; it does not announce a new project or provide a future milestone for Atkin. Who What Wear’s episode is described as part of its anniversary programming, with the interview covering her career, Mane Addicts and Ouai.
Readers seeking more detail on the career timeline would need further reporting or the full interview. The published excerpts do not specify the name of Atkin’s first salon, the dates of her early assisting roles or the full development and funding history of her businesses.
Key Questions
How did Jen Atkin get her first salon job?
Atkin said she went door to door to salons in Los Angeles and asked whether she could work as a receptionist. She said she landed a job at a busy salon.
Where did Atkin move from, and how much money did she have?
Atkin said she left St. George, Utah, for Los Angeles with her friend Lindsay and $300 in her pocket.
How long did Atkin work in a salon?
Atkin said she spent about 15 years in the salon, assisting and developing her skills before moving into backstage fashion work.
When did Mane Addicts and Ouai begin?
Atkin said Mane Addicts began in 2014 as a project run from her kitchen. She said Ouai launched in 2016, after she began developing its idea in 2014.
Source: whowhatwear.com
