What do you want to be when you grow up?
Have you ever asked yourself that, even though you're technically already a grownup with a job? I did regularly up until the day I was hired at xoVain. I'd had my fair share of jobs, all somewhat relevant to what I do now, leading up to my current one, where I call the woman who inspired my career "boss." (Actually, I just call her "Jane.")
But I know I'm lucky; we don't all land our dream jobs. Even fewer of us land two, but that's exactly what Jennifer Yen did.
I met Jennifer Yen a few years ago when I was juggling roles as both the Senior Online Editor at NewBeauty and the editor of beauty retail site spalook.com. She came to my Boca Raton office to introduce us to her then-very-new skincare line, pur~lisse.
It was impossible to not be impressed with the masterful combination of traditional Asian botanical ingredients and newer ingredient innovations, like peptides and arbutin. But I couldn't stop looking at Jennifer's face.
I mean, yeah, it's gorgeous (duh). But it was so familiar. I finally asked her why I felt like I'd seen her before. Did she grow up in New Jersey? Go to FSU?
Neither. She had been the Power Rangers villain, Vypra.
I admit, I hadn't voluntarily sat down and watched a single episode of Power Rangers, but they were a huge phenomenon--impossible to ignore.
But here Jennifer was, telling us about her skincare line. Although she'd already achieved a career goal that thousands of aspiring actresses would kill for, her passion had led her down a new road, and she was kicking ass in an entirely different way.
Here's what she told me about her one-of-a-kind career path.
MARCI: How did you come to be cast as Vypra?
JENNIFER: I auditioned and didn’t originally get the part. Another woman was cast, but apparently she wasn’t nice to Power Rangers fans (who were kids), so producers held an audition to re-cast Vypra, and I was called in. It came down to me and four other women. On the final audition, we had to get into the full Vypra costume. Only problem: we had to fit into the former Vypra’s costume. She was much smaller than me in height and weight, and the pants were too small for me and extremely tight.
At this point, I really wanted to be Vypra because I was so close and I didn’t want to be a non-working actor. Sometimes life comes down to a few pivotal points, and this was one of them. I had the pants on, but couldn’t zip them up; I took a deep breathe, sucked in my stomach and quickly zipped up! I just had to deal for 15 minutes. I went into the audition room with directors and producers and could hardly move or breathe. I read the lines and then, at the last minute, they asked me to do a kick in my super-tight, too-small pleather pants with full on wings!
What?!
They were kidding, but I thought, damn, another pivotal moment. I knew I had to do this, though, so I did a high side kick (thankfully, I learned some moves from my ex-boyfriend, who was a martial artist), and they were impressed! At this point, I knew I had the part. I’m grateful I was able to start working as soon as I moved to LA.
Had you always been interested in acting?
From a young age, I’ve always been fascinated by Hollywood and actors, but I really became interested while I was in college. I did some modeling in college and like every other model, I turned into a MAW (model, actress, whatever). I thought, hey, I’m dramatic, I can be a good actress! Acting just looks so easy doesn’t it? But it’s so hard! And I don’t think I was a particularly good actress.
What was working on Power Rangers like?
I was nervous on my first day. I'd never acted in my life! There are about 50 people on set, and when director yells action, all the attention is on you, and you have to ACT! The first few days, I would say, “Was that OK? Did I do that right?”
Often, my call times start at 5 A.M. and end at 5 or 6 P.M., which made me very disciplined. It was a lot of hard work, but fun.
Was there anything you didn't enjoy?
My least favorite was having my midriff exposed. The producers thought the pants fit me since I convinced them they did during the audition, but I never a had six-pack, and my weight often fluctuated. I was always self-conscious, but luckily wardrobe got a bigger pair of the tight pleather pants.
At what point did you consider starting a skincare line?
My skin went from normal to haggard within six months of working on Power Rangers. I went from dermatologist to dermatologist, trying all the latest and greatest and nothing worked.
Then I turned to my wise grandmother, who has the most beautiful skin and most effective beauty secrets. Her rituals transformed and healed my skin. As a result, I regained my confidence and was completely inspired to start pur~lisse.
How did you make traditional Chinese beauty rituals work in a modern skincare line?
After using the Asian botanicals--such as white tea and blue lotus--that I learned from my grandmother, it healed and transformed my skin. I formed a team of chemists and married her Asian beauty wisdom with modern French skin technology, while excluding parabens, petrochemicals, synthetic color and fragrance, GMOs and other unsafe ingredients.
Is there anything you learned from Power Rangers that you could somehow apply to pur~lisse?
I learned a lot on set. It’s helped prepare me to be on TV selling my products, hitting eye marks, camera angles, voice projection, not to be nervous--just everything!
What was the transition from focusing on an acting career to being a skincare entrepreneur like?
When you’re an actress, there is a lot of waiting around and rejection. The rejection didn’t bother me as much as the waiting around for something to “happen.” In life, you will always be faced with rejection, but you don’t have to wait around for other people to make things happen for you. But that's an actor's life.
Shortly after Power Rangers, with my wrecked skin, I was auditioning and waiting around for my next acting job--NOTHING. I realized I was never going to be Meryl Streep. I knew I had to do something else to keep my sanity.
Was it hard to get started?
I was told by several older and wiser people that “anyone who starts a business is either crazy or stupid," and that "no one would start a business if they knew how hard it was.” And thankfully, I didn’t know how hard it was. When I first started, people would ask: "You were an actress, you have no beauty experience or business experience, you have no distribution and no investors, and you want to start a beauty company? Are you crazy?" But I just dove into it.
How so?
I started taking beauty marketing classes at FIDM, went to all the packaging supply shows, talked to manufacturers, found a world-renowned chemist and got started. I put everything I owned into starting pur~lisse, including getting a small loan from my uncle, taking equity out of my condo (which I do not recommend). Once I put my entire life savings into it, I knew I had to make it work.
Knowing what you know now, would you do anything differently?
From a lack of experience, I made tons of mistakes, but I learned along the way, and overcoming it made me a better business person. And in my case, not knowing how hard it would be made me go for it. Looking back, I’m not sure if I would have started pur~lisse, but I’m so thankful I did it. Starting my own company has evolved my life on many levels. I absolutely love what I’m doing.
If you, today, could talk to the Jennifer Yen of 2000, what would you tell her?
I would tell her to live it up even more, have more fun, and to have ZERO FEAR; to travel even more and spend more time with herself than with her boyfriend; to not worry so much about the future and to have more patience. I would tell her life will work out, and it will all make sense if you do your best to make the right decisions. Finally, I would tell her you will end up doing what you are meant to do.
I can't say enough good things about both Jennifer and pur~lisse. She's not only an amazing woman, she's also making amazing skincare products. I'm an especially big fan of the pur~bright ultra skin brightening serum, as well as the pur~lip comfort daily lip nourisher, but I highly recommend checking out the complete line... and the complete Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue series, because COME ON:
