Lisa Jordan opens up about family life, love and loss

Lisa Jordan is one of those women we completely and utterly admire. She marches towards us the day of our photoshoot in beautiful Hayfield Manor in County Cork, a pram in one hand, a suitcase in the other (she styled herself and did her own hair and makeup), and her two children in tow alongside her own glamorous mother, Catherine. And then there’s Lisa, a glamorous mother herself, a businesswoman and self-starter and all-round hard worker.

Everything she has yielded in the last six years, since the dawn of her presence online with her social media platforms and her successful beauty brand Luna by Lisa and Luna Haircare, all of those are at their essence a result of the hard work she has put into creating them. And create she does having recently launched her stunning Christmas campaign, Luna Holiday Collection.

But Lisa is first and foremost about her family. Having experienced the tragic loss of her dad and her brother in her lifetime, she knows that most important in life are the relationships we have with those that we love. Everything else is secondary. And you can see it, in the way she chats to her mum Catherine, gives her children Pearl (3) and Bowie (8 months) so much time and love, and speaks so highly of her husband. She is a one-woman wonder who we have no doubt is set for further success.

We sit down to chat to her about all things family-life, business, festive plans and, of course, looking to the new year.

Lisa, how are you? We last spoke over a year ago. Since then both career-wise and personally you’ve had so much going on – you’ve had another baby and you’re working away on Luna by Lisa makeup and Luna haircare. It’s all taking off for you!
It’s amazing. My main focus is family, my kids are my world and my life, they’re my everything. So to add another to our family has been truly a blessing. Bowie is fantastic and Pearl adores her, so it’s working out really well for me. I love that my job gives me a bit of flexibility so that I can be with the girls during the day. I can bring them to work with me, so I’m able to juggle everything – for now, anyway! It’s been an incredible year.

Your children have really unique names – was that something that was really important to you?
From a very young age I loved the name Pearl. When I was younger and I made my Communion, my dad gifted me some pearl earrings so I loved pearls from there on in. Even my wedding was themed pearls and bows. So then, when it came to naming the baby, it was a no-brainer, that was the name that I wanted. Then, to follow on from that, I just thought that Bowie matched so well. It was either going to be Beau for a boy or Bowie for a girl, so it was a win-win.

We did the shoot with your gorgeous mum Catherine. How important is her support in raising your children? They say it takes a village.
She is my rock. She supports me in everything that I do and I like to think that she reared me well. I want to replicate that with my own kids. I was given a great upbringing and I want to mirror what was done for me with them. My mum’s values are very important to me.

And she’s also so glamorous!
She always dresses up. This is where it came from: my love of fashion and beauty, it all came from my mother. She is my mentor. As they say, I didn’t lick it off a stone. [laughs].

You have your own business, your social media business and two young children, to someone looking from the outside in, you’d wonder, how are you doing it all?
I just adapt to it. People often ask “Do you have a Nanny?” and I’m like “No, I don’t!” Pearl is in play-school now for part of the day, but I’m rearing them with my husband, and he’s really supportive of me and my career. It’s just life, we’re able to manage. And with my business, I have the team to help me, I have an amazing crew.

So you and your husband make a great team – is it a balancing act raising two kids alongside running a successful business?
Every marriage is one partner supporting the other. He helps me and I help him. I’m very lucky.

Do you go into the Luna by Lisa office a lot?
I’m constantly in between two places. I can do my blog stuff from home, then I can pop over to the Luna office because it’s only ten minutes from me. But a lot of my work is behind the scenes, I put a lot of my time into product development, everything else comes after that.

How did the idea for Luna by Lisa first come about? Was it a dream of yours to have a beauty brand?
From a young age. One of my old business teachers in school recently told her students that I handed up a business paper back when I was in 5th year saying: “Even if I fail, it’s okay, I know I’m going to have a beauty brand someday.”And I’m a beauty therapist by trade so I have the knowledge, having worked as a makeup artist and a beautician. When it came to the brand I thought to myself, “There’s always room for an in-between beauty brand, at an affordable price.” Not everyone can afford a pricey lipstick, so I thought, “This is going to be an affordable brand.” It’s going to be easily available in your local pharmacy, wherever you are in Ireland it can be got. That’s what I wanted.

And could you ever have dreamed that you would be where you are now ten years ago?
No! [laughs].

You seem like such a hustler, perhaps you always were, but it must be hard to believe the success, even with all the grafting and work that goes into it.
For me, I take it day by day. I don’t sit back and go “Look what I have.” I’m happy, shocked and amazed at what I’ve achieved in the past six years. My dad was quite a successful businessman when he was alive. He was an entrepreneur and it’s amazing to follow in those footsteps. It does always make me think, if he could see me now.

We are sure he would be so proud. Let’s talk about life outside the business. Is minding yourself so that you can stay on top of everything very important?
I’ve always been a very energetic person. But family life really mellows me, and when I switch off from social media I get very relaxed around my husband and kids. I chill, they’re my safe haven, my family brings me back to ‘the real world’ as they say and keeps me straight.

You share such sweet moments with your kids online. If they turned around and said “I don’t want my pictures online anymore” would you be okay with that?
I think everyone is guilty of having their kids online, whether it be a profile picture on Facebook or just an upload to Instagram, everyone does it. I have definitely reined it in slightly lately. If Pearl gets a little bit older and if she isn’t bothered or doesn’t want to be in my stories on Instagram then that’s it, she won’t be on it. Whatever she wants is what I’ll do. For now I suppose, nobody knows what the future holds but we’re all on the same wavelength. Will I be blogging in three or four years time? Nobody knows. So I take every day as it comes.

You’re definitely not taking anything for granted.
No, no not at all! Blogging is very popular now, but that could change in 12 months time. I’m not sitting here thinking that this is the way it’s going to be for the next decade. I’m just saying this is how it is right now and I’m going to enjoy it.

That’s so wise. We’re thinking of new app Tik Tok which is the most downloaded app in 2019. If you look at the stats you can see other social media apps are losing their influence.
I’m actually on Tik Tok, I’m not good at it. I’m absolutely brutal [laughs] but it’s just that I don’t have the time right now for making content on there. It’s a very creative platform. The way I look at it, there’s always going to be a new thing, there’s always change with a new generation.

You were saying during our shoot that it’s so nice to be in Cork. When it comes to the media industry, a lot can be very Dublin- focused. Is shining a light on another part of the country and promoting Cork and what it has to offer important to you?
Absolutely. Cork is amazing. Over the past couple of years it was something that I found challenging. I might miss out on an event with a brand as I wasn’t in the immediate Dublin area and I think nowadays that’s totally changed. There are a lot of brands doing events in Cork now and in other counties outside Dublin. Obviously, logistically it makes sense to have some big events in Dublin but it’s also nice to highlight other areas. Cork is such a beautiful place too, I would never leave here, I love it, I’m a pure Cork girl.

And for you, who do you look to in Ireland to inspire you in business?
Suzanne Jackson is at the top of the list. Ciaran Walsh, my business partner is another person, he does a lot of behind-the-scenes, he has multiple brands and is an amazing person. In terms of blogging, Pippa O’Connor is very inspiring to me. She’s built an amazing brand for herself and everything about her is just fabulous.

What’s the best bit of business advice you think you’ve ever received?
I think what I’ve learned is that if you have a business, the customer service is what makes it. It’s how you interact. When customers have queries, you give them the best service possible and you’ll see that they repurchase when you build that bond. When I can interact with someone and message them about the brand, it seems to grow that bit more.

Another woman we admire like yourself is Karen Koster who made a documentary last year on trying to manage everything and the “mummy guilt.” that comes with it. Do you suffer from mummy guilt?
I remember when I had just had Pearl, I wouldn’t leave her at all. Now that I have two, I’ve realised it’s important for me to take occasional breaks especially when I have them during my working hours. I’m a full- time mom so when I go away I really miss them but I don’t have too much guilt. If I feel anxious, they make me feel better and everything I do, I do for them.

So for women who might be reading this who have similar busy lives, what would your advice be for days that they might feel overwhelmed?
You know, I think because I’ve suffered horrific pain and loss: I’ve lost my father John and my brother Alan, and then last year I lost my grandmother and my godfather. So I can’t let small, silly things get me off form. I’ve been through the worst if that makes sense. So these others things don’t stress me as much anymore, I know what it is to be in a worse situation. I would say try to be a little bit positive when something is going on. For me, I’m like “Well look, my kids are healthy. I have a roof over my head.” So when I do get anxious, and have days when I’m crying and upset, I just stop and think “You’ve been through worse. You can do this.”

We all must endure pain but it does mean we know how good the good times are.
Yes. Pain is relative depending on the person. Think of the positives and get out of that frame of mind and speak to someone. It’s very important to speak to someone.

Back to your mum. What lessons has she taught you for navigating all the twists and turns of life?
She is a very big inspiration to me, her life has been tough. She’s been through the same things as me, always kept us happy and tried her best to put on a brave face so I think I’ve learned a lot from her. She’s a very strong person and has taught me everything I know. She’s sculpted me well.