Photo via Julep
After a quick chat with Julep's founder, Jane Park, I found myself seriously questioning my personal competence, and reconsidering my life plans. Park left her job as an executive at Starbucks to launch her own business, which originated as a franchise of four nail salons in Seattle. Park says she was inspired to create a space for women to congregate with their friends, after being hushed at a beauty parlor for being too rowdy with her girlfriends. Perhaps most impressively, Park set out with a lofty goal: creating a business that provided health benefits for all of its workers, including all of its nail technicians, who rarely receive them. This is hardly surprising considering Park's background: the incredibly humble and approachable CEO is both a Princeton and Yale alum, whose studies focused on issues that impact women.
After finding success with the nail salons, the Julep team began developing their own products, which lead to the launch of their high-profile e-commerce website, as well as a monthly nail-polish subscription program. While I was familiar with Julep as a nail polish brand, and already have a couple of bottles in my arsenal, I was equally impressed by their other beauty products. The hand creams are lush, the cleansing oil works wonders, and the naturally exfoliating Konjac Cleansing Sponge is addictive to use.
The Julep pop up is located at 102 5th Avenue between 15th and 16th, and is open from 10-8pm every day until December 22nd.
-Tiffany