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Jen Atkin Didn’t ‘Find’ Her Career—She Left Everything and Built It

January 16, 2026

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The latest Khloé in Wonder Land episode doesn’t treat Jen Atkin like a “guest” so much as a co-conspirator. She and host Khloé Kardashian’s history is the whole vibe—inside jokes, glam lore, and the kind of friendship where you can roast each other and still feel held.

But once the banter clears, Atkin gives a surprisingly clean timeline: a Mormon upbringing in Utah, a broke leap to L.A. with just $300 and a Honda Civic, an apprenticeship route to getting licensed, and the early career break that turned into nonstop travel and eventually a brand. The strongest moments aren’t the name-drops—they’re the little admissions about ambition, discipline, and what loss does to your nervous system.

How did a Mormon girl from Utah end up in California doing what you do?

“So I grew up very religious, but my parents were kind of cool. Like we’d watch SNL and South Park…I didn’t really drink until I was much older. It’s crazy. I didn’t drink in high school. No one partied. It was very like Ozzie and Harriet. Like, I don’t know, Little House on the Prairie. Like we did not party…I grew up kind of conservative…

…I left it at 19 to come to L.A. with my best friend. But when I think about it, it gave me such strong morals. I really grew up doing volunteer service. You’re constantly working on yourself and your goals, and you’re just trying to put good into the world. So I do appreciate that part of it. And I left the church, I left a boyfriend I was supposed to get married to, had $300 in a Honda Civic hatchback and came to L.A.. with my best friend. We slept on couches. And I worked at a salon, I knew I wanted to do something creative and I really like in high school would cut my own hair and cut my friend’s hair and I just didn’t even know it could like actually be a career, but I was like that’s the only thing I really know how to do.”

How did you even know you could do the things you do?

“Well, I wasn’t talented. I studied people. I sat there and watched every salon like. Haircutting and all the colors. I had to watch everybody to see how they work.”

You don’t have a license and I’ve let you cut my hair… right?

“I couldn’t afford hair school, so I did an apprenticeship program at an adult occupational center, in downtown L.A…It’s like you go there and get a license to be like a plumber, and they had a cosmetology program. So I would go and work in the salon 3 days a week. I would go to school the other days, and then I would work at night as a hostess at Luna Park…I got my license that way by apprenticing.”

What did your parents think about you leaving Utah and the church for ‘scary California’ and were they mad you left the church?

“I can’t believe they let me go…[and] yes, I mean, it’s a whole thing…The Mormon Church teaches you that if you’re not obedient and worthy of your temple recommend, which means– there’s a lot of rules that you will not live with your family for all time and eternity in the celestial kingdom. So there’s a little bit of pressure. They were scared for sure. I think they thought I was going to either be like a drug addict or a prostitute and they didn’t understand that the world isn’t as scary as we think it is…I think they were also really proud of me. I’ve always had a job. I’ve always had a purpose. I was always taught that the world didn’t owe me anything, that I needed to work for the things that I really wanted.”

What gave you the confidence to start your own hair product line?

“I think besides me…it was you [Khloé]. I was the hands and you were the loud mouth. That’s why I have a career. I feel like we were all just in this moment of Instagram just kind of peaking because I met you in 2012 and that’s when Instagram came out…I think that part of me felt like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve always loved marketing,’ like always. I’ve just been obsessed with the way that branding looks. I’m such a pop culture junkie that I remember what Hello Kitty made me feel like. I remember like the Gap back in the day. I remember just like, I loved branding…

…I don’t even know if I remember this, but I started thinking of the idea in 2014 when I was really working with you. I remember being on the phone pitching the idea of a digitally connected haircare brand and being told, ‘That’s a great idea. You’re not famous enough. Call us back in five years…’ And that really put fuel in my tank. I was like, ‘I’m gonna prove them wrong.’”

How did it feel to step away from full-time glam and start OUAI without leaving people hanging?

“It wasn’t even a breakup. It was just a moment like my business was starting to take off and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I need to, I can’t do it all…’ I remember feeling so guilty. I felt so much guilt for leaving this profession full time that had brought me so many blessings. And I was like, ‘How am I going to do this?’ And the crazy thing is, Khloé, it was the perfect time for me to step in and really nurture the brand to get it to work. And I had at the time 30 people who relied on me to not screw up and get canceled. They’re working really hard every day on this brand and I was like ‘I’ve got to do this.’ And I just felt in my heart it was the perfect timing.”

How did losing your home in the Palisades fire change you?

“That experience goes in the file of hard things that people go through….my dad dying, you know how horrible that is. I had a dog that we lost to a coyote tragically in front of me and that was just painful. I’m such a dog person…and losing the house has given me just like crazy empathy. It’s the only thing that I’ve gained from it is just empathy. Like I realized in that moment, it’s been 9 months and I feel like I’m just starting to feel my own loss and our own loss of our home because it’s been just such a heavy loss for everybody. I also in that moment felt so held by our friends and our community and our neighbors, and we all were checking on one another and my husband stayed behind with some of our neighbors to help evacuate, elderly people in our community. And you know…I went to work that day, texted Mike and said, hey, there’s some smoke near Topanga 10 a.m. Never thought 8 p.m. our house would be gone.

And I think if anything, I feel like the best thing you could do and the best thing I could do is tell people to be prepared. Like I had a firebox, we had a fire scare two months prior, so 3 a.m. our power went out. Mike and I went around the house and gathered a letter from my dad, my grandma’s jewelry, anything that mattered to us, we put it in this big box and so we had it ready to go.”

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What do you raise your kids with when you’ve got Mormon and Jewish in the mix?

“So, my husband is Jewish and I was raised Mormon. Neither of us are super practicing. He doesn’t go to temple. I don’t think that our kids, to be honest, I’m going to take him to the Church of Doctor Becky. Like I feel like we’re going to navigate this in the way that we’re breaking emotional and generational trauma as we’re not gentle parenting, right? But we’re like breaking a lot of the things that maybe we wish we wouldn’t have had passed on to us. And I think with religion, I kind of feel the same way. I want my kids to have a new version, a new form of spirituality, and I was just thinking about this last night. I actually grew up praying with my grandparents. Like they prayed together every night on their knees, every night and just prayed for family members, prayed for if they read in the news that there was like a fire or if there was like, you know, earthquake. And I remember growing up around that and feeling so protected by that ritual, and I think I want to start doing that with the kids. And if it’s not to like a certain God, it’s even just to the universe and like saying a prayer for people and I think it’ll teach them that we’re all just little ants on this planet.”

Tell me the last time you did something selfish just for fun

“I was in Paris recently. This never happens. I was by myself in Paris for OUAI. We did this huge activation, it was a dream come true. And I got like 4 hours to myself and I was supposed to do some work, but I was like, you know, LA’s asleep. I’m going to go and I went shopping and I just took myself on a little shopping spree and I went to The Row and I bought a bag and I had just like a fabulous afternoon. It was the best.”

To hear the full conversation, tune into Khloé in Wonder Land wherever you get your podcasts.

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