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Our Founder

Early inspiration

“Just follow what I am doing Janice

were the words James Lord uttered to his three-year-old daughter, as he tended his beloved vegetable garden. She became his shadow, in awe of the magic of watching tiny fronds transform into the sweetest peas she picked and ate when she thought no-one was looking.

During these pre-war years, Jan had found her happy place in the world, her inspiration. Her love of nature and all that it bestows on health and wellbeing has been the mainstay of Jan’s life work.

The power of all things natural

“Janice, you are not eating properly”

Were the words Thelma Lord used to admonish her daughter, then in her late 20’s and mother to 18-month-old twins and a newborn. Jan had collapsed with exhaustion. Her focus had been on her children and as a result, her hair was thinning and resilience low. Changes needed to be made and heeding her mother’s advice she included more fresh fruit and vegetables in her meals.

The transformative changes in her energy levels and health reconnected Janice with her love of plants, and with that, her curiosity spiked around how nutrition from plants benefits well-being.

A thirst for knowledge

“Well, I am sorry that you cannot do this course, Janice, because we don’t accept students at 34 years of age”

Jan was undeterred,

“What if I just sit in on lectures?

Her persistence paid off.

“Well…., if you sit at the back of the class.”

Jan’s insatiable quest for knowledge won her a seat in lectures at the Adelaide University Medical School, alongside studying Swedish body and facial massage techniques, plus late-night study with correspondence courses from New Zealand College of Herbal Studies.

Jan found her own path by necessity because courses for Naturopathy and Beauty Therapy did not exist in South Australia in the 1960s.

Inspiring others

“You need to get recognition for all your knowledge”

was stated to her years later by industry peers. Eventually, Jan was recognised retrospectively through a Naturopathic association in NSW. By that time Jan had been a practicing nutritionist and skin health therapist for 15 years, and her depth of knowledge was far beyond the qualifying standards.

The seemingly less tangible connection between nutrition and skin health was one that Jan believed in with conviction. All through her professional career, she was blurring the lines between the roles of skin therapist and Naturopath. Unconventional at the time, but recognised through invitations to lecture at international conferences in Europe.

Setting new standards

“Jan we want to know what you know, can you teach us?”

Jan had been asked this many times by clients inspired by the results they were experiencing.

Stepping into the role of educator in the 1970’s, was a natural path for Jan. Her school was unique, teaching nutrition and natural therapies alongside beauty trade skills. As result, her school received international accreditation. This flowed through to Jan becoming an examiner for CIDESCO in the Asian region.

Realising a dream

Over a further 10 year period of being an educator and clinician, Jan knew that she wanted to bring the benefit of her knowledge to more people by building a link between organic farming methods and nutrition for the skin.

The logical next step was to create her own skin-caring range of products and so she closed her school, downsized her clinic, bought a beautiful little farm to grow her herbs, and founded Janesce in 1986. Formulating her own products was not planned, but fate gave Jan that opportunity and like all challenges, she embraced it and set her on a new path of learning in her 50’s.

Living legend

Now in the 21st century, Jan’s pioneering approach to building the link between skin health and nutrition is embraced wholly both in concept and in practice by many. The value of organic principles is now revered, and sought after, driven by a real understanding of the benefit it brings to the health of ourselves and our precious planet.

Janesce embodies this vision that Jan had in those early years, and with that comes a depth of knowledge gleaned from many years Jan spent as a practicing clinician.

Sometimes it takes a lifetime to create something special.