Fashion blogger Lisa McGowan paid herself €940,000 for 2022

Tullamore woman started her online promotional work after she won the best-dressed lady competition at the Galway Races in 2016

The Tullamore woman is an insurance broker by profession.

Fashion entrepreneur and social media influencer Lisa McGowan paid herself just under €940,000 in 2022.

New accounts filed by Ms McGowan’s Lisa’s Lust List Ltd show that last year, Ms McGowan received €939,024 in pay.

The pay to Ms McGowan for 2022 works out at average weekly pay of just over €18,000 before tax.

Ms McGowan is the firm’s only director and the bumper payout follows Ms McGowan receiving zero director’s pay in 2021.

At the end of December last, the company was sitting on accumulated profits of €1.22m.

The pay to fashion blogger Ms McGowan contributed to the company recording a modest loss of €22,246 for 2022 and this followed the firm recording post-tax profits of €603,912 in 2021 and €397,966 recorded in 2020.

The strong profits of 2021 and 2020 followed profits of €127,692 in 2019 and profits of €115,668 in 2018.

Ms McGowan, from Tullamore, Co Offaly, only started her online promotional work after she won the best-dressed lady competition at the Galway Races in 2016.

An insurance broker by profession in the family firm, the 50-year-old only incorporated Lisa’s Lust List Ltd in November 2017.

Entrepreneur of The Year shortlist

Ms McGowan’s commercial success has been recognised after she made the Image PwC Entrepreneur of The Year shortlist 2023, with the winner to be revealed at an awards ceremony in Dublin on Friday evening.

The director’s pay also contributed to a reduction in the company’s cash funds last year, as funds reduced by €147,797 from €1.339m to €1.191m.

The firm employed two people last year including Ms McGowan and the total paid out in salaries amounted to €986,067.

Ms McGowan’s Lisa’s Lust List site specialises in promoting products including fashion items, beauty, health, travel and homeware, mainly produced by Irish-based small- to medium-sized enterprises.

The fashion blogger’s Lisa’s Lust List Facebook page has 218,000 followers while her Lisa’s Lust List on Instagram has 166,000 followers — an overall 384,000 followers on the two social media platforms.

The business woman’s website says her online stories “are full of ‘lustworthy fashion’ and beauty finds which she has sourced herself or from her many collaborations with boutiques and stores nationwide and beyond”. 

The stellar performance by the firm last year followed Ms McGowan securing High Court orders in August 2020 requiring Facebook to provide her with information to identify anonymous people she claimed were trolling, defaming and stalking her online.

Ms McGowan said in the weeks preceding the High Court action she and members of her family were subjected to online bullying, trolling and harassment.

The publication of the comments, she claimed, was “designed solely to inflict reputation and financial damage” on her and her firm.