Fashion entrepreneur and social media influencer, Lisa McGowan paid herself €1.29m in pay and pension payments in 2023.
New accounts filed by Ms McGowan's Lisa’s Lust List Ltd show that last year, Ms McGowan received €949,575 in pay and her package also included €342,001 in pension contributions bringing it to the €1.29m total.
Ms McGowan is the firm’s only director and the bumper payout for 2023 follows Ms McGowan receiving €939,024 in pay from the firm in 2022.
At the end of December last, the company was sitting on accumulated profits of €1.19m.
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 51 year old only incorporated Lisa’s Lust List Ltd in November 2017.
The business has expanded in the past year with Ms McGowan now selling clothes, accessories and beauty products on her lisaslustlist.ie website under her 'Lisa & Co’ brand.
Ms McGowan also set up a new company, Jentro Ltd, last year as her online business continues to flourish.
The pay to fashion blogger, Ms McGowan, contributed to Lisa’s Lust List Ltd recording a modest loss of €27,240 for 2023 and this followed the firm recording a post tax loss of €22,246 in 2022.
Ms McGowan’s commercial success was recognised in the year under review after she made the IMAGE PwC Entrepreneur of The Year Shortlist 2023.
Despite the large hike in the pay package to Ms McGowan for 2023, the cash pile at her firm increased from €1.19m to €1.31m last year.
The firm employed two people last year including Ms McGowan and the total paid out in salaries amounted to €969,575.
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 177,000 followers - an overall 395,000 followers on the two social media platforms.
The business woman’s website states that 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."
In August 2020, Ms McGowan secured High Court orders requiring Facebook to provide her with information to identify anonymous people she claimed were trolling, defaming and stalking her online.
Ms McGowan stated that 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.
- reporting Gordon Deegan
