Jenny Doan is an American

quilter Quilting is the process of joining a minimum of three layers of textile, fabric together either through stitching manually using a Sewing needle, needle and yarn, thread, or mechanically with a sewing machine or specialised longarm quilting ...

, author, and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

personality. She rose to prominence as the face of Missouri Star Quilt Company, the largest quilting supply vendor in the United States. Referred to as “The most famous quilter in the world,” her YouTube channel has surpassed over 210 million cumulative views, and she is regarded as a leading figure in the pre-cut quilting movement.

Career

Doan showed an interest in sewing from an early age, eventually learning to sew with the 4-H Club youth organization at the age of ten. She maintained her interest in sewing throughout her adolescence and carried that into adulthood, making costumes for the local theater group when she was a newlywed. In 2003, Doan took her first quilting class at the Grand River Technical School in

Chillicothe, Missouri Chillicothe is a city in the state of Missouri and the county seat of Livingston County, Missouri, Livingston County, Missouri, United States. The population was 9,107 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. The name "Chillicothe" is Shaw ...

. After the

2008 recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

cost Doan and her husband most of their savings, two of Doan’s children were looking for ways for their parents to bring in additional money. They bought Doan a long arm quilting machine and set up a small business for her to sew together other people’s quilts. Demand was high and customers wanted additional fabric, so her son set up a website to sell additional materials. Business was slow, however, and a year later, Doan’s children suggested that she record quilting tutorials on YouTube. The videos taught viewers to make a quilt in a day using pre-cut materials, something Missouri Star Quilt Company specialized in. The videos turned Doan into a quilting celebrity and led to an increase in sales. Doan is a regular feature in MSQC’s monthly quilting magazine, ''BLOCK'', hosts trunk shows weekly in Hamilton, and makes appearances at quilting and crafting events around the United States.

Personal life

Jenny Doan (''née'' Fish) was born on June 11, 1957, to Franke and Deannie Fish in

San Luis Obispo, California ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

. Her father was a chemist and her mother was a homemaker and genealogist. At age 10 her family moved to

Spreckels, California Spreckels is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California, United States. Spreckels is located south of Salinas, at an elevation of . Its population was 692 at the 2020 ce ...

, so her father could be closer to Salinas, where her father had a job with the Smucker jam company. She grew up in the

Salinas Valley The Salinas Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Salinas'') is one of the major valleys and most productive Agriculture, agricultural regions in California. It is located west of the San Joaquin Valley and south of San Francisco Bay and ...

and

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by about 75 miles (120 km), accessible via California S ...

area. In 1980, Jenny married Ronald Doan. The family remained in the Salinas area until 1995, when facing financial difficulties, Jenny and Ron decided to move to a more affordable area. Ron suggested moving to the Midwest, to which Jenny replied, “Where is that, exactly?” The family moved “sight unseen” to

Hamilton, Missouri Hamilton is a city in northern Caldwell County, Missouri, Caldwell County, Missouri, and is within the United States. The population was 1,690 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is known as the hometown of James Cash Penney, wh ...

, where Ron started working as a

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who operates machine tools, and has the ability to set up tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling machines. A competent machinist will generally have a strong mechan ...

with the ''

Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and a ...

'' and Jenny focused on taking care of the family.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doan, Jenny People from Hamilton, Missouri People from Caldwell County, Missouri American retail company founders Living people 1957 births American women company founders American company founders American quilters People from Chillicothe, Missouri American video artists American women video artists People from Salinas, California 21st-century American women YouTubers from Missouri YouTubers from California