Assembly Label's Joe Lennox on the Essential Quality of Empathy in Retail

As is so often the way with bright, young spirits in molasses-paced towns, Lennox and his friends yearned for experiences beyond his regional backyard. Sydney – eight hours away by train and full of limitless, unknown potential – seemed like the right place to start. “We didn’t know what we were going to do, or what was planned, but we kind of just wanted to come and have our own adventure,” he explains. “My best friend moved with me – a month after I did – and so we’ve kind of created our Sydney life together, if that makes sense … we’ve really just taken Sydney by storm, from the country.”

To clarify, taking the city by storm is not hyperbolic – Lennox has a monthly gig at the Bank Hotel in Newtown as drag queen Amber Rosé. “My ex-partner was having a drag birthday,” he explains of the persona’s genesis. Lennox describes asking a friend (who was also a drag queen) to apply makeup to one half of his face, and he would replicate on the other side. “I put [my best friend, Ben] in drag for the first time, and as soon as we did, we were just like, ‘Oh my god’. It was so exciting.” What started out as a hosting opportunity for the pair soon turned into full-blown acts. Lennox recalls at the conclusion of their first performance a massive glitter cannon exploded behind them, drenching them and the crowd in glittering, metallic confetti. “It was the most amazing, surreal experience ever.”

Like many who take naturally to the stage, Lennox has a gift for reading and recalibrating to whatever room or audience he finds himself in front of. Some would brand that charisma, but in his case it’s more akin to a seemingly endless capacity for empathy, which allows him to connect with others in a meaningful way. It comes as little surprise, then, to learn that when he’s not made-up in swathes of costuming and iridescent eyeshadow, Lennox has found his feet in a profession that requires full time customer service and care.

“I remember coming into [Assembly Label’s] store in Paddington, and I just had a really wholesome experience. I’d never been to a store that was so serene, the atmosphere was really just calming,” he recalls. “That put in the back of mind I was like “oh, this is somewhere that I feel that I’d really like to work.” A few months later a position became available at the store. “It literally felt like fate. I am a big believer in manifestation, and I feel like I definitely manifested coming to Assembly Label, just from that first experience.”

Though he is happy to be working in fashion each day, Lennox acknowledges that not each customer has the same sartorial needs. In fact, sometimes, their needs aren’t sartorial at all. “Every day when we have a new person coming in it’s really easy to use my power of empathy to understand what the person’s in here for,” he says. “And if they’re not even here to shop, but they’re here to have a chat or anything like that, I can easily open up and help them release, if that makes sense. Which also makes it a better shopping experience for them as well – I’m here whether they’re shopping, or they just need someone to chat to.”

The hits that hospitality and retail brands have taken due to COVID-19-induced lockdowns will continue to reveal themselves for years to come, yet despite the industry setbacks Lennox has maintained a characteristically hopeful attitude. “I think 2020’s been quite a ride. Luckily for me, I’ve actually had a really great experience – I got to go home to the country, and spent eight magical weeks with my family. I’ve got two nieces and three nephews, and that was eight weeks I got to be with them I wouldn’t normally be gifted.”

“I always look for the positives in every single thing,” he says of his eternally sunny outlook. “I spent too many years knowing people who are so down in the pits all the time. I always want to find the positive, even just to tell them something, just to help them spark up a bit.

“That’s my favourite thing. I like making people feel good, I think, because everyone deserves to.”