10 Things You Didn’t Know about Glossier CEO Emily Weiss

Emily Weiss is the founder of Glossier, which specializes in beauty products. Currently, she serves as its CEO, meaning that she continues to be responsible for its upward climb in the world of business. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Emily Weiss:

Learned the Value of Hard Work from Her Parents

Weiss has credited her parents with teaching her the value of hard work. Her mother had chosen to stay at home so that she could raise Weiss and her brother. Meanwhile, her father was a salesman at Pitney Bowes, having started out as a door-to-door salesmen before climbing up the ranks in spite of the fact that he had never graduated from college.

Interested in Beauty from a Young Age

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Weiss was interested in beauty from a young age. For example, she did some local modeling when she was still a teenager, which provided her with a fair amount of insight into the topic. Furthermore, she showed her interest in the subject through a variety of other means, which ranged from studying fashion to doing her friends’ makeup for them.

Interned at Ralph Lauren

When she was still a teenager, Weiss managed to get an internship at Ralph Lauren. This happened because she babysat for a neighbor who worked at Ralph Lauren before she used that connection to secure the internship. As a result, Weiss had spent two summers interning at Ralph Lauren before she headed to NYU.

Interned at Teen Vogue

Later, when she was at NYU, Weiss managed to secure an internship at Teen Vogue. That was how she appeared on The Hills, where she was depicted as a standard type-A personality serving as a contrast with the much more laid-back Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port. Some fans of The Hills might remember how Weiss got one over her fellow interns in one episode when she was invited to stay at a dinner that the three had set up while the other two interns were not.

Worked at Other Publications

After interning at Teen Vogue, Weiss went on to work at other publications such as W and Vogue. It was through her experience speaking with a wide range of women while working at these publications that inspired her to become a blogger, thus resulting in the creation of the blog called Into the Gloss.

Secured Lancôme As First Banner Ad

Once she started her blog, Weiss went on to secure Lancôme as the first banner ad for her blog. According to the person who was serving as the PR director at the time, Lancôme had been searching for a blogger to partner with but had no luck until Weiss pestered him into granting her an interview. During the interview, her blog proved to be the perfect match because of its conversational style as well as its excellent graphical design.

Had One Million Monthly Page Views in a Year

By the time that a year had passed, Weiss was getting a million page views on a monthly basis. As a result, she decided to quit her day job so that she could focus full-time on her blog. After all, her blog by that time had not just multiple partnerships with relevant corporations but actually had a small staff of its own.

Had Vague Ideas at First

Initially, Weiss didn’t have a clear idea of how she could further advance the ideals that she had espoused through her blog, which was combating the stigma of talking about beauty products based on a perception that their use was a self-admission of not being good enough. However, Weiss decided to approach a succession of venture capitalists anyways, who turned her down until she came upon Kirsten Green, who took a chance on her by providing her with $2 million in seed capital.

Talented at Handing the Right Responsibilities to the Right People

Green has stated that one of Weiss’s greatest assets has been entrusting the right responsibilities to the right people, which doesn’t happen as much as it should with entrepreneurs who tend to want too much control over their start-ups. For an example, Weiss used the seed capital to bring on a team including COO Henry Davis, who was charged with turning her ideas into actionable products.

Goes for a Lower Pricing

Weiss has stated that more expensive beauty products doesn’t necessarily mean better beauty products because that higher pricing is often a reflection of the prestige with which the brand is imbued. As a result, she has focused on products that suit her customers’ needs but are priced at something much closer to their manufacturing costs, thus making them that much more affordable to interested individuals.