See Glossier founder Emily Weiss's wild ride from Teen Vogue 'super intern' to head of the billion-dollar beauty brand — and what's next now that she's no longer CEO

Weiss moved to New York at 18 to study at New York University, majoring in studio art. It was at this point that she made her first foray into the fashion and beauty realm by taking up a three-day-a-week internship at Teen Vogue during her studies.

She was referred to as the "Super Intern" at Teen Vogue in the series. 

Source: Fashionista

"I was surrounded by so much magic … All these models and makeup [artists]," she said in an interview with Fashionista in 2015.

"That was the inspiration for Into the Gloss, wanting to know more about these women who were so cool and interesting for all these different reasons."

"There's this yearning to connect with other women," she told Insider in 2016.

These followers commented on posts to share their experiences with various products and make suggestions to other readers.

She asked Nick Axelrod, a friend who had also worked in publishing, to become the editorial director.

As the blog scaled up, they started posting three to four times a day.

In 2013, the company raised $2 million in venture capital funding. At the time, Weiss said the funding would be put toward eight to 10 new hires across editorial, tech, and design. 

Weiss teased the new brand on Instagram about four weeks before launch. Within the first week of selling the new products, she had more than 18,000 followers.

A month after launching, Glossier raised an additional $8.4 million in venture capital funding. 

"Brand is really, really important. It's kind of everything," she told Insider in 2016.

Glossier has always been known for its signature pink hue, playful marketing voice, and images of diverse women with minimal makeup. 

The product team previously depended on the user community and feedback to innovate and iterate. 

It opened two stores: a showroom in New York, which transitioned into a permanent flagship store, and a store in Los Angeles.

At this point, it was selling one of its Boy Brow eyebrow shapers every 32 seconds. This was one of its best-selling products.

Throughout 2019, Glossier expanded its retail presence by opening pop-up locations in major cities around the US, including inside a selection of Nordstrom stores.

Store associates, known as showroom editors, wondered around in signature pink boiler suits.

Workers started to speak out about working conditions at the company toward the back end of the year.

In an open letter posted on Medium in August 2020, a group of former store workers said that managers had done little to intervene when they reported racially charged incidents with customers.

This echoed conversations Insider had with another group of former Glossier retail workers, who said that employees of color were often discriminated against by managers and customers.

These comments came out in the wake of the George Floyd shooting after Glossier announced that it stood in solidarity against systemic racism. Other startups such as Everlane, Away, and Reformation faced similar claims of problematic work cultures at that time. 

Glossier later apologized.

These products were a departure from its neutral core collection and didn't resonate with customers, who were largely upset about them not being environmentally friendly because of the packaging they were sent out in.

In the background, several execs were worried that the company had lost its way and wasn't focused on its core business of beauty.

Between 2018 and 2021, Weiss was reportedly set on building a digital social-media platform – similar to Instagram or Facebook, where customers could shop and chat with one another. 

At this point, 80 corporate employees, largely from its tech team, were laid off.

Weiss stepped down as CEO in May to become executive chairwoman. Kyle Leahy, formerly the chief commercial officer of Glossier, took on the role of CEO.

"The top three things people were asking us for, loud and clear, were, 'Why aren't you available in Ulta or Sephora? 'Why don't you ship to my country?' and 'Can you please make new products?'" she told The Times. 

"We started as a millennial brand," Leahy told The Times. "We were founded as a direct-to-consumer business. We are beyond that. We are bigger than that because we can now resonate with Gen Z."

Glossier now has 10 stores around the US and in London. Its New York flagship opened in Soho earlier this month.