Emily Weiss founded Glossier, a beauty company that seeks to “celebrate real girls, in real life.
Weiss grew up in Connecticut to hardworking parents. Her dad “lived the American dream” — he didn’t graduate college, created his own business cards, and worked his way up. Her mom was a stay-at-home mother to raise the family. She learned the value of hard work from her parents and carried it on throughout her life.
She interned at Ralph Lauren for 2 years before she enrolled at NYU. While there, through various connections, she interned at Teen Vogue. Graduating in 2007 with a degree in studio art, she rose to more fame as she worked at W and Vogue. She later decided to start her blog: Into the Gloss.
Determined, Weiss won over the heart of the PR director at Lancome, a major beauty company, who agreed to advertise her blog. Weiss kept her day job but continued to work hard on her blog. Her blog posts included background stories from celebrities and models who were struggling with acne and the like. Although she had amassed a large following, she decided to launch her own makeup brand. The problem, she found out, was that there were products that weren’t working for many women.
Eventually, Emily Weiss landed a partnership with a company that helped her start up a business. Launching a product line, she and her small team quickly received loads of attention. They then turned to Instagram to find out what their consumers wanted. Glossier asks their customers, listens, and develops a new product in response to their customers.
(Because it won’t let me upload, here’s an image I would have uploaded here):
I think that Emily Weiss is an inspiring entrepreneur. She was working at prestigious companies, but she still wanted to make a difference for women around the world by launching products that would actually work. Although she had no business knowledge and pitched to 10 different companies without a business, she had a strong desire to deliver what women wanted in beauty products. She listens to her customers and delivers what they want. It’s said that she responds to every DM on Instagram that she receives. Emily Weiss is the epitome of a true businesswoman by putting her customers first.
Staying connected to your customer base and delivering what they need is really important for any business. I wonder why other makeup businesses had not stayed relevant and up to date with customers and their needs in this field. Was this market a market which had been left behind, or one that had never been addressed before which Emily saw and took advantage of?
To answer your question, I think it’s both. I think beauty companies were aiming to create products that they thought would be beneficial, but they didn’t think to listen to their customers. Emily, on the other hand, saw value in listening to her customers and creating products for them.
I have heard a lot of great things about Glossier. I really admire Emily for her persistence to deliver a product that was needed in the market. It seems as though she always puts the needs and wants of the customers above her own executive decisions, which is an important quality to have as a successful entrepreneur.
This is such a cool story of the importance of being connected and networking within the field you are interested in. Emily’s experience at Vogue and Ralph Lauren was extremely helpful in making connections, but also in knowing her customers. It is also really cool that she continued to develop that customer base and really values what their thoughts were. I would be curious to know what are some of the differentiating factors of her makeup? Or is the differentiation in how she relates to customers?