Emily Weiss (born March 22, 1985) is an American businesswoman. She is the founder and former CEO of the cosmetics company Glossier[1] and the blog Into the Gloss. She was featured in a Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2015.[2] In 2019, she was included in Time magazine's "Next 100".[3]
Emily Weiss | |
|---|---|
 Weiss in 2017 | |
| Born | Emily Weiss March 22, 1985 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | New York University |
| Occupation(s) | Founder, former CEO, and chairwoman of Glossier |
| Partner | Will Gaybrick |
| Children | 1 |
Early life
editEmily Weiss was raised in Wilton, Connecticut.[4] Her father worked for Pitney Bowes and her mother stayed at home.[4] In high school, Weiss interned at Ralph Lauren for two summers and briefly had a modeling career.[4][5] While interning at Teen Vogue in college, she appeared on The Hills on a three-episode arc with Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port.[6] Weiss graduated from New York University in 2007 with a degree in studio art.[5] She was a fashion assistant at W magazine and an on-set styling assistant for Vogue where she assisted Elissa Santisi.[4]
Career
editInto the Gloss
editWeiss launched Into the Gloss, a blog featuring predominantly interviews with women, in September 2010.[5] She stayed at her day job at Vogue and worked on Into the Gloss in the mornings between the hours of 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.[5] A popular series on the blog is Top Shelf, where subjects are interviewed in their bathrooms and photos of their shelves and medicine cabinets are featured. Interviewees included Jenna Lyons and Karlie Kloss.[4] By early 2012, the site had more than 200,000 unique visitors per month. By May 2016, the site had had 1.3 million visitors.[7] After Weiss reached 10 million page views per month and acquired corporate partnerships for the site and a small staff, she quit her job at Vogue to focus on her own business.[5]
Glossier
editIn 2014, Weiss started approaching venture capitalists with ideas for expansion, including a potential Into the Gloss-curated e-commerce platform.[5] Weiss eventually raised $2 million in seed funding, with the help of venture capitalist Kirsten Green, the founder of San Francisco-based Forerunner Ventures.[8] Weiss used this initial investment to hire a small team and launch Glossier.com.[5]
In October 2014, Weiss introduced Glossier's first four products on her Into the Gloss blog and announced the launch of Glossier.com.[5] According to Polina Marinova of Fortune, Weiss, "Quietly turned Glossier into one of the most disruptive brands in beauty."[9] She initially pitched the company to 12 firms, with 11 not interested.[10] In February 2018, Weiss released that Glossier had successfully raised an additional $52 million in a Series C round of funding.[11] In March 2019, Weiss announced that Glossier had officially raised $100 million in a Series D round of funding and was valued at $1.2 billion.[12][13]
In August 2020, Weiss and the company were accused of failing to support Black workers at the organization.[14] In May 2022, Weiss stepped down as CEO of Glossier, but stayed on its board as executive chairwoman. Kyle Leahy, Glossier's former chief commercial officer, took over as CEO.[15][16]
Personal life
editIn 2016, Weiss married photographer Diego Dueñas in the Bahamas. The union was short-lived.[7]
In 2020, Weiss became engaged to Will Gaybrick, a senior executive at Stripe.[17][18] The couple announced they were expecting a baby in June 2022.[19] On June 29, Emily posted on her Instagram announcing the birth of her daughter, Clara Lion Weissbrick.[20]
References
edit- ^ "A former assistant to Glossier founder Emily Weiss explains their 'intimate dynamic' and how tricky it was to build relationships with other staff". Business Insider. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
- ^ "Exclusive: Ex–Glossier employees describe a company that failed to support Black workers—even as it donated $1 million to racial justice causes". Fortune. August 18, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
- ^ "Time 100 Next 2019: Emily Weiss". Time. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Jacobs, Alexandra (March 10, 2015). "Emily Weiss: the Beauty Guru for Millennials". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Giacobbe, Alyssa (August 15, 2017). "How Glossier Hacked Social Media to Build A Cult-Like Following". Entrepreneur. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ "Fashion Stars You Completely Forgot Cameoed In 'The Hills'". Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ a b Meltzer, Marisa. "How Emily Weiss's Glossier Grew From Millennial Catnip to Billion-Dollar Juggernaut". Vanity Fair. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- ^ "Glossier founder Emily Weiss: 'Beauty has very little to do with looks'". the Guardian. December 29, 2019. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
- ^ "Term Sheet -- Wednesday, December 12". Fortune. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- ^ "Term Sheet: A Year of Mega-Deals", Fortune
- ^ Mandell, Janna. "Glossier Just Got $52 Million In Fresh Capital, Bringing Total Funding To $86 Million". Forbes. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ Roof, Katie; Chernova, Yuliya (March 19, 2019). "Glossier Tops Billion-Dollar Valuation With Latest Funding". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
- ^ Gross, Elana Lyn (March 19, 2019). "Glossier Raises $100M And Now Has A Billion-Dollar Valuation". Forbes.
- ^ "Ex–Glossier employees describe a company that failed to support Black workers—even as it donated $1 million to racial justice causes". August 18, 2020.
- ^ "Glossier CEO Emily Weiss Steps Down". The Business of Fashion. May 24, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
- ^ Gupta, Alisha Haridasani (May 26, 2022). "The Sunsetting of the Girlboss Is Nearly Complete". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 27, 2022.
- ^ Leskin, Paige (March 19, 2020). "Glossier founder Emily Weiss and Stripe executive Will Gaybrick are engaged. Here are 14 other power couples who rule the tech world". Business Insider. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
- ^ "Glossier Founder Emily Weiss Is Engaged: See Her Gorgeous Ring". People. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
- ^ "Adriana Lima is Currently Expecting Her Third Child and the Pregnancy Announcement is Everything". June 5, 2022.
- ^ "@emilyweiss on June 29th, 2022".
Further reading
edit- Meltzer, Marisa (2023). Glossy: Ambition, Beauty, and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss's Glossier. New York: One Signal Publishers. ISBN 978-1982190606.
External links
edit- Emily Weiss at Forbes 40 Under 40 Archived August 17, 2018, at the Wayback Machine