From Bathroom Cabinets to Billion-Dollar Brilliance: The Rise of Emily Weiss

She didn’t start with a boardroom or a product.She started with a question.

In 2010, Emily Weiss launched a beauty blog called Into the Gloss. At the time, she was an assistant at Vogue, hustling behind the scenes of high fashion, but craving something more real—more raw. Every morning before work, she’d wake up early to interview models, artists, executives—real women—about their skincare routines.

Not the glossy magazine versions. The true stories. The messy vanities. The products they couldn’t live without. And slowly, something bigger started to take shape.

“I realized beauty wasn’t top-down anymore—it was side-by-side. Women weren’t waiting for brands to tell them what to wear. They were creating their own narratives,” Emily once shared.

The spark? It wasn’t strategy. It was listening.

A Brand That Didn’t Exist—So She Created It

As Into the Gloss grew into a cult blog, Emily kept hearing the same thing from her audience: the beauty products on the market didn’t reflect how women actually lived. They were too complicated, too intimidating, too disconnected.

In 2014, she took a leap. With no formal business background and zero products on the shelves, she raised $2 million in seed funding and launched Glossier—with just four items.

The bet? That a community-first, digitally-native beauty brand could challenge the giants.

And it did.

Glossier wasn’t just another beauty brand—it was a movement. Built on millennial pink, minimalist packaging, and community-generated content, it felt like a best friend in a world of beauty gatekeepers. Customers weren’t just buyers; they were collaborators. They tagged their routines, shared feedback, and helped shape future products.

Emily didn’t just sell skincare. She built a culture.

The Glow—and the Growing Pains

By 2019, Glossier had become a unicorn—valued at $1.2 billion, with investors lining up to be part of the revolution. Stores in New York and LA were packed with pink jumpsuit-clad reps, mirrors for selfies, and long lines that wrapped around blocks. The brand had achieved what many couldn’t: a loyal, global audience that felt seen.

But success came with shadows.

In 2020, during a national reckoning on race and workplace equity, former employees began sharing stories of exclusion within the company. The same brand that celebrated all voices had, internally, silenced some. Emily listened. She publicly apologized, began restructuring the team, and committed to internal transformation.

It was humbling. It was public. It was real.

“Building a business is messy. Growth is not linear. But that doesn’t mean we stop showing up and trying to be better.”

The Reinvention of a Founder

In 2022, Emily made another bold move: she stepped down as CEO, handing the reins to Kyle Leahy while remaining as Executive Chairwoman. It wasn’t a retreat—it was evolution.

She’d taken Glossier from a blog to a billion-dollar beauty empire, and now she was making space for the next chapter.

Because true leadership isn’t about holding the mic forever—it’s about knowing when to pass it on.

A Question for You

Emily’s story isn’t just about beauty products or viral marketing. It’s about being brave enough to ask the questions others aren’t asking—and bold enough to build what doesn’t yet exist.

So, now it’s your turn:

What story are you listening to—and what are you brave enough to create from it?

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