Infamously known for their “no makeup makeup” products, skincare-first focus, and “your skin but better” goals, Glossier has been a starring character in the beauty movie since their launch. Just look at the brand's revenue: Glossier closed 2023 with nearly $300M in retail sales and is poised for even more growth in 2024. So whenever you’re in the market for your next “#ItGirl” product, just head on over to Glossier.com!
In Episode 119 of Earned, Conor sits down with Kyle Leahy, CEO of Glossier—a multigenerational makeup and skincare company founded in 2014 by Emily Weiss.
To start, we dive into Kyle’s philosophy to “work hard and be nice to people,” which has guided her through not only her professional career, but her personal life as well. With Glossier closing in on $300M in retail sales, we learn about the strategy behind the rapid growth that has led to the brand’s massive comeback success. Next we explore how Kyle works with Emily Weiss (Glossier’s founder) to propel the company forward, chasing their 100-year trajectory of being a “generation-defining” brand. Kyle speaks to Glossier’s entirely female executive team and how proud she is to work with such accomplished and driven women with notable experiences at companies such as Conde Nast, L’Oreal, Stripe, Snapped, and Chanel. We discuss what makes Glossier uniquely Glossier, and Kyle shares that the idea of continuity for the brand is what excites her the most.
By keeping strategy at the forefront of everything they do, Kyle describes the brand’s employees as a “mosaic of talent” who are empowered to “run in the same direction, to the same north star.” We learn about how Glossier has worked to genuinely meet their community where they’re at, generating immense success with creators. Between growing up on Instagram, their 2.7 billion mentions of “#glossier,” and viral moments on TikTok, Kyle walks us through how Glossier built the muscle to react and respond, organically. Kyle then lets us in on Glossier’s intentions behind the brand’s recent entrance to beauty retail giant Sephora. To close the show, Kyle shares how, as a mom, unique experiences fill her cup while she works to build a world that her little ones will enjoy.
We’ve included a couple of highlights from the episode below, but be sure to check out the full video above, or tune into the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen!
The following interview has been lightly edited for concision.
“We started by asking ourselves what is our superpower, and what makes Glossier uniquely Glossier”: How Kyle Leahy Simplified Glossier’s Superpower
Conor Begley: For people that are coming into a situation where you really are trying to rebuild momentum, what is unique about that? What's the approach for that specifically that you found that works so well?
Kyle Leahy: I think for us, we did a lot of soul searching around, like, how do we propel? We have an unequivocal belief that this brand has had such an impact on the beauty industry, such an impact on culture, and such an impact on retail that was so disruptive 10 years ago. We did a lot of centering around, “Well, what's our strategy going to be going forward?” We started by asking ourselves what is our superpower and what makes Glossier uniquely Glossier? What is the power in this brand, and how do we use that to propel forward? Through that kind of grounding work, we decided our superpower is that Glossier is a community-driven beauty brand. One that is driven by products and experiences that resonates across generations. With this community, with that lens and really centering on that, we’re saying that we're not a DTC company. That's not the value proposition. That's not why customers are coming to Glossier. It is a channel that we connect with customers, but channels of all the customers of all the markets evolve and brands endure. We're also not a technology company. We use technology to connect with our community, but it's a means to our end. It's not our end.
“I think this brand is so unique, and that we are multi-generational, and that we do continue to resonate with millennials”: Glossier’s Kyle Leahy on Authenticity and Becoming Multi-Generational
Conor Begley: You're saying all the right things. Be consistent in terms of approach and build from the ground up with your existing community. That's where authenticity exists. And then as you bring people in, foster more of an ecosystem around the brand where in some ways you're connecting them. I'm curious, you mentioned TikTok specifically and you guys are crushing it there. I mean, like 2 billion views on the Glossier hashtag. We're seeing it, your EMV's up over a hundred percent in TikTok. How is TikTok different? What are you doing with TikTok that's different from Instagram? Why do you think you're doing so well there right now?
Kyle Leahy: Yeah, it's actually 2.7 billion. So we're excited to see the momentum on #Glossier. But, we were born on Instagram. We're growing up on TikTok. Maybe, as far as what's exciting for us is that we actually continue to see success across both platforms.
I think this brand is so unique in that we are multi generational and that we do continue to resonate with millennials. Then we've made the jump to Gen Z, and even Gen Alpha. I think shared values allow us to connect multi-generationally. The most iconic and best brands achieve that. We're seeing 2000% growth on Instagram in our monthly followers, and the exponential growth on TikTok.
I think it's a signal of how we're resonating with Gen Z. That's obviously their platform of choice for how they're really engaging with brands and learning and doing their discovery. For me, I think it's also about mechanisms that Tiktok resonates with. It's so much about authenticity. It's not about being polished—it's about sharing your product reviews in a very authentic voice, And that really resonates with Glossier's brand. We grew up as an editorial brand from “Into the Gloss,” and so much messaging of “we are your beauty BFF.” That authenticity in how we create those stories and how we've always told those stories, but also how our community has told those stories, really resonated with the content.
Keep up with new episodes of Earned by following the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts, or subscribing to our YouTube channel. To catch up on our previous episodes, featuring leaders from brands like Revolve, K18, Instagram, and Roblox, visit our Earned Podcast page.