Emily Weiss (born March 22, 1985) is the Founder and CEO of the cosmetics company Glossier and the blog Into the Gloss. She was raised in Wilton, Connecticut. Her father worked as an executive at Pitney Bowes and her mother stayed at home.
Raised in Connecticut, Weiss still vividly recalls the first day she showed up for school at her “conservative” public middle school at age 10. “I showed up in thigh-high stockings, a plaid miniskirt from Contempo Casuals and loafers, and I had a feather-topped pen. The entire “Clueless” look,” she said. Her growing interest in fashion led her to New York, where she attended New York University as a studio art major but spent the majority of her time interning at Teen Vogue from her sophomore to senior years.
In high school, Weiss interned at Ralph Lauren for two summers and briefly had a modeling career. While interning at Teen Vogue in college, she appeared on The Hills on a three-episode arc with Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port.
Emily Weiss graduated from New York University in 2007 with a degree in studio art. After graduation, Weiss worked as a fashion assistant at W magazine but quickly decided that she preferred a more hands-on role in styling photoshoots. She assisted Elissa Santisi, a style director at American Vogue who subsequently became a freelance stylist, for two and a half years.
Weiss launched Into the Gloss, a blog featuring predominantly interviews with women, in September 2010. 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. 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. Previous interviews include Jenna Lyons and Karlie Kloss. By early 2012, the site had more than 200,000 unique visitors per month. By May 2016, the site garnered 1.3 million visitors. 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 business ventures full-time.
Glossier Inc is the digital-first beauty company that’s changing how the world sees beauty. Founded in 2014, Glossier is the pioneer of a “skin first, makeup second” beauty philosophy that celebrates individual freedom and choice. Emily is deeply involved in developing the physical, digital and offline experiences that spark conversation and foster connection for millions of Glossier customers and community members. Glossier’s modern essentials spanning skincare, makeup, body and fragrance are available in seven countries through Glossier.com. The company has more than 200 employees and $186 million in venture funding.
