78 Time November 25, 2019
REVOLUTIONIZING
BEAUTY
EMILY WEISS| 34
By Alexis Ohanian
I first learned about Emily Weiss
and Glossier from the forum
r/skincareaddiction on Reddit. I remember
being floored by how fanatical these
Redditors were—not only about Glossier
and its products, but about Emily. These
people felt connected to her as if they knew
her personally.
Emily is proof that you don’t need to
have gone to business school to understand
the fundamentals of community. She
studied art in college and approached
building a beauty brand with fresh eyes,
and in doing so revolutionized product
development, digital sales and the
in-store experience.
Although my investment firm,
Initialized, is not one of Glossier’s
investors, Emily’s ability to build such
a fervent customer base is the kind of
community-building we search for every
day. The Glossier community has inspired
creative fan accounts and online micro-
communities. The company sells only a
few dozen products, yet its stores regularly
have lines around the block. And interest
in the brand seems to be increasing:
searches for “Glossier” have increased by
more than 38% in the past year, according
to Spate, a consumer insights platform.
From reinventing the makeup counter
to canonizing the #shelfie, Emily has
helped a generation of consumers feel good
about themselves—something the beauty
industry has historically failed to do. She
teaches us all that a relentless focus on
community is what matters when it comes
to building a best-in-class brand.
Ohanian is a co-founder of Reddit, as well
as a co-founder and a managing partner of
Initialized Capital