Glossier’s New CEO

Emily Weiss, Founder

To the Glossier Community:

Glossier was founded on a fundamental belief in people: to celebrate and to stand in awe of the power of every single individual to have a voice, to have unique gifts, and to share what makes them shine in community with others. 

I’ve had the privilege of not just being Glossier’s founder since 2014, but also its CEO—two roles that have brought me into communion with tens, hundreds, millions of the most inspiring people inside our company and around the world, building the foundations of this magical brand that has already, in a short time, changed a 100-year old industry by flipping the paradigm from beauty as a “final destination,” to beauty as a journey.

At the same time, I’ve always thought of these titles as unique from one another: A founder is a forever identity, one that starts with a kernel of an idea and never ends. I will always be Glossier’s founder. But a CEO is the champion that a company looks to, to lead it into tomorrow. From my observation, the greatest companies in the world understand this distinction and make sure that the CEO seat is always filled with the right person to take it where it needs to go for its brightest next chapter. 

Every year I reflect on Glossier, and specifically, the ever-evolving role of the CEO in our young company’s lifecycle. I check in and ask myself the same question: Am I the best person to lead the company, for where we are and where we’re headed? And if not, who is? This year, as has often been the case with some of our proudest and most pivotal moments at Glossier, a person inspired a new direction: her name is Kyle Leahy, and I’m thrilled to announce that she’s stepping up into the CEO role. 

Kyle and I met a year ago when we were looking for a Chief Commercial Officer; someone who could evolve how we meet the needs of our global audience, and satiate our brand demand (nearly 1 out of every 2 women in the U.S., ages 18-34, knows of Glossier). From the get-go Kyle understood that Glossier is in year 7 of a 100-year journey. We had long discussions about the evolution of our company strategy, anchored in our shared understanding that distribution channels change, history is cyclical, but iconic brands and products are forever. 

As the mother of two young children and as a woman, Kyle joined the team in 2021 because she wants Glossier to mean even more to future generations than it has to our initial 6 million customers. She brings both a deep appreciation of the power of timeless consumer brands and the proven experience of leading large, dynamic organizations through transformational moments. From building omnichannel marketplace strategy at Nike, to leading the reinvention and acceleration of Cole Haan, to driving digital innovation at American Express, Kyle has spent her career setting strategy and aligning operational execution to build enterprise value and maximize brand potential. Her balance of art and science, coupled with her huge heart (the world needs empathetic leadership now more than ever), will enable us to continue to invest in the products and experiences that will change how the world sees beauty for years to come.

As Kyle takes the helm day-to-day, I’m humbled and excited to step into the role of Executive Chairwoman, working closely with Kyle and our board on stewarding Glossier into 2025, 2030 and beyond. But the thing I will always be most passionate about is delivering value as a founder. With this CEO evolution, I’ll be able to focus more of my time as I did in the earlier days—supporting our brilliant leaders of creative, brand, product and retail, as they take our customer experience innovation to new heights. (A current labor of love, for me and for all of us: our New York flagship store design…yes, we're coming back to SoHo in early 2023!) 

Please join me in welcoming Kyle as the next CEO of Glossier. I’m beaming ear-to-ear writing these words; it’s with a great deal of peace in my heart and optimism for the future of this brand that is, truly, only in its infancy–and means so much to so many. As we like to say around here: #goteamgo.