Emily Weiss Steps Down as Glossier CEO
● The brand's founder is stepping down from the top slot, to stay on as executive chairwoman.
Emily Weiss is stepping down as Glossier's chief executive officer.
According to a blog post Weiss penned on Glossier's website, chief commercial officer Kyle Leahy will take the top slot, effective immediately. Weiss will stay on as executive chairwoman.
A spokesperson for the brand confirmed the shift, but declined to comment further.
"I will always be Glossier's founder. But a CEO is the champion that a company looks to, to lead it into tomorrow," the post read. "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."
Glossier emerged as the first major direct-to-consumer beauty brand, capturing Millennial minds with a minimalist aesthetic and no-makeup makeup products.
The company closed an $80 million funding round in 2021, bringing its total venture capital backing to more than $265 million. Then, WWD reported that Google searches for Glossier had declined more than 50 percent, according to Spate, while
Tribe Dynamics noted the brand's earned media value fell 45 percent. The company laid off a massive portion of its staff earlier this year, and has been focusing more on new store efforts.
From a sales perspective, during CEW's 2022 State of the Beauty Industry report, NPD Group vice president of beauty Larissa Jensen said that "insta-brands" — a brand type that includes Glossier, Jeffree Star and ColourPop — faced the steepest losses in 2021.
Weiss' blog post said almost half of women in the U.S., aged 18 to 34, had heard of the brand, and it has 6 million customers.