After eight years at the helm, Glossier founder Emily Weiss is no longer the company’s CEO. She announced the news via Instagram and a blog post on the brand’s site addressed to the Glossier community. In her lengthy letter, she shares why she made the decision to step down and introduces the new Chief Executive Officer, Kyle Leahy, who has served as Chief Compliance Officer of the brand since 2021.
In the blog post, Weiss writes about the responsibilities that come with acting as both a founder and CEO of a beauty brand, emphasizing how important but distinct both roles are. “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,” the letter reads. “But a CEO is the champion that a company looks to, to lead it into tomorrow.” Each year, she says, she reflected on the brand and the “ever-evolving role of the CEO.” During her check-ins, she always asked: “Am I the best person to lead the company, for where we are and where we’re headed? And if not, who is?”
Ultimately, Weiss felt Leahy would be a fit for the role because of her “huge heart” and prior experience with audience expansion. “From the get-go, Kyle understood that Glossier is in year seven of a 100-year journey,” the letter reads. “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.”
Though Weiss will no longer be Glossier’s CEO, she isn’t fully stepping away from the brand. She is transitioning into her new role as Executive Chairwoman, and will continue to work with both Leahy and Glossier’s board. “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,” she writes.
In addition to introducing the company’s new CEO, Weiss also shared that the brand’s New York City flagship store will re-open in 2023. It looks like Glossier is entering a new era, and we’ll be waiting to see what’s next for both Weiss and the brand.