What was once a tiny and mighty beauty blog called Into The Gloss has become a bona fide NYC startup: Glossier, with a ragtag team of 35+ jogging up and down the stairwell of our Soho office building, spread out across three floors. Why are we here? We're creating a new kind of beauty company from the ground up—one that acknowledges the hopes, dreams, and desires of women today, and gives them the tools (both digitally and physically) to take ownership over their beauty routines. Who are we? Well, a lot of us began like you: as readers. And we'd like for you to get to know us a little better���what we each do, where we come from, and what we're excited about. Meet Claire:
'I started reading Into The Gloss really early, around the time when it first launched. I wasn’t ever a huge beauty person though—I had a pretty limited range of products when I was in college and growing up. I went through a huge Nars Pressed Powder phase, reapplying it all the time. I was still doing that when I came to work here and Tom was like, ‘Stop—you can wear other things.’
I think the interesting thing about beauty is that it's very universal in a way because everyone does something when they wake up in the morning. Whether they put on a full face of makeup or they're just washing their face. Whatever. Everyone is doing something to themselves. I think it’s easier to talk about beauty routines than it is to talk about something like fashion because it speaks to a larger group of people. At the same time, it’s still very personal—so it’s pretty cool day-to-day to be working at a place that has such a great community of readers and a team that makes talking about beauty feel good.”
What do you do for Glossier?
I'm the Managing Editor, which means I handle editorial operations and work on content strategy and new initiatives to help build out the Glossier world, especially from an editorial point of view. I'm definitely an ideas person, but what I like thinking about day to day is process and how to get more done as our team grows. And what I really like doing is making things successful, whether that's content, the company, or the people I work with. The nature of my job, and the fact that we've grown from around 12 people to almost 40 in the year that I've been here means I often wear a lot of hats.
Where are you from?
I grew up in St. Joseph, Michigan, a small town on Lake Michigan right across from Chicago.
Favorite ITG stories you've worked on:
I love that we reshot Sally Singer five years after her first Top Shelf. She was wearing the Gucci shoes that every fashion person just bought this fall, but that I still dream of. Then there were the 25 minutes with Tom, Gigi Hadid, and me that turned into her After Dark. Or the time this shoot came together really spontaneously and turned out to be an organic way of covering celebrity red carpet beauty. Then there was The Best Makeup For Brown Eyes—it was an idea of mine, but then the rest of our team really took it, ran with it, and came back with something better than what I had originally imagined.
Who cuts your hair?
Lately Jon Reyman from Spoke & Weal has been cutting my hair. He cuts it dry (more on that here) and he recently opened a salon conveniently located across the street from our office.
One beauty secret:
I didn't realize until recently that getting your hair highlighted can make a positive difference in the texture, especially if you have really silky hair. Now mine has more volume and is rougher in a good way, if that makes sense.
What was your last big purchase?
A plane ticket to Miami!
Go-to dinner date spots:
La Superior, Northeast Kingdom, Artichoke Pizza (lol), Minetta Tavern, Navy, Walter Foods, Freemans
If you had to wear one outfit for a week, what would it be?
These jeans and a comfy t-shirt
What's the best piece of professional advice you've ever received?
Learning when to be patient and when it's OK to be a little pushy
Favorite beauty products:
Essie polish in BBF, Vintner's Daughter Active Botanical Serum, and Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint.
—as told to ITG
Claire Knebl photographed by Tom Newton.
For more about the team, say hello to editors Emily Ferber and Tom Newton.
