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 Linda Bui:
'I actually didn't know there was a job opening at Glossier. I just connected with Emily Weiss on LinkedIn because I thought she was cool. As soon as we connected, she reached out to me—I don't know if there was a job description yet. I was working at Bumble and Bumble in Operations at the time, and when I told them what I did, we talked about me coming on board to manage timelines for product launches.
Working here is so different from anywhere I've worked before—my experience was in more corporate settings where another department does everything else. But here, you learn the jobs of 12 people. You touch a lot more of the process at a company like Glossier. And so you become very invested in the end result.”
Where are you from?
Dayton, OH (home of the Wright brothers)
What do you do at Glossier?
Product and Operations—I work with all physical products (new launches and current) and all the other little physical things (stickers, pink pouches, or anything else you get when you order). I work internally with Physical Product, Design and Packaging and externally with all vendors to make sure everyone and everything is on time and where they are supposed to be. Remember the Rabbit in Disney's Alice in Wonderland? I run around with a clock singing, “We're late! We're late! For a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! We're late! We're late! We're late!...”
First thing you do in the morning?
My dog sleeps in bed with me. So as soon as I wake up, I just move to the end of the bed and put my face as close to his as possible and just stare at him for five minutes. He's pretty creeped out by me.
Usual Seamless order?
I used to order a lot of burritos on Seamless, but now I'm on that EatEasy.
Best piece of professional advice ever given?
You have to make your own career, no one's going to do it for you.
Any recent beauty mishaps?
I always wear lipstick, but recently one morning I put on my new Kat Von D Lipstick in Cathedral and totally forgot that I had it on. I went to get coffee and I thought that I was wearing just some Balm Dotcom. So I was doing that thing where you press your lips together over and over and rub it all around. My lipstick was all over the place, the way a toddler looks when they smear lipstick around their mouth. Everyone was giving me a strange look and my husband even stopped by the coffee shop to pick up some keys and he looked directly at me and did not say anything. When I finally got my latte, I realized that I was wearing lipstick and immediately wiped my lips. I got home and confronted my husband, and his response was, “I thought it was just a new way of wearing lipstick.”
Recent splurge?
So many outfits...but really, the biggest was probably my wedding in Vermont, the wedding party in Brooklyn and the honeymoon in Iceland. The bill has gotten pretty large on those.
Any deal breakers?
Trump
—as told to ITG
Linda Bui photographed by Tom Newton.
Say hello to Talent & Bookings Manager Liana Weston and Managing Editor Claire Knebl—and get acquainted with the rest of the Glossier team over here.
