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 Bryan Mahoney:
'I came to Glossier from Dynamo, which was a digital product studio that I started with a friend of mine at McGill University during the first Dot Com boom. The idea was just to make a little bit of extra money while we were at school. I actually graduated with a finance degree, and I’d accepted a job on Wall Street as an investment banker... But Dynamo was doing so well that I put my finance future on hold. Fast forward 15 years, we were working with a bunch of clients and one of them was Glossier. So we would be their in-house tech department, sometimes acting as a CTO figure. I was actually helping Henry hire for the VP of Engineering Role, and he was like, ‘It would be great if we could hire you…’ It started as a joke but became a conversation. One day I said, ‘You know what? Maybe I'd consider it.’ Things progressed, and my family and I moved from Montreal to New York a couple of months later.
I like that Glossier is focused online. If you’re interested in buying Glossier, you come to the website. That’s your gateway to the brand. It’s carried through in the copy, in the photography, in the little hidden surprises that you’ll have throughout the site—a clever animation that we’ve done, or a rollover on an image, or a piece of text that you’re going to see in your e-mail confirmation. I think that there’s such an enormous attention to detail. I feel like I’m sort of a part of a movement here. I'm the first in-house technical person whose mandate is to build the technical team inside a company that’s scaling really quickly. It’s a really exciting time to be here.”
Where are you from?
Montréal, Canada
What do you do at Glossier?
I'm primarily making sure that Glossier.com and IntoTheGloss.com run well and work well. That can mean working on new features or tweaking existing features here in our office, or coordinating the work that happens over in Montréal with the Dynamo team. Being responsible for all of our engineering efforts, both front and back end, is probably the most succinct way that I can say that.
Favorite Glossier product?
The Priming Moisturizer. I use it every day, after I shave and before I go to bed. I'm also a big fan of Milky Jelly.
Do you have a daily ritual?
I typically get up in the morning and get a batch of coffee ready. I'm methodical about how I prepare coffee. I take my two dogs—a yellow Lab and a Belgian Shepherd—for a walk, and then I go and hang out with my daughter for a little bit.
What’s on your desk?
My standing desk that sits on top of my regular desk. Typically I've built them myself at the places I've worked before, but this one is from a project I backed on Kickstarter called the The Upstanding Desk. They're plywood and they're made locally in Brooklyn. I'm a standing desk supporter.
What was your best idea ever?
Not moving to New York almost 20 years ago and giving Dynamo a shot. That decision basically set me on the path to where I am today.
What could you eat every day and not get tired of?
Does wine count? Red Burgundy.
Whats your commute like?
I cycle to work. I live in Brooklyn, so I cross over the bridge. I don't like being beholden to taxis or train schedules.
—as told to ITG
Bryan Mahoney photographed by Tom Newton.
Next up: Meet Glossier's administrative backbone, Cherie Camacho and Lynley Flanagan—and get acquainted with the rest of the team over here.
