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00:00:01
S3E7 Jill Manoff
233 Plays8 months ago
Thanks for listening to our episode with Jill Manoff, Editor-In-Chief at Glossy!
Follow Meredith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredith-farley/
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We loved talking to Jill.
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Transcript
Introduction and Moving Dilemmas
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey guys, welcome to Content People. I am your host, Meredith Farley. I need to get settled. I'm like, am I going to live in St. Louis? I haven't bought any furniture. I'm like in denial. It's funny because I feel like furniture is like our subconscious expression of how we're feeling about things. That makes a lot of sense. I get it.
00:00:31
Speaker
You know, my mother's, do you want to go talk to somebody? She's like, I'm okay. I'm like, no, I just don't want to invest in this just yet. You get it. You got to follow your own timing.
Meet Jill from Glossier
00:00:44
Speaker
All right, Jill, thank you so much for joining Content People. I was so excited when you said you were willing to be on the podcast. I'm really looking forward to this convo and thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for having me. It's fun to be on this side of the podcast and I'm such a fan of all your dealings. So thank you.
00:01:02
Speaker
Thank you. So I'm sure a lot of folks listening will know exactly who you are, but for anyone who might not know you, could you explain who you are and what you do? Sure. I'm Jill. I'm the editor-in-chief at Glossier and we are a publication, an online publication, a business publication that launched in 2016. I joined about six months in and we cover
00:01:27
Speaker
We used to always say the intersection of fashion, luxury, and technology. That's how we started. But I would say about a year in, we added beauty to the mix, which has blown up and become a much more significant vertical for us. And our audience, who we're speaking to every day, industry insiders in the fashion and beauty world, we
00:01:49
Speaker
are their source to be better at their job. Basically like we cover what's emerging and basically what I would say influential brands, large brands are investing in what they're betting on as they're really bubbling up so that we can shine light on it and have our readers be the folks who say
00:02:09
Speaker
Should we try this and bring the ideas to the table because we are so forward is the
Glossier's Unique Business Model
00:02:15
Speaker
idea. We have a diversified business model. Obviously content online is our main thing. We roll out daily stories. I've got a team of right now, six reporters under me and we're small team, but we also do events, summits. We just wrapped our beauty and wellness summit in Santa Barbara. We've got a podcast, a fashion podcast, a beauty podcast.
00:02:38
Speaker
What else have we got? It spans the gamut. So yeah, we're under the digital media umbrella. I would add too. I love the newsletter, the daily newsletter. Subscribe to that. Thank you. Yes. Hit subscribe.
Glossier vs. Glossy Confusion
00:02:52
Speaker
And I think that when I was prepping for the Marissa Meltzer interview I did about her book, Glossy, I listened to the Glossy interview with her as a bit of ground and it was so good, so helpful. I love Glossy. Oh, thank you so much. There's so much overlap with Glossy folks. A lot of people think that, or, you know, they'll say, I love GlossyA and I'm like, we're not GlossyA, but I love GlossyA too.
00:03:18
Speaker
And then you'd bring that up because I was thinking about it, I was like, there's Glossier, Into the Gloss, glossy, best selling book, and then glossy, huge insider beauty publication. And I was thinking, like, when you guys heard that Marissa's book was called glossy, was there any moment where you're like, I guess all press is good press, we'll hope for a little confusion.
00:03:40
Speaker
Come to our site. All right. So thank you for that intro. I have to say I love glossy because I'm not really in the beauty industry. Earlier in my career, I did some beauty. I wouldn't even call it beauty journalism. It was beauty copywriting really, but I love beauty products and I love to stay up on it. And I feel like.
00:03:59
Speaker
I love that glossy is so in depth. It's such awesome reporting. And I also feel sometimes that because the beauty industry can be viewed as frivolous and very feminine, it doesn't always get its due as such an incredible economic force and such incredible savvy business minds that are in the industry. And I feel like you guys are shedding a light on all the really innovative, interesting stuff that's always happening.
Jill's Career Journey
00:04:26
Speaker
Thank you. That's actually what first drew me to the publication. Like I said, I started six months in and I came from largely a consumer writing, consumer facing background, speaking to runway trends and all of that. And when I was at Mode Media at the time when glossy started Mode Media in San Francisco, I was the editor of Glam.com and I started listening to the glossy podcast. They started a podcast right out of the gate.
00:04:53
Speaker
And I started reading it online and I remember thinking that this is such a smart approach to beauty. I love how they speak to it and such. I kept thinking it's a smart way to cover it. And I don't know. I really didn't differentiate B2C, B2B, like what? I don't know. I don't know what I thought. I just thought I want to do this.
00:05:13
Speaker
And I started to write like a glossy reporter on glam.com, which didn't really make sense. But I, at the time there was a lot of stories on wearables and fashion and technology. And I was like, I'm going to write about this. I don't know. I feel like that was my like entry into B2B content. And then it just so happened that mode media.
00:05:35
Speaker
an 11-year-old startup at the time. I don't know if you'd call it a startup, but it went bust. It just abruptly shut down, which this day and age, it would have never survived. It definitely thrived on traffic coming from Facebook. We put out a lot of almost, I wouldn't call it, we'll say borderline clickbait. Like I was on the Glam.com, I was leading up that team, but if we
00:06:01
Speaker
wrote about the Kardashians. Of course, that would take off. And we had a parenting site called Trend. If they wrote about Chrissy Teigen, that would fly. Anyway, we loved our celebrity stories. But it would abruptly shut down. And at the time, just prior to that, I had seen a post that glossy was looking for an editor in chief. And I was like, oh, it's just not the time. I was loving my job. And then the post was gone whenever the
00:06:29
Speaker
company shut down and I was like, damn it, I should have went for it. And I don't know, it came up again and I was like, oh my God, I'm tackling it. And really like my first job in New York was as editor in chief and it was a big leap and I moved into my apartment the weekend before and it was crazy.
00:06:46
Speaker
Oh, that's a cool story. I like, also when you're talking about the Kardashians, it made me think when I mentioned that like early stage beauty copywriting, we had this client, Blink. They were Farzadakis, which owned Blink Cosmetics, like that first two big mascara. And our content was not doing well for them. But then we did a story about the Kardashians and mascara and it was like thousands and thousands of visitors in one day. We could never replicate it. It was a disaster in some ways, but.
00:07:14
Speaker
Totally. But thinking for sharing that story, I wanted to ask, could you just tell them, could you paint the picture of your full career journey up till now? Like, how did you get to this awesome place? Oh my gosh, I'm older and 44. So I'll break it down into the Cliffsnodes. It's been a long journey. We were talking about how I live in St. Louis now.
00:07:33
Speaker
And I feel, I don't know, unsettled because I've always moved for work for better or worse. But out of college, I like to tell people go with your gut, like do what you think you want to do because I was almost discouraged and being like a fashion or beauty writer or reporter.
00:07:51
Speaker
To me, it was like, okay, I want to be a cowgirl. It seemed like very, I don't know, weird, far-fetched, like that's just not a job that you would have here or like it was a dream. But I always was like obsessed and like reading magazines from cover to cover, like every single word and I don't know, teen, 17, whatever was around then. And also had a trap or keeper of my fashion designs. Anyway, I ended up going to school in St. Louis for my majors were psychology and management.
00:08:20
Speaker
I don't know, I started going for becoming a teacher and I was like, I don't want to do this. But when I got out of school, the first job that I got, it was right after 9-11, the economy sucked. And I applied for every job, basically. And I was like, what was my title? Something associated? I don't know. The fact of the matter is, it was like,
00:08:40
Speaker
swank motion pictures, and it had nothing to do with what I do now. And when I got the job, I cried. And my mom said, who gets a job and cries? And I'm like, I just don't want to be sucked into this world. It's so boring. Anyway, I got a freelance job working for the Luxury Lifestyle publication. It was print. It was called Alive. And I was their first fashion writer. And I was writing stories for $25 a pop, which I didn't always pay your dues. Get your foot in the door.
00:09:08
Speaker
That's what I had to do. And eventually I was hired big pay cut to be their fashion editor. And I was styling all their photo shoots and doing all these things, which was so fun. I did this for a very long time, like nine years. Eventually got burnt out because I was styling more than writing and my passion is writing. So I started putting my feelers out. I moved to Chicago.
00:09:32
Speaker
Which again, speaking of Kardashians, I worked for Sears Holdings as the editor of Sears Style, which was their online type of blog. And at the time it was cool. It had the Kardashian collection and it had a trend forward brand called Metaphor. But anyway.
00:09:50
Speaker
felt three years in, layoffs started happening. I'm like, I'm not going to get fired by Sears. So I started looking at God forbid. And what do you think? No. So I started looking, we had worked with mode media in some capacity bounced to mode media as editor of glam.com. So Chicago to San Francisco. And the whole story happened where they shuttered and then glossy. Now for seven years lived in New York for, I don't know, five.
00:10:19
Speaker
The pandemic happened and I have been in my hometown of St. Louis ever since and bouncing to New York about at least once a month, sometimes twice a month. But yeah, we're full on remote and it's, I mean, we're content people as your podcast says. I used to get very like, why do I have to move? I am a writer. Okay. This day and age you don't have to. I'm just, I have such bono about what I'm missing in New York.
00:10:46
Speaker
Sometimes I fly in just for an event because I tell myself, I worked so hard for all of these years to be able to do this kind of stuff. I'm not going to do it. Even if it's not a glossy event, I'm going to go. Damn it. So it's been a weird balance. Definitely. Do you feel like.
00:11:03
Speaker
in your heart you're a New York girl or do you are you liking the not bicoastal but the two lives you get to lead right now yeah i literally i feel when i'm back in New York you have to be there to you feel it so fast and you're like
00:11:18
Speaker
Oh, this is what I love. Like it just, I don't know. I feel it in my bones. Yeah, I do feel like a New York girl, but I always would tell myself if I wasn't here for work, I would of course live by my family. My family likes to guilt trip me. I feel like an asshole if I don't live by my family and I can. So I'm torn and it has to do with that. And also, I don't know, as long as I can go to New York twice a month and that makes sense financially and
00:11:46
Speaker
For now, that's okay. I think I can live like this for the next couple of years, maybe at least year. I just renewed my lease. I've been here a year. I was saying I have no furniture. I'm not moved in because I'm in denial, but yeah, I love it. As a writer, a reporter, somebody in the industry, those connections are so valuable. I really kill myself to do every single meeting when I am in town because I'm making the most of the time and I come back.
00:12:12
Speaker
I don't know, a limp noodle, so exhausted. Anyway, it's still where the industry is at, and you do this out on thing when you're not there.
00:12:22
Speaker
So right now, what is the average day in the life like for you?
A Day in the Life of Jill
00:12:27
Speaker
Because we're so diversified, it really varies. I am an early bird. I get up wee hours. I would say off hours is when I get my most work done in terms of writing and doing kind of the, we're again, a small team doing the kind of, I guess, like necessities, nuts and bolts type things that have to be done. And
00:12:49
Speaker
I just don't want to sacrifice my time with my team or the creativity focus, like meeting. Anyway, I have long days, but either we're a meeting with the marketing team. We share across all of digital media, marketing teams and events team. We've got a publisher over glossy and modern retail, which is another sister site. There are various meetings that are happening. Maybe we're choosing speakers for our next event.
00:13:14
Speaker
Or we are talking about judges for our next awards program. Or we are, I'm meeting with the publisher telling her about our content calendar for the next month. And she's thinking, oh, maybe I can sell something around that. Or, so it's various meetings, various podcasts. I do one-on-ones with my team every week. And we do daily huddles, just talking through a story ideas and what we're seeing. And I never, I'm very adamant. Like I never canceled those. So that is where.
00:13:44
Speaker
the good stuff happens and where the great brainstorming happens. Oh man, I totally agree around those. You have to have boundaries about not canceling those creative slash touch base spaces and
00:13:57
Speaker
That sounds so interesting. When you say you get up super, super early, what time are you getting up and writing or working? Oh my gosh. I'm central time as opposed to East Coast time. I like, this is my like obsessive compulsive behavior. I have to do a final chat before our newsletter goes out at 6 AM Eastern. So I'm always up before 5 AM. Always, always.
00:14:21
Speaker
You need a lot of sleep. I've been like this my whole life. My mother's always like, you're going to burn out. And I'm like, hasn't happened yet. That's just how I work. But I have to check it. Make sure like everything's in order as it should be. Everything published. Like there were no freak accident. And then, yeah. And if I do write head down writing, I do my best creative writing, focused writing in the morning too. So if it's a writing day, definitely.
00:14:50
Speaker
I'm not like, I don't know, fishing around in my email and stuff.
00:14:56
Speaker
Wow. 5am final proofs is dedication to quality content. Another reason to sign up for the glossy newsletter. Jill has read it for you that morning. I love that. That's super interesting. I too, I will go through like spurt. I actually feel like I'm in a very creative spurt right now just because everything I'm working on for my own business and I'm like waking up at 3am with a lot of ideas and energy and then being like, I think I'm just going to get up.
00:15:22
Speaker
and some of the work but I don't know we'll see if that if I crash and burn on that but I'm curious what I wanted to ask you have you ever done morning pages like from the artist's way do you know what those are no talk to me so it's this Julia Cameron of the book next to me and
00:15:40
Speaker
I feel like a lot of creative people are really into it. The idea is when you get up, the first thing you do is three journal pages, long hands, stream of consciousness. I was just curious. I feel like actually a lot of the women in media I've talked to have secretly been morning pages people. And I was wondering if you were, but it sounds like you just get right at it. What you're saying sounds like a good practice for balance and mental health. Anyway, no, he's like, I'm just crazy. No, I should try that. I think that sounds great.
00:16:09
Speaker
Well, I don't know because I think of it now as something that it's, oh, it's such a gold standard habit, but I actually feel like what I want to do sometimes is just get up and get right into it the way you do. So I don't know. But then again, you read something that you wrote really early and you're like, oh, I should have had another cup of coffee. Yeah, totally.
00:16:32
Speaker
Hey guys, interrupting this interview for 10 seconds to talk about Medbury. Medbury is a social media agency that I founded in 2023 and we produced this podcast. Our promise is pretty simple. We create social media strategies that really work. We offer of LinkedIn, Instagram, and newsletter management for founders, execs, entrepreneurs, public figures, and brands.
00:16:54
Speaker
Our clients often see significant results within just a few weeks of us working together. We're fun to work with and we'd love to help you. You can check out our website, sign up for our newsletter, or shoot us an email. Everything's in the show notes. Okay, back to the interview.
00:17:15
Speaker
Okay, so one thing I'm curious about is what do you think would surprise readers or other industry folks about your behind the scenes at glossy? Anything?
00:17:26
Speaker
A lot of people are surprised and say so that we're such a small team.
Small Team Dynamics at Glossy
00:17:31
Speaker
We have two reporters dedicated to beauty, two dedicated to fashion. We've got a managing editor who also writes for both verticals and we're starting kind of a shopping vertical under our pop umbrella, which we can talk about.
00:17:48
Speaker
Fifth reporter is Sarah Sprook-Feiner. She is our reporter on Glossy Pop. We launched Glossy Pop about two years ago, maybe less. But while we're covering the intersection of fashion or beauty and technology, it's more like Pop covers the intersection of culture and fashion and beauty. So how influencers are impacting the world, the fashion and beauty world, or how what's emerging on TikTok is
00:18:13
Speaker
is impacting fashion and beauty. So anyway, very intertwined with pop culture. But so yeah, a team of five reporters, I'm managing editor myself, and we do a lot. So I think that is something. And also, I think maybe PR people, for instance, are very misled about what we do. I was just called in to have kind of a
00:18:35
Speaker
I don't know if it was like a meet and greet, but it was like an ask me anything or ask them anything. It was to meet with a large corporate office's PR team. I was on the hot seat and they were like, what do you want to hear from us? What do you want to see from us? And it was all about what they're pitching me. And I'm like,
00:18:51
Speaker
Like we are an exception. I don't want to talk smack about competitors, but I do see if we get a PR pitch in our mailbox, like some folks just spit it out like a, almost like a press release, um, as a story. And because we are subscription based, it's like content worth.
00:19:09
Speaker
paying for is what I like to say repeatedly, but what differentiates us. And a lot of times we're just having conversations with executives about the challenges they're facing and the opportunities that they see and where they're newly investing and just talking to people. And so when we hear of something, we dig in and we say, is this a thing? Are other people trying this? Blah, blah.
00:19:34
Speaker
companies can do for us is give us access, give us timely access, we move fast. That's pretty much it. Like when we want to talk to somebody at us and that kind of cut that meeting short. But other than that, we're a business publication. A lot of, like you said, fashion and beauty publications are more trend-focused or a lot of people that apply for glossy are people who have worked for Cosmopolitan and other. Although there's so much
00:20:00
Speaker
The consumer is getting so smart, right? I see a lot of overlap between our content and like Allure magazine and because there are the skinfluencers and everybody what's happening on social media and beyond people know their shit. And so anyway, there's not a lot of difference in between the type of reporting, but anyway, being business and writing to beauty is still unique.
00:20:21
Speaker
And the only other surprise is that we're not linked to Glossier. But yeah, just those things I'm rambling. No, that's really interesting. Thank you for all that. And it's really interesting around the PR and the pitches and the fact that as a subscription offering that to your point, you're not parroting back press releases because you just need the content for the day to get the clicks and the ad revenue. It's a whole different model that you're working with, which is really interesting.
00:20:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's hard. We're always like, we can't not write about this. But we typically, if there's big news in our world, we say like a second day story. And so what we do, we sit back, we talk to people about this, what this means for the industry and put more context around it and more meat around it. And we just would rather not pile on. If the news is out there, why should we write about it too? And just push it out. And yet,
00:21:16
Speaker
That same thing with a pitch, we're very, is this an exclusive story? That could be like a differentiator. If we're the only ones writing about something that is emerging, we'll consider, we'll take a look, depends on the company and again, the app says, but if other publications are just covering it, we don't want to do away with it. But yeah, talking to people, we, and we typically on the note of a PR press release, we're very like, we'll talk to a brand and it could be about an initiative they're excited about or maybe came to us about.
00:21:46
Speaker
But there's never going to be a time when we don't have at least two sources and we're talking to the brand as well as an outside analyst about whether or not this is a smart move. Like we always say a critical point of view as opposed to just like cheerleading everything that we're writing about. Yeah, that, that makes a lot of sense. One question that occurred to me when you're talking about the type of folks who apply, like you mentioned, they had written for Cosmopolitan. Are you getting many content creators applying?
00:22:15
Speaker
Oh, that's interesting. Our last role, a couple, a couple. And I know that's interesting because, and I do look at their stuff, if they have a link to like, they're doing it all on their own, like they've got a sub stack or they've got any sort of portfolio online, I'll look, I'm not looking for like the resume, I just want the great work. I got a couple, it's not common.
00:22:40
Speaker
That's interesting. I don't know why it just occurred to me. I do feel like in line with what you're talking about, there's just a merging of the folks who were obvious fits for certain types of writing and creator roles who that is changing a lot. I so agree. I so agree. I bet we'll see it more.
00:22:58
Speaker
You've been a glossy, so for more than seven years, and it sounds like you've had long stretches at places that you're really committed to in your
Jill's Commitment to Glossy
00:23:06
Speaker
career. And that really jumped out to me about your experience because before I started Medbury, which is my agency, I worked at a company for a really long time.
00:23:15
Speaker
13-ish years. And other people had a lot of opinions and advice around that. And I was curious if you could talk to why it's worked for you in your career to really commit and stay. You've done one stretches. Could you talk about that a little bit? Because it's unusual now.
00:23:32
Speaker
It is. Gosh, it takes me back to, again, my St. Louis early career, where like why I felt I had to, it was time to move on. First of all, I thought I felt like my, I was a stylist. It was like, it was a freelance thing, but it became more of my salary or my
00:23:49
Speaker
I needed this to get to make ends meet. And I was like, at the time I'm like, am I going to move to LA and be Rachel Zoe? What does that mean to get out of here? But I felt like I conquered the territory. I was the local fashion editor. I was being called upon to, oh, I also co-founded St. Louis Fashion Week. We put on this huge event every year that was like multiple days. And I was like running the show with my business partner and we, it was a lot. And then styling for.
00:24:18
Speaker
At the time it was Brown Shoe, now it's Calaris and like Anheuser-Busch. There are some big fashion companies and like affiliated companies, bigger shoes. But yeah, going on the news segments, talking about the best dressed on the Oscars. I felt like I was like the lead fashion person in St. Louis. And then yeah, when I got that burnout, like literally running away around shopping all day and then like writing literally all night, this is where I got my work ethic because I'm like, I'm not going to give this up. This is my,
00:24:45
Speaker
passion. I was like, this is not, maybe that was the burnout. This is not going to go on. It can't go on. And I just need to focus on writing. And I didn't care where that was happening. But now I would say if I hit a wall, I will start looking. But because we are so young and seven years in and we're constantly evolving and
00:25:04
Speaker
trying things and not like willy-nilly. Everything's very strategic and it aligns with what our reader is telling us they're interested in. We're moving so fast. It's so exciting and it's still very challenging for me. I feel challenged every day and I get to work with these amazing people, but I would just say because
00:25:25
Speaker
There's always growth, like we're moving forward, we're growing and we are going to tackle this in the year ahead. And this year that one of those growth opportunities was the start of this beauty pop event that we did in the summer in LA. And it's so much potential there. Nobody's really doing anything like it. And we have big goals for that. We also launched a luxury briefing and.
00:25:51
Speaker
That's interesting. We're seeing a lot of traction. So we're focused on fashion and beauty, but if we keep this a separate publication or a separate vertical, is there interest in alignment? Does it make sense for us to expand on that and cover what's happening in travel and the art world? So anyway, we're questioning some things, but there's always what's next. And it never feels, has felt stagnant in seven years, which is.
00:26:14
Speaker
I think it's pretty rare. Yes. That makes sense to me. That resonates with me a lot too. Like the place I was at for a long time, I started as an entry-level copywriter and at the end I was the COO. So there was like a lot of like growth, but also it sounds like you're like energetically and very creatively tapped into what you're working on. And it seemed like if that's the case, then.
00:26:37
Speaker
I guess I asked the question because I think sometimes people feel like you need to move at a regular cadence every two or three years to keep things moving forward. But if you're tapped into something and committed to a project, you might not want to do that and you might not have to either. Yes, it's so true. And I'm like, I need to feel fulfilled. And like I said, challenged.
00:26:59
Speaker
I'm not probably, again, the best spokesperson for how to balance things and whatever. I do feel like I make my job my life. It's just what I do. We were saying I'm not in New York. My social life used to be work stuff. I better love it if this is what I'm doing all the time. Yeah, it makes sense. I appreciate that perspective on it. One thing I wanted to ask about, a little more back to the beauty space,
00:27:27
Speaker
Beauty right now is so saturated, but glossy is, I think, one of the ultimate authoritative sources. Beauty news for insiders. How do you guys stand out?
Glossy's Brand Uniqueness
00:27:40
Speaker
How do you stay relevant? How do you differentiate from the other beauty news that's out there for the day?
00:27:47
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's what we were talking about in terms of being thoughtful and putting more resources and like why and expertise behind the stories and also making it where you can come to glossy and really give what you need. We're really focused on being a resource right now and building out our
00:28:10
Speaker
video library and building out, I don't know, a version of AI that kind of helps you can search and pull up anyway, the different excerpts you need. So there's a lot of focus on being a resource. And so if maybe our newsletter isn't like fitting the bill in terms of what's on your mind right now, but you go on the site and you should be able to find what you need. I think that
00:28:33
Speaker
is different. I also think the podcast, the events, we have this amazing community. So we're still young, and we're still small. And not everybody knows about us, especially outside of the US. That's a growth opportunity. But our fans, and I would say fans, like our beaters, our superfans is what I like to say, because
00:28:52
Speaker
such a passionate community where if we bring people together to center it on a conversation, we have things called executive roundtables. Every quarter we bring our members together and they've walked to a retailer and we talk about current challenges. And we just put that out there. It's challenging you now. And it feels this amazing conversation that
00:29:14
Speaker
These events are multifaceted. They include like a panel discussion and other things, but those opportunities to mingle and to bounce ideas and challenges off of other members. People love it. They're so passionate about the opportunity. We're talking about how to increasingly set the stage for opportunities to have these conversations. We've tried some things on Zoom during the pandemic.
00:29:36
Speaker
But like, where can we do this more? But our community is definitely a differentiator. They're so passionate. And some of them come to all of our events throughout the year, whether it's in New York or Santa Barbara or wherever, and they just rave about.
00:29:52
Speaker
have finding it valuable and more so because they learn stuff. Yeah. I'm feeling I'm a super fan and in the industry, but it makes sense. And I also too think just an engaged community for any type of content at all is the most valuable thing you could have because you have a whole group of people who like you enough to tell you what they like and don't like and help you just grow in the right direction. But you've mentioned multiple times beauty pop. Could you talk about that a little bit? It sounds really interesting. Yes,
Cultural Intersection at Glossy Pop
00:30:19
Speaker
of course. So it grew out of our pop.
00:30:21
Speaker
vertical. And again, that has to do with how culture is impacting the fashion and beauty businesses. So we launched our first event in July and it was in LA. The idea was to bring beauty brands and influencers together, allow them to meet, mingle, do business, connect. And so this was an event that
00:30:44
Speaker
There were activations, brands were on site, there were testing and sampling opportunities, but the main core of the event was on stage, we had panels focused on influencers turned founders like Lo Bosworth and Vanessa Hudgens and Patrick Ta and Ashley Chisdale. We had multiple high school musicalers there, but it was fantastic. And then we also had
00:31:08
Speaker
more of these round table type discussions that are so hot in our business summit where we set the stage, people could choose the topic they want it to drill into. We had different corners of this event that was based on discussion and we weren't sure. We've never done an event with influencers. We've never done anything like this. We're like, are they going to come? Are they going to go? Are they going to be in and out? What is this? We just had our fingers crossed.
00:31:37
Speaker
It was like so successful beyond our wildest dreams where people stayed the whole time. They were so excited to meet the people speaking on stage. They called it the Harvard Business School for Creators. And they just learned from each other. And they're like, I can't wait to come back next year. And we're like.
00:31:53
Speaker
We're doing it next year. We have a plan. It was just a trial run. So we're doing it again. We're going to do multiple events next year, 2024. March 13th will be our next one in LA. And we've already booked some great speakers. We've got Andrew Fitzsimmons. We've got some Kardashian adjacent folks, I would say. But yeah, the list is lining up. So again, an opportunity to learn from
00:32:18
Speaker
these new, the new editors, the new, whatever we're calling them, the influencers in the space. And oh, anyway, we're looking to bring more consumers in and blow it up in a way that makes sense. That sounds really cool. I'm definitely going to be like following that and keeping an eye on it. Why do you think it was so successful right out of the gate? Was there anything you think you guys did really well? Because I totally get like your first thing, you have no idea how it's going to go. It's interesting. And I guess it's no surprise.
00:32:48
Speaker
It wasn't surprising, but surprising how much people focused on it. There was a lot of feedback from the attendees that they loved that they were creators who were being positioned as business people, business leaders, and that we were the conversations, like almost you and I were talking about glossy when we first learned about it or heard about it, where it was like, they're really speaking about this in a smart way, an educated way. This isn't the typical.
00:33:14
Speaker
approach and so for influencers they're used to like us brand publishers what have you like using them for their following like we weren't looking for anybody to post we weren't like we were just come get a gift bag experience this we think you can learn from these founders who have our influencers who have become big
00:33:34
Speaker
They're leading huge businesses and they did take that opportunity and they engaged in those conversations. And I think that they found a lot of value in that, which was awesome to see. Oh, that's really interesting. So I can think of even a couple content creators I've interviewed for this podcast where I was really asking a lot of questions about the behind the scenes, like the business side of being a creator and a few folks.
00:33:59
Speaker
said to me, I was like the first person who'd ever asked them, wanted to talk to them about that. These people are making six figures, seven figures. Like they're making great money and I think there should be more interest in how they're doing it. That's interesting. Absolutely. Oh my gosh. They're power people.
00:34:16
Speaker
I'm so impressed. Okay, let me back up for
Social Media's Role in Beauty Brands
00:34:19
Speaker
a second. So I run a social agency, so I'm particularly interested in this, but as an expert in the space, how important do you think brand or social media presence is for a beauty brand right now? Oh my gosh, I think it's so important. And I feel like I'm like the pot calling the kettle black, because I'm personally not the most active on social, but glossy is. So help me. First of all, if only for legitimacy, like you have a presence, you have a following,
00:34:44
Speaker
you need to be out there, definitely. And second, remove to all things digital. We used to talk about this in terms of fashion and like the modeled account, their Instagram wall with the new portfolio and their personality matters now with the brands that are hiring them and they want to see some video on social. And so for brands too, I'm always asking founders and
00:35:08
Speaker
our podcasts, is there pressure for you to be the face of the brand? A lot of them say yes, despite it because it helps with that relationship. But not only is it necessary to build the community, but also TikTok and all of these social platforms are becoming the new Google. This is how people are finding
00:35:29
Speaker
beauty brands, beauty products, they're searching on TikTok. If you're not there, you're definitely missing out. But obviously, at the same time, you get to tell your story and own your brand and the look and the feel and it's all designed by you. So that's another reason. So many reasons, but yeah, you've got to be out there.
00:35:50
Speaker
Yeah, no, I guess I'm glad you feel that way. But I also do think it's so hard, especially for early stage founders, because it just takes so much skill and time and or money to do it well.
00:36:05
Speaker
And I feel like one thing that happens a lot is that founders who are also in the midst of starting a business are also trying to become experts on like how to get a viral Instagram reel. And it's complicated, but I think you're right. Like you have to do it. Why not? And there's a fine line because at the moment the founders out there, then there was all this backlash about look at the girl boss, all this
00:36:27
Speaker
Anyway, you can't do anything right is the moral of the story, but I would just say get out there and that's the right thing. Yes. You can't do anything right is the moral of the story is one of my favorite sound bites so far from this conversation when you're totally right. Okay. So I'm really wondering how would you describe yourself as a creative manager? So, cause I think editor in chief, you have to keep the trains running on time, but you also have to be a creative person who's making sure the content is
00:36:55
Speaker
as good as it could possibly be. Like how do you balance that with your team? Yeah. I'm really good about like compartmentalizing just the different parts of the day. I can definitely like switch gears pretty fast, but also I think the secret to balancing those is being a tired manager. And like I said, just managing my time where I can.
00:37:15
Speaker
do it all really in terms of what needs to be done and I'm not one to half ass or spit it out there because we need to get something out there. Very conscientious about what we put out there and in the conversation are we dedicating enough time to putting thought around how we're approaching this subject matter. Everything I think is done at a high level quality of our quantity we like to say but also I've just if it needs to be like
00:37:40
Speaker
Late night to make sure that this happens. I think yes So I just think the key to be like focusing on the creative stuff and the collaborative stuff it more so happens like
00:37:51
Speaker
normal work hours and I'm working a lot and I'm just, to be honest, off hours to make it work. And I'm getting better about delegating. We do have a managing editor who's fantastic. So definitely helps with those nitty gritty things that need to be done. Like we just had our glossy 50 feature that went out. It's 50 profiles and we do it every year. And what a beast between even just building out the profile.
00:38:17
Speaker
Things people don't think about, it's exhausting. So that was definitely a huge team effort that involved a lot of things off hours, like editing, first of all, editing, huge, multiple rounds of editing, but also choosing who these people are, which was very collaborative with the team. A lot of meetings go into who these people are because it's an editorial choice. We're basically establishing our authority by saying, we know who the people are who defined the year.
00:38:46
Speaker
So a lot goes into that and that's just one example of what needs to be done together and what, I don't know, what needs to be done to make it happen. Get it out. I appreciate you acknowledging that some of it's just really long hours and it's not, oh, if you do the Pomodoro method with your team and only do 10 minute meetings, you can get everything perfectly done in six hour working days or something. You're like, no, it's a lot of work and sometimes you need to work late to get it done.
00:39:14
Speaker
Yes. And it was so like those kinds of meetings, they can be effective, but I don't know my team and I, maybe it's not the most professional thing, but like literally every meeting, like we're not going to talk about personal stuff. How was your weekend? How is this? How are you feeling? There's always a little bit of work slash play that that's why it makes it very tolerable and still enjoyable because we have our fun.
00:39:39
Speaker
Yeah, I think that makes a huge difference. So I know we don't have too much time left, but a couple of career questions.
Career Advice for New Hires
00:39:46
Speaker
What do you think has been the best career advice you've ever received? I thought of it when you asked me a question and I said, I'm going on and on. I don't know. I like made an excuse for my answer. But anyway, I went against this advice. And when I was at Sears Holdings, my boss at the time, Amanda, told me, and I think it was in one of those comments like I just made, she said,
00:40:07
Speaker
don't ever apologize. And to me, that sounds like it could be like a bitch thing to say. I'm not going to apologize. But to me, it's because I am a conscientious worker and I do not
00:40:18
Speaker
I'm like proud of the work I do, like I'll do it always like my best no matter what. And so I think for anybody that like you do the work, you're proud of it, just own it, own your work and stop apologizing. I think it's more popular maybe among women, but I do. That's been in my head ever since and I watched her work and she was such a power woman and I always, she doesn't apologize.
00:40:42
Speaker
Anyway, it was very inspiring to me, so I try not to go there, and I think that's great advice. I think that is really good advice. I think that I always have to work on myself too, a lot of the time. I think you're right. There's something about if you're high on the conscientious scale and whatever that personality thing is,
00:41:05
Speaker
You're always like, but I could have done 130% and it would have been even better. And so I'm so sorry that this is just an A minus project or something like that. For sure. Just own it. Love it. What do you think is the best career advice that you've ever given someone? And it has to be different. Oh, yes.
00:41:27
Speaker
Our head of HR, at one point we were in a big hiring, like we were hiring so much. It was like right before the pandemic, I think like 2019. And she had all of the executive team talk about, I guess, write up some advice for new hires. And she was going to present it in like some format that was beautiful, but it was just like a welcome package.
00:41:47
Speaker
And she likes to call out like what mine said as like some, I don't know, she always references it. She really liked it. And she thought it was good advice. I think that maybe it's unique to DigiDay media and glossy, but I don't think so. I think it applies to other jobs. My advice was it went on and on, but in a nutshell, it was like, choose to be great here. And basically because it's like, nobody's really standing in your way.
00:42:12
Speaker
We're not flat, but there's not a lot of superiority authority. You're going to get the opportunity, especially because we're so young and nimble in trying things. Like somebody on the DigiDay team named Tim, he has a passion and a knack for video. And he, I think, made a video one time about one of his stories. And he's basically like our video person now. He's doing video like for weeks at a time, while also doing reporting. But he's just had this opportunity to build on that craft.
00:42:41
Speaker
There's definitely so much opportunity and coming to me like with a memo and I have an idea and it's not something that we've ever done. I love that. And we'll think about it. Does it make sense for our audience? Is there demand? Is there maybe talking with the publishers or opportunity to like, if it's a big investment to make it make sense out of the gate and can we get a sponsor? And there are all the conversations that happen, but I feel like there's, because we're so young and just open, I think that
00:43:09
Speaker
You can really come at it hard and be amazing at this company and do make it your own, I guess, your role. And I think it's good. I think that anywhere you go, choose to be great and go give it your all. I think it's good advice.
00:43:26
Speaker
I really liked that advice a lot. I get why it was called out. Thank you for both of those things. There's so many things we could talk on, but is there anything that you wish I'd asked that I didn't? Oh my gosh. No, I'm glad we talked beauty pop and I'm glad we didn't get in the weeds of beauty.
00:43:43
Speaker
Anyway, I love beauty and the business of it. Literally, my background is I'm a fashion girl. Literally, it's a large beauty world. Everybody on my team is so, they're the encyclopedia dictionary. Anyway, they can tell you anything you want to know about
00:44:02
Speaker
beauty and I'm literally from a different generation where it took our first event and having a speaker from True Botanicals and I was like how am I this age where I have wrinkles and I have acne at the same time and she's like basically told me like you're drying out your skin like I wasn't using moisturizer until late in life I'm not the beauty expert so anyway I'm glad we kept it to the business side of things is what I'm saying.
00:44:28
Speaker
I have to admit that if we had more time, I had some beauty questions on here. In some ways, this worked out perfectly then. Everyone that's doing natural beauty is like my favorite. My skin freaks out if it's, I guess like clean. That's such a thing. What's clean? What's not clean? But anyway, things labeled clean.
00:44:50
Speaker
It wasn't Olivia Wilde who told you that, was it? Oh my God, no. It was one of the founders, but like she saved my skin. Shout out to True Botanicals. She's like, use this. Anyway, I'm a new woman. Had we known back then what we know now, all these kids are going to be so beautiful.
00:45:09
Speaker
I know I think about that sometimes. I'm like these little children putting drunk elephant all over their face are going to be like, I had clean and clear or something. Yeah. My 13 year old knees. Do you have any drunk elephant? And they call it it's preppy and it has to do with the packaging. I'm like, how is drunk elephant preppy? But okay. I don't get it. Interesting. Preppy. Jill, thank you so much. I had so much fun talking to you and you gave such awesome insights. I really appreciate it very much. Thank you. Thank you for having me on. This was enjoyable.
00:45:42
Speaker
Hey content people, do you mind if I call you that? If you like the show, there are a few ways you can stay in touch and support us. The first is you could subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. That way you won't miss an episode. The second is you could leave a five star rating and a review. Those make a really big impact. I know they're a pain and they take a little bit of time, but if you're feeling generous and you've been listening to the show, I'd appreciate it so much. And the third is you could sign up for the content people newsletter. The link is in the show notes.
00:46:12
Speaker
We share news about the show and episodes. And I also write a lot about the intersection between
00:46:17
Speaker
work and creativity, which is at the heart of so many of these content people conversations. We also love feedback. If you want to request a guest or a topic, pitch yourself to be on the show, advertise with us, learn more about Medbury social media, or otherwise just be in touch, shoot me an email. I would love to hear from you. It's Meredith at medburyagency.com. That's M-E-D-B-U-R-Y agency.com. I will throw that in the show notes too. All right, until next time.