People often ask me, 'How do you go about choosing who to feature on Into The Gloss?' And I've never had a great answer. Ultimately, I think the #1 thing that draws me to someone is their sense of freedom.
Over the years of running Into The Gloss, I began to see a gap in the way beauty companies were creating products and marketing them to women. There wasn't one brand that really spoke to girls like me, who created products for real life. So we set out to create that brand with Glossier.
When Glossier launched in the U.S. back in 2014, it felt small - but in a good way. We were able to introduce ourselves locally, start a community, and build something special together.
My desk is more of a place where I set my stuff, and then I move around. If I'm at the office, I'm usually wandering around to different meeting rooms all day or taking people out or making tea. I'm rarely at my desk; it's just a place to hang my hat.
At 'Vogue,' I was responsible for a lot of production work, and production work is highly detailed, and you have to be very resourceful to fit a square peg into a round hole. I learned to push the envelope when it comes to asking questions or making requests.
'Into The Gloss,' what I think it did so well was create a conversation around beauty and make beauty the main event as opposed to the ugly step-sister, which it often is in magazines.
My wardrobe falls into two camps most of the time: either very monochromatic and tailored or really vintagey, with '30s and '40s-style long floral dresses. I don't buy that much, so every time I invest in something new, it has to elevate what I have hanging in my closet.
If I want to know how to do a black cat eye, I don't drive to a department store. I'll go on YouTube, cross-check reviews of a product, and then maybe talk about it on Instagram.
I knew that I wanted to intern at 'Teen Vogue' from the moment the first issue hit newsstands. Luckily, the team at Polo Ralph Lauren, where I interned during high school, really believed in me and arranged for an interview with the editors.
The creation of 'Into The Gloss' took less than a month. Glossier took twelve months and about a million dollars to hire the team, work with the chemists, order the inventory, get an office - you know, the whole thing.
We'll continue to invest in new technology because we think every woman should have the ability to be connected through her beauty knowledge, opinions, products, and routine.
For male and female entrepreneurs alike, having a woman investor can bring credibility when discussing product positioning and expansion opportunities.
The great thing about interning at 'Teen Vogue' is that there is so much room for growth; interns here do incredible things if they work hard enough and think outside the box.
My first lip balms were Bonne Bell Lip Smackers, which, correct me if I'm wrong, sometimes had little bracelets attached to the caps-meaning your lip balm could idly dangle from your wrist like a charm bracelet when not in use, not unlike some iPhone accessories.
When I think of baths, I generally think of children, the elderly, couples, and the English. Who takes baths? I mean, seriously - none of my friends take baths.
Toronto girls are super interested in skincare, which is actually kind of unique. Because in New York, the girls seem to be mostly interested in makeup.
Unlike a celebrity, there's nothing I won't try and nothing I won't talk about when it comes to my hair. If I were to get a tattoo on my inner upper arm, it would read, 'Change thy hair, change thyself.'
My brain puts baths in the same category as yoga: it'd be 'nice' to relax for an hour, but I just want a 10-minute, high-impact workout; get in, get out. Showers are my cardio.
I have long been of the mindset that aviators are like leather jackets - when they're perfect, they give you 'instant cool.' They're the Alexa Chung of sunglasses.
The single guiding principle that I try to follow, assuming blindly that the rest will fall into place, is to operate squarely in the present. I think it's one of the most difficult things for anyone to do.