A learning experience - Anonymous employee Glow Recipe Employee Review

Working at Glow Recipe is definitely a resume builder and career defining experience. It's a disruptor brand that the entire industry is watching, which ultimately will lend itself to employees being poached - I've seen countless former colleagues move onto other brands that are both fellow disruptor brands and large conglomerate brands. Regardless of where you are in your career, entry to leadership, Glow Recipe will prepare you to handle ANYTHING thrown at you regardless of where you go. This is coming from someone who has had two separate tenures at Glow Recipe and has seen the brand in its early stage with 1 endcap to a top 5 Skincare brand at Sephora globally. When I left the first time to go to another brand, I was shocked at how much I knew compared to my new colleagues and was always a resource cross-functionally, thanks to the exposure and knowledge I gained at Glow Recipe. If you have a career in beauty, your time at Glow Recipe will give you invaluable experience and tools that you can take to your future endeavors. I don't want to diminish other peoples experience at the company as I do recognize it is not my own, but I do think you need to have the skill-set to manage up, as it's a delicate dance working at any founder-led company. I learned the term 눈치 from the founders, which is a Korean phrase for when you're able to be tactful and observant and able to read the room. Once I learned this, I was able to navigate difficult scenarios confidently. As busy as it is, there is work life balance that is respected by department heads, leadership and the founders. Only during peak launch periods are you expected to be available, but overall you're given work life balance.

Glow Recipe is a FAST paced brand, with multiple projects to manage constantly, while also having to pivot constantly. The founders are very involved, but it's no different from any other founder-led brand. I don't think it's for everyone, but there are pros and cons working at a founder-led brand and at a conglomerate where the stakes aren't as high. That said, the grass isn't always greener, regardless of which side you're on.

Felt peace when I left

This was the worst place I’ve ever worked. I remember being so excited to start. Within my first week, I knew I had made a mistake. The founders will laugh at you, publicly criticize and humiliate your work, micromanage every detail, and gaslight employees constantly. High school mean girls, I would say don’t get on their bad side but even the people on their good side get verbally obliterated daily. There is a reason the turnover is so high. EVERYONE is looking for a new job and is absolutely miserable. Timelines are unrealistic and employees are expected to work late nights and weekends just to put out fires that never needed to exist in the first place. Leadership (the founders) operates with a shocking lack of professionalism. They have said some really questionable things. They will also tell employees one thing and do another. For example, at a company-wide town hall, the founders spoke confidently about how the company would not be conducting layoffs like many competing brands. Just two months later, more than 15 employees were laid off and subsequently replaced. They also told employees that executives had willingly given up their bonuses so everyone else could receive them, but in reality the executive team did not have a choice. The brand may look bright and fun from the outside, but behind the scenes it is a toxic, exhausting, and deeply unhealthy place to work. Working here taught me nothing except how to not treat the people who work for you.