The story of how Roya Shariat landed her gig at Glossier gives new meaning to the phrase "but first, let me take a selfie".
Indeed, landing her dream role as the director of social impact and communications at US beauty powerhouse Glossier all started with a humble pic with Glossier founder and then CEO Emily Weiss.
"I ran into her [Emily] on the street - and told her which products I was wearing, and that I liked putting my money into brands that align with my values," Roya tells Missing Perspectives. After a chat about Glossier and their current priorities, Weiss admitted to Roya that the company wasn't really doing much at that point in time to "give back" to the community. With gusto, Roya told Weiss that if she wanted Glossier to do more, then they should hire Roya. The two took a selfie, then parted ways.
So what did Roya do next? She emailed Weiss with ideas of what Glossier should do to give back to the community. "Best case, I thought, was that they give me a project where they needed feedback," she reflects. The response she got exceeded her own expectations, with Weiss asking her to come into the office and meet with her Chief of Staff the following week for an interview. "I came to that meeting with a deck printed out, thinking OK - what do I need to get across? Why I'm qualified for the job, why now is the time to invest, why do we want to reflect the company's values?" Roya says.
"I get to the meeting and they open the deck and start asking questions and it was the most intense job interview of my life. I had two interviews after that. It's still crazy to me, how life has worked out," she laughs.
The funniest part is that it's actually not the first time Roya has pitched her dream job to someone on the street, with Roya telling me she also landed a job at NBC by striking up a conversation with "someone on the street wearing an NBC cap and bag" - and it turned out to be the Executive Producer of the show she wanted to work on. The you guess it, she landed a gig. Her piece of advice after landing two jobs this way? "If the dream job doesn't exist yet, you can make it happen."
Roya now leads social impact at Glossier - and to say that she's made an impact and help Glossier to 'give back' to both the United States and to communities on a grassroots level is an understatement. During her six year tenure, she's helped pioneer the Glossier Grant Program for Black-Owned Beauty Businesses, which has seen US$2million of Glossier's revenue invested into the program since its inception - and partnering with over 49+ founders across the US and UK (2024 grantees include Range Beauty founded by Alicia Scott, and Rose Ingleton MD Skin founded by Dr Rosemarie Ingleton).
Roya also helped execute Glossier's groundbreaking partnership with the WNBA, in addition to the long-term deal to become the official beauty partner of the USA women's basketball teams. She also shares that Glossier has partnered with Project Backboard Inc, a nonprofit founded by basketball fans and players, and artist Na Chainkua Reindorf to renovate the basketball courts in Brooklyn's Tompkins Square Park - in addition to sponsoring a local girls' basketball team.
Oh, and Roya has also published a Iranian-American cookbook, which pays homage to her Iranian heritage (more on that in an upcoming article).
When does this woman catch a breath!? Roya shares that she gets her drive and hustle from her parents, who immigrated to the United States from the south of Iran in the 1980s. "Mum and dad have taught me that life is so short. They made a sacrifice so I could have a life here [in the United States]," she says.
"They taught me to to try things, do my best, and the worst someone can do is to say no. Life is precious, so give it a shot and hustle."