The Last Girlboss with Marisa Meltzer

What ever happened to the “girlboss”? The term was coined in 2014 by Sophia Amorosa who created fast fashion outlet Nasty Gal and took the world by storm. In her book, she describes a “girlboss” as a woman who’s not afraid to take power from the inside, and in turn, her successes would lift up the women below her. Her book sold half a million copies and Sophia quickly launched a media brand with the same name. 

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And with Sophia Amorosa’s rise came other women like her — dewy-faced, freshly blow-dried hair, and always wearing perfectly-tailored power suits. There was Audrey Gelman, founder of the women-only social club and networking space the Wing, Tyler Haney of sustainable workout brand Outdoor Voices, and perhaps the most popular of them all, Emily Weiss of the cult-favorite beauty brand Glossier. (Admit it, you have some in your makeup bag right now.) 

This week, HerMoney CEO sat down with Marisa Meltzer to unpack this odd legacy and how the definitions of “girlboss” have changed. Meltzer is the author of Glossy: Ambition, Beauty and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss’s Glossier, and she breaks down why most (if not all) of these girlboss empires have crumbled — and why we often give men a break when women are held to higher standards.

“Girlboss was this strange moment because it was so easy to say, oh, how offensive, who is the Boyboss?” says Marisa Meltzer, author of Glossy: Ambition, Beauty and the Inside Story of Emily Weiss’s Glossier. “But at the same time, it allowed women to be covered in some ways on their own terms. It was about who they were in work, and not necessarily who they were personally, and I do think that that was useful.”

LISTEN: Creating A Billion Dollar Business From Scratch With Liz Elting

Fast forward to today, as quickly as they rose, many of these girlboss empires have crumbled… So what is it about our society that we can’t get enough of hearing about the public takedowns of female founders? And why do we so often give men a break when women are held to higher standards? Meltzer says she thinks these are societal issues that can’t be solved by one person — or even a company, for that matter.  “Everything with women in the public eye and this double standard is just wild, especially in business. Men have to do something really egregious and criminal to be called out and women have to do something so minor as to seem like maybe poor managers, which is about as commonplace as anything.”

So, what’s the number one lesson Meltzer thinks any small business owner or startup founder can learn from Glossier’s story? “Be careful about taking money when you’re growing at such a fast rate. When a huge amount of funding has been offered to you, it’s exciting but really think about what comes with that.”

In Mailbag, we hear from a listener who is looking for advice on how to help her daughter improve her credit score. We also sit down with Christine Roberts, President of Citizens Pay, to discuss the best ways to pay for purchases over time. For our money tip of the week, we dish our best advice for saving just a little bit of money if you feel like you can’t get out of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle. 

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