At A Glance

Glossier fosters a culture of curiosity, collaboration, and personalized service by encouraging employees to shadow different departments and engage directly with customers. This unique approach to customer experience helps the brand maintain a personal touch as it scales.

Who is Cati Brunell-Brutman

Meet Cati, the CX Manager at Glossier!

About Glossier

Glossier is a beauty company with a mission to give everyone a voice through beauty. The brand, founded in 2014, focuses on providing consumers with beauty products that put the individual first. Their product line consists of items made with safe, natural ingredients. 

Cati’s CX Journey

Cati Brunell-Brutman’s journey to becoming the CX Manager at Glossier began in the spotlight—literally. With a background in theater and nearly a decade of experience as a stage manager in New York, she honed her skills in communication, quick thinking, and problem-solving. “It pays terribly, there’s no health insurance,” she says, reflecting on her early career. While managing productions, she picked up a part-time role as a CX agent at Birchbox, unknowingly setting the stage for her next act.

“I realized CX management and stage management are kind of the same job,” Cati explains. Her knack for juggling responsibilities and collaborating across departments made her a natural fit for customer experience leadership. From there, she joined Daily Harvest as one of its earliest employees, helping the startup grow from a single co-working table to over 100 team members. Now at Glossier, she combines her theatrical roots with her CX expertise to oversee day-to-day operations, crisis communication, and the brand’s signature one-to-one approach to customer care.

What Cati Loves About CX

Cati's passion for people management shines through her work, as she describes it as her favorite part of her day-to-day responsibilities. "I think my favorite thing in the world is being able to coach somebody and find something they're excited about and put them in a position where they get to do that or learn more about that," she shares. Her approach centers on identifying individual team members' passions and talents, then crafting opportunities for growth and development tailored to those interests.

The CX Team at Glossier

Cati leads a dynamic and innovative team at Glossier, affectionately called the G Team, which has embraced a remote-first model since before the pandemic. "We have people in the U.S. across every time zone, people in the U.K., and even senior agents who’ve been here for five or six years and know the product better than I ever will," Cati notes. She values the passion and expertise her team brings, with many of her BPO partners working on Glossier's account for nearly a decade and staying because of their deep connection to the brand.

Unique Approach

One standout initiative under Cati's leadership is the Retail Digital Editor program. This unique approach allows retail employees to dedicate one to two days a week to digital CX, engaging with customers via DMs, chats, and social comments. "It's an incredible way for customers who aren’t near a store to get live recommendations from someone in-store, like pairing eyeshadow with a prom dress," she explains. This blending of retail and digital expertise highlights Glossier’s commitment to collaborative, personalized service and showcases Cati's talent for creating innovative, customer-centered solutions.

Hiring Philosophy

Cati emphasizes curiosity as one of the most essential qualities in her team members. "I love people who are curious. It's actually one of our Glossier values," she says, adding that it’s so important to her that she keeps the value on a sticker on her laptop. For Cati, a candidate who asks a lot of questions—particularly "why"—stands out because it shows they're not just accepting the status quo. Instead, they're thinking critically about processes and searching for opportunities to improve.

This curiosity fosters collaboration and ensures the team continues learning and growing. "If our team is always thinking and growing, it’s only going to benefit the customer," she explains. It also helps employees connect with Glossier’s storytelling, enabling them to speak authentically about products and provide a deeper, more engaging customer experience.

CX Team Success Factors

Success at Glossier stems from fostering curiosity and excitement within the team. Employees who actively ask questions, even admitting when they don't know something, create opportunities for growth and collaboration. "I love when the team is like, 'I actually don't know what finance does. Can I shadow finance for a couple of hours?'" says Cati. This openness to learning strengthens interdepartmental relationships and improves collaboration.

Another key factor is genuine enthusiasm for the brand. Glossier thrives on employees who are passionate about its products. "When something new comes out, we're all so excited to jump on a Zoom call and talk about our favorite colors and how we're using it," Cati explains. This authentic connection to the brand enhances team culture and ensures a deeply engaged customer experience.

Data Driven Success

At Glossier, success is driven by combining storytelling with data to evaluate customer interactions and product launches. "I'm always trying to pull both the numbers and the quotes from the customers," Cati shares. This approach ensures the team not only understands how many customers are reaching out but also captures the emotional and qualitative impact of the issue or product.

For example, after a product launch, success might mean different things to different teams. By analyzing customer inquiries—such as how many reached out about a particular issue or the sentiment reflected in the feedback—Cati ensures that both quantitative data and customer stories shape Glossier's decisions. This blend of metrics and empathy helps the team understand their customers deeply and respond effectively, fostering trust and connection.

Revenue Generation/AI/topics of interest 

Cati emphasizes the importance of maintaining Glossier’s hallmark personalized customer service, even as the company grows. “How do we not lose that personal, person-to-person connection?” she asks.

AI plays a crucial role in supporting this mission by handling transactional tasks like WISMOs and returns. By automating routine processes, AI allows expert team members to focus on what they do best—building meaningful connections with customers and providing detailed product knowledge.

The goal, Cati explains, is to ensure that team members have the time and capacity to engage deeply with customers, preserving the brand's reputation for exceptional service while meeting the challenges of scaling effectively.