Wild Geese: ‘Glossybox offered me a new chapter and in a new country’

Rachel Kavanagh is managing director of Glossybox UK and Ireland – an online beauty box business established in 2011, which is now one of the industry's market leaders. Kavanagh lives in London with her husband and two children.

A native of Terenure in Dublin, Kavanagh originally had her own brand – Rockstar Tan – which she established when she graduated with a business, economics and social studies degree from Trinity College in 2007.

She had been in discussions with Glossybox to distribute her brand which was stocked in leading retailers such as Boots and Debenhams. Glossybox is an online beauty retailer that works by selecting five beauty products a month and sending them out to customers.

“I stayed in touch with the MD at Glossybox who then got in touch with me 10 days before my wedding to ask me to interview for her position.

“It was time for a new challenge and I had learnt everything I needed from my own brand. The market was so saturated and I really wanted a new chapter. The job in Glossybox offered me that and in a new country too. The first year was tough – we had an 18-month-old baby and it was a new job – but we are still here 3½ years later.”

Kavanagh and her husband now have two children and Kavanagh returned to work 5½ months after the birth of her second child.

“It’s more challenging with two children. I have a live-in nanny and a very supportive husband. I couldn’t do my job without them.

“In London you spend so much more time commuting. We moved house earlier this year so that we are right beside the Tube station. It shaves 20 minutes off my commute each day so it’s an extra 40 minutes a day with the children. Your life becomes worked into slots of work- and home-life and in trying to find the balance between the two.”

The family live in Parsons Green. “In London, I think wherever you land you tend to stay. Your borough becomes your village. You crave that village mentality even though you give out about it when you live in Ireland,” she laughs.

Kavanagh gets to her office by about 8.15am. The creative, editorial, social and digital and sales departments are all under her remit.

“Sales is a major aspect,” she says. “Making sure the beauty boxes are full each month, that we’ve the correct mix of product... we are very editorial in the way we work so we have a product to produce with a very heavy theme each month. You’re only as good as your last issue, so my day is made up of fast decision-making, monitoring sales and customer reaction. As an online business, it is very sales target driven and very fast-paced – you’re never off.”

In an effort to make her schedule more efficient she attends external meetings either on the way to, or the way home, from the office.

“A lot of my meetings are with parent companies, brands such as Estée Lauder, L’Oréal, P&G or new niche brand founders, PR companies, distribution companies and so on. I do a lot of the networking and the brand pitching and story-telling.”

Kavanagh is a member of CEW (Cosmetic Executive Women) – a not-for-profit professional organisation that gives women a voice and a platform in the beauty industry.

“I got to know their president, Caroline Neville, early on and she has been a wonderful support to me since I joined Glossybox. She is such a force of nature in the beauty industry and a great inspiration.”

Kavanagh says that her academic background in no way prepared her for her working life.

“When I look back on it, the things I wish I’d been taught are things like excellent Powerpoint presentations, excellent Excel skills – basic business skills. It’s only when you get into the workforce that you become aware of what you want to develop and polish through your own learning and self-empowerment.”

The UK’s Brexit decision was “devastating”, she says. “Not to be dramatic but it was like time stood still. My children are Irish with Irish passports, they are European and they will be raised as such. Nothing changes in that respect, even if we remain in London.

“But it has massively dampened my love for the UK and the life we have made here. There is a sense the country is in freefall and I have friends whose jobs and businesses have already been dramatically affected by it.”

From a professional perspective, increased currency insecurity is something the brand needs to keep an even closer eye on, she says.

“With our HQ in Berlin we see ourselves as a European brand, so it was a sad day for us all when we got the news, as we are a very close global team. In general, it’s a matter of waiting it out to see the real implications.”

For now though, Kavanagh says that she has no plans to return to Ireland.

“It was a big commitment to move over and we feel settled and still excited by the city,” she says. “I have been with Glossybox for three years and we have matured from an entrepreneurial start-up into the leading beauty box in the industry. There is still so much more to achieve and I want to be part of that story.”

www.glossybox.ie