How Glossier's Boy Brow Changed My Life - Part 2
I was crossing the Bay Bridge, riding shotgun as my dad drove me towards my fifth chemotherapy session at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto. Watching the cables arch and stretch higher into the air as we got closer, I vividly remember feeling my phone vibrate in my lap along with the grates of the highway. Glancing down at the caller ID, thinking it would be my mom or sister calling to check in, but instead seeing “Jess Pinterest.”
She said, “Hey Alyssa! I have kind of a wild question to ask you. Would you possibly be up for speaking at our company wide meeting in San Francisco? It would be me, you and our head engineer talking to our local employees…about 600 people or so…about your Pinterest Story. Basically, exactly what we talked about at your house in Chico! Our founders will be there as well.”
Without hesitation, I said yes. I remember explaining to Jess that I was in the midst of going through chemotherapy, so hopefully wouldn’t be too nauseous or weak a few weeks from then. Thankfully, I was pretty early on in the treatments, so still had energy. And stubbornly decided that nothing was going to stop me from an opportunity like this.
Art in our room at Hotel Zetta
The next thing I knew, I was driving to the Bay Area with my sister a couple weeks later for an entirely different reason. Pinterest provided us a bright and modern room at Hotel Zetta - a trendy accommodation steps away from bustling Union Square. We relaxed at the hotel bar before heading upstairs to get some rest before our exciting morning at Pinterest.
Bright and early, we hopped in the back of our driver’s Mercedes and took off for the office. I type this casually, as if I have Mercedes picking me up every day for work. So don’t get me wrong, we were having a great time. And the experience only continued to exceed my expectations as we stepped through the glass doors of the Pinterest office.
Greeted by security guards, we received name badges and enjoyed the view of the airy space while we waited for Jess to arrive. She led us toward a closed room off the side of the entrance where I met one of their head engineers and a tech lead who would be handling the presentation aspect of the morning. We chatted, had breakfast and Jess gave me a run down of how the meeting would go. Shortly after, I was walking towards the stage and 600 strangers. But we had one BIG thing in common. We all had a passion for Pinterest. And that made me feel right at home.
Right before walking onstage, Jess whispered to me that all of their global offices (Berlin, Dublin, London, Paris, Sao Paulo and Tokyo) would be attending the conference online, as well. I wasn’t nervous or anything (sarcasm)…but thankfully did make it onstage without tripping on the wide legs of my denim jumpsuit.
Telling my “Pinterest Story” to the company was a blur but I recall looking out at the enormous audience and seeing nothing but kind, smiling faces, laughing along with my zany testimonial. Plus, I was wearing Boy Brow and felt confidently natural. So the nerves quickly melted away. I spoke about how the Promoted Pin from Glossier was so “me” and was presented in my Pinterest feed at a time when I really needed it. I had the incredible opportunity to tell the people who worked solely on the Promoted Pins feature how they were changing people’s lives for the better and may not even realize the enormity of their work. It was all over in about 45 minutes, after which the CEO and co-founder of the company (Ben Silbermann & Evan Sharp) thanked me for coming. Genuinely, they are two of the kindest men you could imagine. And doing it all in red New Balance sneakers.
The rest of the morning was spent touring the polished, spacious office. Their snack room contains everything you could possibly crave on any given day and every single employee I met along the way was clearly passionate about the work they were doing. I left Pinterest that day feeling not only humbled by the opportunity to share a little piece of myself but also blessed to have met some of the kindest people. That was the first unforgettable experience I had with Pinterest, but unbeknownst to me, more would follow in the next two years. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to do my part in promoting such an incredible company.
