Glossy's Editor-in-Chief Jill Manoff reveals her 5am morning routine

The Editor-in-Chief of Glossy.co on her early morning proofing, the importance of regular creative meetings, and the best career advice she ever got.

Hi everyone, happy Tuesday! Last month I was so glad to chat with Jill Manoff, the Editor-in-Chief of Glossy.co.

I really enjoy Glossy, which covers the business side of fashion and beauty.

After this interview, so many of the PR folks in my network reached out to say “How did you get Jill?!” - she’s a notoriously difficult pitch, because she’s so committed to only featuring products, brands, and stories that are truly newsworthy in Glossy. Made me feel especially glad for the chance to pick her brain.

Find the full Content People episode here, on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. A few of my favorite snippets are below. Jill - thank you so much!

Meredith: What’s an average day in the life like for you?

Jill: I am an early bird; I get up in the wee hours. Off-hours is when I get my most work done in terms of writing and the nuts-and-bolts things because I don't want to sacrifice my time with my team [during the day]. And I have long days. There are various meetings that are happening. Maybe we're choosing speakers for our next event, or we’re talking about judges for our next awards program, or I'm meeting with the publisher, telling her about our content calendar for the next month. And she's thinking, ‘Ooh, maybe I can sell something around that.’ So it’s various meetings, various podcasts. I do one-on-ones with my team every week. And we do daily huddles, just talking through story ideas and what we're seeing. And I'm very adamant, I never cancel those. That is where the good stuff happens and where the great brainstorming happens.

Meredith: I totally agree about not canceling those creative meetings. When you say you get up super early - what time are you getting up and writing or working?

Jill: I'm Central time as opposed to East Coast time. And, this is my, like, obsessive behavior: I have to do a final check before our newsletter goes out at 6 a.m. Eastern. So I'm always up before 5 a.m. I don't need a lot of sleep. I've been like this my whole life. My mother always says ‘You're gonna burn out!’ and I'm like, ‘Hasn't happened yet.’ It's just how I work. But I have to check [the newsletter] to make sure everything's in order and as it should be. And I find that I do my most creative, focused writing in the morning, too. I'm not like fishing around in my email.

Meredith: Another reason to sign up for the Glossy newsletter: Jill has proofed it for you that morning! What do you think has been the best career advice you've ever received?

Jill: When I was at Sears Holdings, my boss at the time, Amanda, told me ‘Don't ever apologize.’ And to me, that sounds like it could be, like, a bitch thing to say: ‘I'm not going to apologize!’ But I am a conscientious worker and I do not half-ass the work I do, I'll always do my best, no matter what. And so I think for anybody that, like, you do the work, you're proud of it - just own it, own your work, and stop apologizing. I think [apologizing] is more popular, maybe, among women. But that's been in my head ever since. And I watched her work and she was such a power woman. She doesn't apologize. It was very inspiring to me.

Meredith: I have to work on that myself, too. I think that if you're very high on the conscientious scale, you're always like, ‘But I could have done 130 percent and it would have been even better!’

Jill: For sure. Just own it.

Meredith: What do you think is the best career advice that you've ever given someone else?

Jill: At one point, we were hiring so much, it was right before the pandemic, and our Head of HR had everyone on the executive team write up some advice for new hires. And she likes to call out what mine said - I think it applies to other jobs, too - my advice was: ‘Choose to be great here because nobody's standing in your way.’ We're not flat, but there's not a lot of superiority, and, especially because we're so young, nimble, trying things, and just open, I think you're going to get the opportunity to make your role your own. I think that anywhere you go, choose to be great and give it your all. I think it's good advice."