A Talk With Teen Vogue: Elaine Welteroth x Warby Parker

Warby Parker was founded with a rebellious spirit and a lofty objective: to offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses, according to their site.

Sound familiar?

In my opinion, Teen Vogue was founded with the same rebellious spirit to offer millennials a space / publication to discuss everything from beauty, fashion, wellness, news, politics and more. A creative and socially conscious magazine that has been around since 2004. (Teen Vogue officially announced on November 2, 2017 that the publication will be discontinuing its print copies to become an online only publication.

A Talk With Teen Vogue hosted by Elaine Weltheroth (Editor- in- Chief of Teen Vogue) and Neil Blumenthal ( 1/4 co-founder of Warby Parker) was the perfect opportunity for Warby Parker and Teen Vogue to came together and discuss entrepreneurship, social impact, vision, purpose and so much more.

The evening started off with green juice and all the Matcha donuts that one could eat as Elaine and Neil started off the conversation by answering questions (audience submitted) that they pulled out of a bag ( a Warby Parker bag of course)

Neil begin by telling the story of how Warby Parker:

"Every idea starts with a problem. Ours was simple: glasses are too expensive. We were students when one of us lost his glasses on a backpacking trip. The cost of replacing them was so high that he spent the first semester of grad school without them, squinting and complaining. (We don’t recommend this.) The rest of us had similar experiences, and we were amazed at how hard it was to find a pair of great frames that didn’t leave our wallets bare. Where were the options?

We believe that buying glasses should be easy and fun. It should leave you happy and good-looking, with money in your pocket.

We also believe that everyone has the right to see.

Almost one billion people worldwide lack access to glasses, which means that 15% of the world’s population cannot effectively learn or work. To help address this problem, Warby Parker partners with non-profits like VisionSpring to ensure that for every pair of glasses sold, a pair is distributed to someone in need. "

Warby Parker has been dedicated to social impact and giving back since it's inception and to date has donated over 3 million pairs of glasses to those in need.

When asked "What advice would you give to your 18 year old self?" Elaine sprung into a story about how she enrolled in a specific college only because her high school boyfriend was going but once she was enrolled she found out he didn't even go there!

As for the advice Elaine stressed to the audience that they should stop at nothing to do what they're passionate about sharing an anecdote about how she "stalked" an editor of a magazine that lead to her landing her first internship.

Three words to her 18 year - old self: Vision - Faith - Go for it !

She also stressed that you should always be honest with yourself and others telling about how she even got her position as the editor of Teen Vogue. Still working at another location and having just recently got a promotion at her current position she was mad aware that the current editor of Teen Vogue had put out a request for her specifically to come on and take the position. Elaine turned down the offer! Telling the current editor that she had recently recieved a promotion and did not want to leave on those terms ( she cites not wanting to come off as entitled or ungrateful to her current boss)

Yet, instill the editor of Teen Vogue was persistent having called Elaines current boss to ask permission for Elaine to leave her current position to go over to Teen Vogue and become an editor. The rest is history...

My take away from that moment: What the universe has for you will always be for you and will always find it's way to you! You cannot stop , alter or ignore the blessing and calling over your life!

Overall, I left this event feeling very inspired by the vision and the work that both Elaine and Neil put in to get where they are today. More importantly, I'm inspired by both of their "it's bigger than me" mentalities and the social impact they've created.

You can visit Teen Vogue at https://www.teenvogue.com/ or purchase a pair of Warby Parker frames at https://www.warbyparker.com/