What It's Really Like Being a Social Media Manager for e.l.f. Beauty Brands
A candid group chat with the eyes, lips and faces who are our channel managers behind e.l.f.’s social community.
Welcome to the group chat, where the people behind e.l.f. Beauty’s popular feeds get real.
Ever wonder how posts reach 17.6 million+ fans across e.l.f. Cosmetics, e.l.f. SKIN, Keys Soulcare or Well People?
We pulled our channel managers into a live Zoom to talk about the tools in their toolboxes, on-the-fly pivots and the secret sauce to make a post sing. (And yes, they answered some of your questions!) These are the people who spend their day surprising and delighting our community and they’re about to share what a day in their jobs is like.
(And let us know which area of e.l.f. Beauty you’d like to see behind the curtain next!)
Here is a lightly edited transcript of our chat, but first up: Meet our channel managers!
Chelsea Carey, Sr. Manager, Social Media, e.l.f. Cosmetics
One word to describe your job: Ever-changing
Fave product: e.l.f. SKIN Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm
Alessia Renna, Assoc. Manager, Social Media, e.l.f. Cosmetics
One word to describe your job: Inspiring
Fave product: Glow Reviver Lip Oil in Jam Session
Lexi Leap, Manager, Social Media, e.l.f. SKIN
One word to describe your job: Fluid
Fave product: e.l.f. SKIN Vitamin C + E + Ferulic Serum
Takyrah Jones, Manager, Influencer & Community, Keys Soulcare
One word to describe your job: Impactful
Fave product: So hard! But the Keys Soulcare, Sheer Flush Cheek Tint
Madison Dahlke, Sr. Manager, IMC, Well People
One word to describe your job: Dynamic
Fave product: Well People’s Expressionist Brow Pencil in Taupe
e.l.f.itor: So excited to let everyone join our group chat here! Can you start off with how long you’ve been at e.l.f. and your journey to how you got here?
Chelsea: I’ve been here two and a half years. Before this, I was at The Honest Company. Before that, I was at advertising agencies, doing everything from social media to influencer marketing, blog writing, which I think prepared me for e.l.f.’s fast pace, because of all of the product launches we have, all of the campaigns we have going on in a given moment, being able to switch your brain from one project to the next.
Maddy: On top of doing Well People’s social, I also run Well People’s influencer events and PR. I have been at e.l.f. Beauty over four years. I love all things Well People.
Before this, I was at Moon Juice and before that, I was one of seven at the very beginning of the brand Kosas, which was really awesome. And before that, I was actually in magazines. I kind of feel like there’s a little bit of crossover with what we do now in PR and doing everyday social and copywriting.
Lexi: I’ve been at e.l.f. Beauty less than a year as the social media manager for e.l.f. SKIN, which is super exciting because we just branched out from the e.l.f. Cosmetics social channels last May. My job is all about creating that brand awareness, specifically on social for e.l.f. SKIN and differentiating it as its own brand with its own tone and voice. Before this, I was at NYX Cosmetics. I graduated during COVID and I worked Glossier retail for a little bit at a pop-up. I did Sephora retail for a little bit in college and the summer after college.
Alessia: I’ve been at e.l.f. Beauty for three years, which is crazy. Before this, I worked at an agency. It was almost like an incubator program with Erewhon, and we helped a lot of new brands that came into the store find their footing with social, influencer, PR, activations, all that good stuff. Prior to that, I was at Guess Jeans.
My day-to-day is really just everything you see. That’s the double-edged sword of social. Everything you do gets put out into the universe for everyone to see. It’s really wonderful and rewarding in the sense that you can see the direct impact of your work almost instantaneously, but it also means that everybody can see and comment on what you do. I choose to think about it in a positive way and have that kind of mindset. I work on all of our product launches, campaigns and our day-to-day social calendar. There’s never a shortage of content to be made!
Takyrah: My background is really in PR. I was bouncing around at different PR agencies, but I found that I really just loved connecting with talent. I took the first influencer marketing role that I could and it was in Food and Bev. I was at Vita Coco for almost three years. During that time, I started posting on TikTok about strategy for creators and PR moves I would do if I were on this person’s team or that person’s team. They started doing well. It started getting attention from agencies that I really loved and admired. That’s how I started working on talent and brand strategy at Kensington Grey. And then I went over to the Dime Agency, did the same thing. I’ve always loved beauty.
When this opportunity came around, honestly, it felt like my dream job. It was everything that I wanted in one role. I was working with influencer, back to my PR roots and working with like celebrity and A-list talent, but then also got to be really strategic because the brand is growing. I’ve been on Keys Soulcare for a year as of January 6. I run all of our influencer partnerships as well as community initiatives and activations. It’s awesome.
“Everything you do gets put out into the universe for everyone to see.”
e.l.f.itor: What’s your day-to-day like?
Chelsea: The day-to-day question is so hard because it seriously changes so much, depending on what’s going on. I feel like a normal day is checking in with my team, making sure everything’s going well. Also, overseeing the status of all of the campaigns and product launches that we have. Lots of meetings to get the low down on what everyone else is doing as far as it relates to those campaigns and product launches to make sure everything stays afloat on social.
Maddy: Mine is very different every single day. I’m a team of one doing multiple jobs, so it’s either making a PR list or it’s creating an asset on Canva or it’s finding influencers and doing influencer briefs, working with our PR team, creating an event. It honestly is different every single day. I block out a few days at the end of the month to strictly build out the social calendar for the month so that it’s the least thing I have to worry about on the day-to-day.
Lexi: Alessia, we are going to say the exact same thing.
Alessia: We’re so in sync, our answers are gonna be the same.
Lexi: In this group, just in general, it’s probably the same. As Chelsea said, it definitely looks so different every single day. I don’t think there’s really much of a routine. It’s getting social posts up, checking in. I’m a team of two with my intern. I check in with her and make sure we’re good on all of our content for the week, plan all the content for the next week, brief the creative team or creators on content or sometimes shooting, filming and editing content myself. I really do love to create content. Sometimes, when we have campaigns or events, a lot of prepping for that.
Alessia: Every day, it changes. We’re always working on a lot. I think it’s funny when people in the comments are like, “e.l.f., do you guys ever sleep?” Of course, we sleep, but we really are always cooking up something.
I work really closely with the creative team to make sure all of our content is really engaging and distinctive. I love the relationship we have because I feel like we spit all ideas off each other every single day. Some days it feels like a really normal corporate job where I’m in back-to-back meetings all day, answering emails, getting decks together, writing briefs, etc. And then, sometimes, I’m in New York wearing a costume around the office, filming for an upcoming secret launch, running around looking like a lunatic. So, there’s a spectrum and you never know what end of the spectrum you’re going to be on, on any given day. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Takyrah: Like everyone here, it changes, especially when we have a new product launching or a campaign. But day to day, I’m sourcing, contracting, creatively briefing all of our influencers on our month-to-month content for paid partnerships. On the community end, it’s daily speaking in our broadcast channel, keeping them engaged. We like to host different things, from giveaways, exclusive, surprise and delights, really fun things to connect and grow with them. On a week-to-week basis, we host a lot of lightworker sessions. [Editor note: Being a Keys Soulcare lightworker only requires two things: being your authentic self and sharing your light with the world.] This is Keys Soulcare’s version of an influencer office tour. We use that as an opportunity to connect with creators IRL because we are completely DTC. We have them come into the office and do everything from like snacks and girl chat, but then also get down to business and share about Keys. They get an opportunity to learn more about the brand and our offerings IRL. It’s a great time to connect with people and I love that I get to do that on a consistent basis.
e.l.f.itor: What you all have in common is that every day is different. One of our readers actually asked how you stay organized. What’s your secret?
Alessia: I love Notion.
e.l.f.itor: What the e.l.f. is that?
Alessia: Please, let me enlighten you. It’s an online note-taking site where you can create different collections of notes. I have a 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 collection and then in each collection, I break it out by month, by week and by day. It’s awesome. It’s so organized and has so many emojis. It’s incredible. It’s a social media girl’s dream.
I have to-do lists per day with checkboxes. The best part is when I go to make the next week, I can carry over anything that didn’t get finished from last week. That’s my favorite thing. That’s my life hack. I am not the same person that I was before I discovered this. Everyone’s different, but I need to be able to move things around and plug and play. The emojis make it fun and make it less of a chore to stay organized.
Also, my favorite Slack hack is the Remind Me feature. If Lexi messages me asking when would be a good date for our next e.l.f. SKIN and e.l.f. Cosmetics collab post, and I’m in a meeting but I need to remember to look at the calendar after, I’ll just literally click the three dots and be like, remind me in an hour. Those are my hacks. Please enjoy.
Chelsea: I love Slack so much, because that is the way we communicate internally. Every now and then, you’ll get an email recap, but daily communication moves so quickly that we all rely on Slack.
I use Slack Canvas feature for keeping my team organized. I’ll lay out all of the campaigns that are happening, what days they’re launching, where the run of show for the social calendar is and then it’s basically like our bible. If you need any information on the campaigns that are happening, you just go to our team touchbase canvas and everything is right there and no one has to go searching for it.
Maddy: I am a physical notetaker. I have a notebook with a to-do list, and get immense joy being able to cross things off the list. If someone is to send me an article, I have to print it out and read it. It’s just the way that I am.
One that hasn’t been mentioned that I find really helpful is AirTable. It’s like Well People’s little hub. We each have our own place. We can look at what each other is doing because every single thing that we do crosses over. That has been very helpful in keeping us on top of moving parts without having to bug each other for anything.
Lexi: I feel like I’m learning a lot here because I need to implement all of these things. I do use the Canvas feature in Slack with my intern, which is super helpful. We have a canvas for all the things that we’re working on and like Alessia said, since we do shared channels on some of the secondary platforms, we do have canvases for planning those with the interns.
I feel like I want to be doing what Alessia is doing, but mine is the really chaotic DIY version. I use the Notes app. I have 8,000 notes and they’re not categorized. It’ll start with a to-do list and then it’s like a restaurant we should do an event at and then it’s content ideas for Valentine’s Day. I wouldn’t recommend my methods to anyone. But I thrive in the chaos. I know where everything is.
Takyrah: I’m also learning a lot. The Keys social team uses Excel. There are only a few of us, so we just all want to have full visibility into what we’re working with.
Honestly, I think it’s just a lot of communication. We’re really big on one-on-ones and just taking out the time to connect and chat.
I’m a little bit more old-fashioned, as well. I carry a journal with me. I write everything down and make lists. Yes, I’ll put it in my tracker so everyone knows what’s going on. But we all touch base start of the week and end of week. Then across the finish line.
“When you start to see every other brand jump on a trend, you want to be the one people remember.”
e.l.f.itor: There were a few questions from readers asking how you balance evergreen campaigns and fast-moving cultural or social trends while staying original and true to the brand. How do you decide when to move quickly and what signals tell you a trend is worth building on rather than just reacting to?
Alessia: These are great questions. The great thing about e.l.f. Cosmetics and all the e.l.f. Beauty brands is: We don’t subscribe to the status quo. We do a really good job at identifying cultural moments that are relevant to us, where we can execute in a way that is unique to e.l.f. We call it incorporating the e.l.f. wink into trends.
In terms of balancing content, flexibility is the most important thing. You really do have to roll with the punches.
There are times when you might plan to post three times in a day and end up only being able to post once. Or there are times when you might plan to post twice and end up posting four times. Being able to work in real time with other teams, staying flexible and in good communication is very important. That’s how we’re able to hop on things so fast.
Chelsea: The funniest thing about trends and — it might show my age — is just like the generational gap between what I see on my For You Page and what like our Gen Z interns see on their For You Page. I remember the 6-7 trend and I still don’t think I understand it.
It’s being able to adapt, be a sponge and understand the trend and the context. Not only is it the trend itself and, like Alessia said, making it relevant to your brand, but also going a layer deeper and asking, “What is the humorous approach to this?” When you start to see every other brand jump on a trend, you want to be the one people remember. Was it humorous? Was it entertaining? That’s ultimately where social media is going.
People are doomscrolling, but they want to be entertained. They want to laugh and have a nice departure from their day. So not only jumping on the trend, but making it memorable, shareable and so people want to engage with it and go a level deeper.
“We don’t subscribe to the status quo. We call it incorporating the e.l.f. wink into trends.”
Lexi: On the point of, “give it that e.l.f. wink...” I feel like e.l.f. has creatively challenged me more than any other place. In the past, I’ve been tasked with just keeping up with the trends or jumping on the trends and being one of the first to do the trend or like slap the brand name on it. Here, it’s really about finding a way to do the trend or to have a take on the trend that only e.l.f can do or even deciding that as e.l.f., we don’t align with this trend. The discernment.
The test that I hold myself to is: “Could you take this piece of content and put any other brand on it or put any other product in it and it work for that brand?” If it does work for another brand, then it’s probably not something that we as e.l.f. want to put out there. We want to really carry through uniqueness in all of our content.
Maddy: When I first started, I definitely wanted to jump on every trend, but that doesn’t always work for this specific brand. It’s having to edit yourself. At the end of the day, Well People is a makeup brand, however, it’s not a full-beat look like e.l.f. Cosmetics. We are more like a lifestyle makeup brand, so there’s a lot that doesn’t align with the brand voice. It’s really learning how to fine-tooth edit. What are the trends that align with our community?
It’s so hard to say. I feel like I’ve just lived and breathed this brand for four years, so it’s almost ingrained in my brain. Many people will ask me, “How do you do it?” It literally just lives in here.
And as Alessia said, flexibility and the ability to pivot are essential. There are times when the social calendar has been locked in for like a month and then I have to rejig the night before. It’s about being able to pivot last minute and show up in a meaningful way.
Takyrah: The throughline is, for all of our brands, any sort of trend has to feel very on brand. We really do have a way of all making it our own. We’re very particular with what we put our name on.
Keys is very rooted in a philosophy and a lifestyle, so we want to feel like we’re creating an experience. We also always have to think in Alicia Keys likeness. I’m always making sure that I’m engaging with posts that make sense to her as a person.
e.l.f.itor: One reader asked: How do you maintain being cheeky and original to your brand voice? And also, what’s the drafting and review process like internally?
Maddy: For brand voice, I feel as if when you know, you know. My review process is a little different than the others since Well People is such a lean team. However, there are times when you just need a second set of eyes on copy or an asset. In that case, my brand team is always there to bounce ideas off of.
Alessia: It depends what kind of content it is. The thing that I love is that we do have so much autonomy over the creative things that we work on.
Lexi, you said it best: e.l.f. has challenged me the most creatively, but in the best way possible. I love being able to push the boundaries. The people here drive me to be more creative and they have the best little nuggets of wisdom. I love asking, “How can we take it to the next level or change it to make it even better?” Because even if something is good, how can we make it great?
In terms of the review process, if it’s something that I’m briefing into the creative team specifically for social, either evergreen or for a launch, that’s something we review internally all together. For campaigns, it can vary and depends on the involvement of any external partners that may need approval. We have a really great system and process going. It’s a very collaborative environment, and we have a lot of opportunities to make the channel really fun and in the e.l.f. vision.
“e.l.f. really listens to the community. Not just commenting back, ‘We love you bestie.’”
e.l.f.itor: One reader asked how you build a community of people on social media, especially for a big brand like e.l.f.? What are your tips?
Chelsea: The most difficult part, especially as algorithms change, is: Yes, we have a core demographic, but we’re also for every eye, lip and face. There’s never going to be a shortage of new audiences that we’re trying to tap into.
The blessing of TikTok and Instagram is the discoverability. Continuing to think about our content as not only satisfying the audience that we know loves us, but also the people who don’t follow us yet. What can we put out there on our social channels to make them interested in following e.l.f.?
Ultimately, organic social is more of an awareness tool than a conversion tool. We’re just trying to get our name out there, to make you aware of our new products, to make you laugh with our Liquid Death collab. Hopefully, with all of those things that you see from us, you’ll think about buying from us in whatever store or online.
Lexi: I have a twofold answer on this. When we first started the e.l.f. SKIN Instagram, broadcast channels were really popping off, so we decided to build a community there. Our community within the broadcast channel is super loyal, so reactive. It really is an inside look into the brand. It’s me, the community management team or my intern actually in there writing, sharing sneak peeks from set. People love to feel close to the brand, and we love giving that inside access to our most loyal community members.
The second part, and probably the biggest thing I’ve noticed, is that e.l.f. really listens to the community. Not just commenting back, “We love you bestie,” but in product innovations. I’ve seen so many products come out because of an Instagram comment like “make it in this shade.” The first e.l.f. SKIN toner happened because everyone wanted one to go with the Thirst Burst Drops. It’s different to say “we hear you” versus to actually see the product that you dreamed of. I’m getting a little cheesy and sentimental, but I think it’s very beautiful.
elfitor: What is something you’ve delivered that was directly requested by the community — whether a product or a piece of social content that went viral — or when was a time you felt especially connected to them?
Alessia: The most wonderful thing about e.l.f. is that truly, everything we do is inspired by the community. One thing that always stands out to me is Bronzing Drops. The community was asking every single day, nonstop. It was every TikTok comment that I saw. People were saying they would get tattoos. It was truly e.l.f.ing unhinged. I really like how we incorporated the comments into the rollout of that launch. That was really a fun thing to see the community react to as well.
When I am concepting for our product launches, I have buckets in my head of the type of content that we need. One that is always a part of our launch rollouts is a community bucket, finding ways to feature the comments and requests from our e.l.f.ies. We are always there listening.
We also like to ask the community what they liked about a new product and what they want to see next. That’s really something we try to build into all of our launches because it is genuinely so important. I love that our campaigns and launches are built on insights.
“The most wonderful thing about e.l.f. is that truly, everything we do is inspired by the community.”
Chelsea: I was going to say Bronzing Drops, too, not only for the reasons Alessia mentioned, but the lead-up to that launch was really fun.
We typically tease a product a few days before it launches so that people aren’t anxiously waiting to get their hands on it. But for Bronzing Drops, knowing how long-awaited and highly requested it was, we did what we call breadcrumb teasers. I think the first one was like three months before, and then two months before, one month before, and then immediately right before — from most cryptic to most obvious, the closer we got to launch. One was an “I Spy” graphic where we partnered with a content creator named Skin Illustrated, and she made a collage of all of our existing products and then there was a tiny, little Bronzing Drop that you needed eagle eyes to notice. It was really fun to see in the comments. We also did, at the time, those burnaway cakes were really popular, so we went to a local bakery and got a burnaway cake.
The people who have been asking for it, they understood what we were trying to say and the little wink, and then other people caught on. We were building that excitement.
I love being able to bring in the community and give them something surprising and interesting that they weren’t expecting from us.
elfitor: What’s a favorite post or concept you came up with to bring a campaign to life or a standout moment at e.l.f.?
Takyrah: For Keys Soulcare’s new tinted lip balm shades, the affirmation attached to them was, “I put myself first.” I’m so grateful for my team for allowing us to have really fun ideas and being able to execute on them.
But I was like, why don’t we showcase the glow getters behind the brand and really showcase real women and how this lip balm can empower you in your day-to-day life? So we did this office shoot with the tinted lip balm shades, and we all got to share how we put ourselves first, whether that’s like just being yourself and being authentic or sharing your ideas and unmuting yourself on Zoom. There are ways that you can just put yourself first in the work environment. That was really fun and the community responded really positively to it. I think they just enjoyed seeing real women and real people.
Maddy: For Well People, one of our biggest differentiators is our plant powers. Think broccoli seed oil, Jojoba oil, pomegranate seed oil, and everything that’s in there. I was trying to figure out a way that wasn’t just posting an infographic on a screen that says olive oil and Jojoba oil. I started sourcing videos of animals eating whatever the ingredient was we were trying to educate on. For example, broccoli seed oil. It would be an animal eating broccoli and then in the caption, a deep dive into the ingredient education, and those perform very well. It ended up getting put into the brand book of what we’d like to keep doing on social for education aspects. I liked that. They are fun to look for and fun when they perform well.
Alessia: I really liked the broccoli freckles. That was a good one.
Maddy: Yeah, that one was good too. That was a trend. It was putting our bronzer on broccoli and then putting that on.
Alessia: We did something to celebrate Grimace’s birthday and we worked with the creative and brand teams to come up with the idea of doing a purple Power Grip Primer. It ended up being one of our top performing post of the past two years on Instagram.
Sometimes it’s really the unexpected stuff. There were two memes that I created of nostalgic e.l.f. products that ended up also being in our top 10 posts of the past two years. We love some e.l.f.stalgia around here!
“Brands can talk the talk, but do they walk the walk? e.l.f. definitely does both.”
e.l.f.itor: We always say “One Team, One Dream” at e.l.f. Beauty and it’s so awesome to see everyone cheering each other on right now.
Alessia: I’m also just Maddy’s biggest fan in life because I think she’s the coolest.
Maddy: I think you’re the coolest!
elfitor: On the topic of positivity, what’s your favorite part of your job at e.l.f. Beauty?
Alessia: The best part of e.l.f. is the people, truly. When I first came here, I remember being introduced at a Town Hall meeting, a bi-weekly call with the entire company, and how everyone in the chat was like “welcome, welcome, welcome!” All these people that I hadn’t even met yet were so excited for me and happy for me to be there. I’ll never forget that. Three years later and I always look forward to returning that energy and welcoming new hires on Town Hall with lots of e.l.f. love!
e.l.f. is truly special because the people really do love each other so much. We are one team, one dream and we have such an incredible bond and support system. The best part of the job is being excited to go to work every day.
Lexi: I agree. You really do have a lot of autonomy. Everyone really does treat you like the expert, like you were hired for a reason and you’re here for a reason. You’re valued. You feel creatively liberated here and creatively challenged, but also get to think outside the box and do fun things. The world is like my content oyster.
elfitor: OK seriously, what’s your screen time like?
Lexi: It’s a little scary. I looked at my screen time. Actually, at our influencer event the other night, I had a higher screen time than all the influencers. It’s quite bad, but it’s for research, so...
Maddy: You can never, never with this job look at your screen time. It’ll scare the crap out of you. I would say the same thing as Alessia and Lexi: The people really make it the best, honestly. I’m just inspired by everyone. I think everyone’s a badass. And the fact that it’s majority women is just even cooler.
To add a little something different, I’d have to say my least favorite and favorite thing are actually the same. I love that every day is so different and I love how fast-paced it is, but sometimes I absolutely hate it and I would just like to be able to log in, do something. Just one monotonous day would be nice, but I know I would hate that if we had it. So, you know, catch 22.
Chelsea: I love how much we’re able to do in a given year. I look back at what I’ve done since the beginning that I’ve been here and all of the amazing once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I’ve had in my 10-plus-year career at this point. That’s the most special part about e.l.f.
My favorite partnership that we’ve done that’s continued to evolve is our partnership with women in sports, specifically with Katherine Legge. She’s so inspiring to me, and I’ve never been at a company that valued uplifting women’s voices like that. Brands can talk to talk, but do they walk the walk? e.l.f. definitely does both, with our strategic partnerships like that one. Being able to bring that partnership to life on social and bring our community into it has been one of my favorite parts of working at e.l.f.
What should we unpack next? Let us know in the comments!
Love this so much! The wonderful e.l.f. Cosmetics team creating truly iconic content ✨
Always love a peek behind the curtain. Thx for posting! <3