Allison Nye, Birchbox’s Ops Guru

August 3rd, 2020

Allison Nye currently leads Ops at Birchbox, a New York City-based online monthly subscription service that sends its subscribers a box of four to five selected samples of makeup, or other beauty related products. From starting her career at Anthropologie and discovering her passion for working at stores, to developing Birchbox’s first retail strategy - Allison has continuously pushed herself to navigate in a world of uncertainty and ambiguity.

In this feature, Allison shares with us how her degree in Art History, Material Culture, and European Studies influenced her early career, what she learned about herself at Anthropologie, her role as the VP of Ops at Birchbox, and ultimately, her desire to aspire to herself. Read along to soak up her incredible career advice for ambitious women, such as yourself.

Early Career

You graduated from University of Madison - Wisconsin with a degree in Art History, Material Culture, and European Studies. How did what you learned in school benefit you in your early career?

I learned that I didn’t need to have all of the answers. I was undecided for the majority of my college career. I was interested in so much and didn’t have a clear career path ahead of me. I learned how to make hard decisions and follow where my true passions lay in art and travel. I was able to build my own form of a career off of that and use my experiences to my advantages.

Anthropologie & Birchbox

You spent several years moving up the ladder at Anthropologie. What did you learn about your own career ambitions as you progressed from one role to the next within the same company?

I was surprised how much I loved working in stores. I was so eager to learn and was fascinated about all of the work and different pieces it takes to run an operationally efficient store while maintaining such a special customer experience. From my time at Anthropologie, I learned that I love working with people - both customers and large teams. I found so much joy in learning how to coach and motivate team members and watch them progress in their own careers. I also love building trust and relationships with customers by creating innovative and surprisingly delightful shopping experiences. I know that I always want my work to include working with people.

After Anthropologie, you moved on to Birchbox as a General Manager. What was it like going from a national retail brand to a startup? What surprised you most?

There is nothing that can prepare you for working for a startup. The energy and drive of the people at Birchbox is intoxicating and it pushes me to want to work harder and smarter. The most surprising thing about working for a start up is how much control you have as an employee to innovate and create our own reality.

You’ve been with Birchbox for several years, watching it grow from a small NYC-based startup to a nationally recognized beauty brand. What has been the biggest achievement you’ve made in the past several years at Birchbox?

That is a great question. I feel very lucky to have had many of my largest career achievements while at Birchbox. One of my favorite accomplishments was launching Birchbox’s first retail strategy and participating in the launch of experiential retail with our first brick and mortar store in Soho as well as our traveling pop-up shop that was built in the back of shipping container. We allowed our subscribers to vote on the locations we parked and unveiled the store inside the container. It was such a fun and different experience and it was fun to see our customers so excited.

As an operations guru, you handle everything from general ops, to people & culture, to customer ops, to retail. What are the key skills that you’ve learned while managing and leading operations at Birchbox?

Managing through ambiguity and flexibility. When you work so closely with people, you need to get used to things not always going to plan. I had to learn how to manage through uncertainty and be a source of calm during the storms. I have learned that there is a solution to any situation.

You’ve spent your entire career at two companies. Many young professionals today feel the ‘itch to switch’ every 1-2 years. What advice do you have about sticking it out at a company for several years, and why do you think doing that has benefited you in the long run?

I think if a company is doing right by you and investing in your development by providing opportunities for training or exposure, why not stick around? The most rewarding learnings from my career have been in the latter years of my career at Birchbox. I have grown in ways that have surprised me and it gave me time to demonstrate my abilities which led to my placement in the VP, Operations role.

Advice

What do you wish you knew when you were first starting your career?

Ask for what you want. I believe that the relationship with an employer is reciprocal. If an employee is performing to job expectations, the employer should be able to provide training, development, or exposure to projects. While that seems like a given, it took me a while to realize that i need to be the owner of my destiny and clearly vocalize the types of opportunities i was interested in and the career track i wanted to be on. I trusted my managers from that point to help prepare me for that moment whether the opportunities came within or outside of Birchbox.

Who is one woman you aspire to be like?

I am inspired by many women who have become before me. One woman who has made a major impact on my life is Pooja Agarwal, Birchbox’s previous COO. She was a trailblazer as a woman of color in operations and I thank for her for making my job today easier than it would have been when she started in the field.

Honestly, I want to aspire to myself. I want to be my own form of trailblazer as a Black woman in operations and technology. I want to do work that initiates systematic change and provides opportunities to disadvantaged communities to get tech and ops fields. I want to make my field a little easier to navigate for the women who are to follow.