Gen Z wants a conversation, not a lecture. That was one of the key takeaways from the Vogue Business How to Reach Gen Z in 2025 event last Wednesday, as speakers from creator Alix Earle to brand executives from Coach and Elf Beauty, explained how they’re resonating with young people today. Produced in collaboration with Amazon Beauty, the event took place in the W Hollywood, against the backdrop of the LA skyline, and featured conversation from Melis del Rey, Health and Beauty General Manager at Amazon US Stores. The content centered around one crucial idea: brands must create a dialogue with young consumers, bringing them in on product decisions and pulling back the curtain, in order to drive loyalty and value.
Here’s what you missed from the Vogue Business How to Reach Gen Z in 2025 summit.
In conversation with Alix Earle
“My content is my online diary. If you watch my videos, you know me pretty well as a person,” Earle told senior trends editor Lucy Maguire. Earle kicked off the day with a keynote interview, in which she explained how vulnerability and relatability has led to her becoming one of the world’s most prominent creators, with millions of Instagram and TikTok followers and over 1.5 billion TikTok likes.
The creator leans into this authenticity, not just across her personal posts, but also via her sponsored content for brands. She explained how one of her best-performing branded posts was for a moisturizer, where she applied face cream while sitting on her boyfriend’s back as he did push ups, reaching millions of views. When partnering with Microsoft’s AI assistant Copilot, Earle had already submitted her post to the tech brand. But she later shot a funny video on a whim, asking the AI if she looked 40 years old (after a troll had commented that online). Microsoft opted for the latter version over the more polished content, becoming their most-viewed TikTok ad to date, at 10 million views. “That was a risk for them, because it’s a little bit more humorous and random, but it ended up going well,” Earle said, highlighting that the more creative autonomy brands give her, the better their posts perform.
Looking to the future, Earle outlined YouTube as a key priority. Her audience is increasingly enjoying longer-form content that provides deeper insight into her life, as she moves beyond social media into investing. At the end of the session, Earle teased that she will also be taking on the role of founder next year, with further details currently under wraps.
“I’ll be putting out something I’ve been working on and ideating [around] since I graduated college, so next year will be a really, really big year for me,” she said. “I can’t say too much yet, but I’m very excited.”
Gen Z broke the marketing funnel. What did they build instead?
For the second session of the day, we gathered four executives from some of Gen Z’s favorite brands, to unpack part one of our Gen Z Broke the Marketing Funnel report. Speakers reinforced the importance of aligning with unexpected cultural moments to cut through the social media noise and create emotional resonance among Gen Zs as the first port of call, while providing enhanced product and performance information for those who wish to lift the lid.
Elf Beauty chief integrated marketing officer Patrick O’Keefe explained how the brand dropped snacks, cat food and Elf SPF out of a plane and into the ocean for creator Oliver Widger, who was in the thick of a solo sailing expedition, garnering a great response from the Elf community. Likewise, Coach SVP of strategy and consumer insights Jennifer Yue shared how Coach responds to the aspects of culture women feel most connected to, from The Summer I Turned Pretty to the WNBA. Ouai CEO Hannah Beals explained that the haircare brand leans on emotional reasons for products to win consumers on social media. When the brand launched an anti-dandruff shampoo two years ago, its campaign was playfully entitled Stop Flaking on Your Plans. “We didn’t actually lean into the performance or the claims of the product at all, and we felt that that resonated a lot more with that audience,” Beals shared.
George Heaton, founder of luxury streetwear label Represent, explained how Gen Z’s lifestyle is increasingly centered around sports and wellness, so brands aligning with the fields are building strong connections. Heaton believes that posting on YouTube is driving the most loyal brand community of any channel, as Gen Zs love honest, long-form content.
The comments section emerged as another key playground for brands seeking to reach Gen Z. O’Keefe revealed that Elf creates products based on feedback from customers in the comments section, while Heaton underlined the importance of lifting the lid on the process of brand-building to appeal to young entrepreneurial consumers.
Disrupting the beauty market for a new consumer
Continuing on the theme of dialogue, Sarah Cheung, founder of viral lip tint brand Sacheu, explained how she developed a contour stain off the back of the brand’s TikTok comments. Sacheu currently sells a lip tint every six seconds and the founder feels it’s because she found a solution to a problem Gen Z was facing.
Cheung, as well as fellow Gen Z beauty founders Claudia Sulewski of Cyklar and Deepica Mutyala of Live Tinted, explained how they launched their lines with just one or a very limited selection of products. “You have to bootstrap in those early days and learn everything,” Sulewski said. She launched Cyklar with a singular body cream, before taking feedback to build out her range of body washes and fragrances. “You’ve got to get your hands dirty and learn,” Cheung agreed.
Each of the three panelists were creators before founding their brands, but acknowledge that being a creator-founder does not mean you automatically win with Gen Z. “My followers know Live Tinted is my brand already, and they’re already customers,” Mutyala said. “But you can’t grow just within your audience, there’s a limit to that.”
Mythbusting Gen Z
In our fourth session of the day, US reporter Madeleine Schulz was joined on stage by three young founders, to unpack some common myths around Gen Z. Ziad Ahmed, head of next gen at United Talent Agency (UTA), underlined that co-creation, honesty and collaboration is the way to show this generation your values.
Ahead of the panel, UTA creator and honest comic Jake Shane had just signed a TV deal with Hulu, which signifies a shift, Ahmed said. “When we were kids, the idea was aspirational excellence, right? You want to look perfect and be perfect, and that’s really what was sold to us,” he said. “Now, it’s about aspirational unapologeticness. We’re looking for permission to be our full selves. We’re tired of self-editing and self-curating. We’re tired of all this performance that we’re asked to do.”
While much of the event was focused on digital approaches to business, Pia Mance, founder of jewelry label Heaven Mayhem, suggested that Gen Z prefers to connect offline. Heaven Mayhem often hosts community events for regular customers, to learn from them and get to know them as friends, a sentiment shared by Soshe Beauty founder Sahar Rohani. It goes beyond simply speaking to consumers: Mance and Rohani have each hired Gen Z customers after meeting them at community events. They also frequently receive applications from brand fans, who are eager to work for them. “People think Gen Z don’t want to work; they do, just not for you,” Rohani said.
Who will drive Gen Z beauty and wellness in 2026?
To round off the event, Lucy sat down with Melis del Rey, general manager of health and beauty at Amazon US Stores, in a session that balanced out the previous lessons shared by disruptive founders and creators, one attendee from a major sportswear brand said at the drinks reception.
Del Rey explained how Amazon is investing in its beauty business via far-reaching creator programs to drive audiences to the store. Amazon now hosts several annual events to introduce creators and brands and outline noteworthy product launches.
Previously, it was challenging for brands to create personalized experiences on Amazon. But the store has been on a transformation journey in the last three to four years. “We’ve spoken to a lot of brand founders today and realized how important it is for them to be able to tell their unique stories in an authentic way. So we have invested a lot in developing the right technological solutions,” del Rey said. “We want to make sure that in that moment of customer engagement, shoppers really immerse in the world of a brand, but also convert at the same time.” Some examples include “shop the look” or “how to” video-based shopping features, she added.
When asked about upcoming consumer trends, del Rey is betting on K-beauty, Amazon’s fastest-growing beauty vertical. The store sells over a thousand K-beauty brands, with this number continuing to grow. Another major growth opportunity is young men, who are increasingly investing in key categories like fragrance, presenting fresh opportunities for Amazon and its beauty brands.
Then, there’s the evergrowing influence of wellness. “Today, we see converging trends between beauty, health and wellness. Because, you know, even beauty brands are thinking about [product] from a total well-being perspective, it’s not just about how you look. It’s about how you feel as well, which I think is quite empowering,” she said.
