Behind The Scenes With “GlowJob,” The Dishy Podcast Bringing “Call Her Daddy” Candor To Beauty

Whether they’re dissecting the cost of boob jobs or predicting the next big celebrity beauty brand (their money is on Alix Earle and Saweetie), Julia Bellary and Sasa Li don’t hold back on “GlowJob,” where they bring a girl talk vibe akin to podcast juggernaut “Call Her Daddy” to the beauty podcast genre.

Since premiering in January on Apple, Spotify and YouTube, “GlowJob” has generated over 450,000 impressions by being candid about topics as diverse as beef tallow and beauty executive shuffles (e.g., Jane Lauder’s disgruntlement at not becoming Estée Lauder CEO). The episode, “Celebrity Brands: From A-List Success to F-List Flops,” is case in point. In it, Bellary dishes on how she lost her trust in Lili Reinhart, the famous founder of acne brand Personal Day, when the actress “admitted to using steroids on her face to help her with sensitivity. And that, to me, is the biggest no-no you could possibly do.”

While its first few episodes have been free of advertising, “GlowJob” plans to start striking ad deals this spring as the podcast sector continues to grow. The Interactive Advertising Bureau estimates that podcast ads in the United States surpassed $2 billion in 2024. The trade association expects that demand for video and live events will boost podcasting revenue 30% to nearly $2.6 billion by 2026.

Bellary, 33, who works in marketing and strategy at Le Mieux Cosmetics, and Li, 32, a private wealth advisor and SVP at Wells Fargo, don’t spare big beauty companies from their razor-edged reviews. Digging into the supposed “curse of Estée Lauder,” they identify Becca Cosmetics, Glamglow and Rodin Olio Lusso as failures among some 25 acquisitions made by Estée Lauder. On TikTok, their examination of Lauder duds topped 42,000 views in a week.

The morning after their Los Angeles launch party on Feb. 22, where they welcomed almost 200 guests from as far as San Francisco and Newport Beach, Calif., the pair met with Beauty Independent in Culver City, Calif., for coffee. Color-coordinated in white, cream and beige, they talked about making money in the podcast industry, building community and picking topics for future episodes (look out for an interview with Melisse Shaban, interim CEO of Aramore and former CEO of Virtue Labs, Strivectin and Frederic Fekkai).

Walk us through the process of deciding to pair up and do the podcast.

Li: We met in aesthetician school, and we hit it off right away. We became fast friends on the very first day. A couple months after that, I just turned to Julia and was like, “I think we would be really good as a podcast.”

We both have long commutes. I consume a lot of podcasts. There are several beauty podcasts, but in terms of the type of content that we wanted to hear, I felt like there was a dearth of the conversations that we wanted to talk about. Some of the popular beauty podcasts feel sort of like long-form ads of just talking about this launch, talking about this line. It feels like it’s just scratching the surface.

Bellary: Our history of text messages has always just been kind of hinting towards just having so much to say about various things that we personally find interesting.

How would you describe the podcasting business in 2025?

Bellary: First and foremost, I think the podcast industry is just going to grow exponentially. The clearest indication of that has been the most recent election cycle and seeing how much of an influence the podcasting space had on these elections. People love a podcast because you feel like you can really build relationships with the hosts.

People enjoy the kind of intimacy that you get, especially because it’s not scripted. We have a guide of what we want to hit and our talking points, but it’s really unscripted.

Your first episodes were free of advertising. What have conversations been like with advertisers?

Li: That’s something that we are really thoughtful about. We’re doing this for the long run, and so we are trying to find partners that are going to be good fits in terms of a long-term partnership. We’re talking with several brands. The main thing here is we want to find partners who are relevant and also authentic to our listeners. And our demographic is predominantly women—85% women. Our key core demographic is that 24- to 34-[year-old] sweet spot.

Bellary: Even before we launched, we were getting sponsorship inquiries. People had not even listened to a single episode, and they’re asking about what our sponsorship packages are. We were really surprised to see people just be interested from the jump, but I think it’s because the podcast industry is growing.

Sasa and I have this long, long, long list of potential topics for interviews that we want to talk about. So, when we talk to some of these brands, we do talk to them about our creative process and what we put into these episodes and try to see if that aligns with their branding at all.

Li: Q1 is just us making our mark and saying, “Hi, we landed over here.” I think Q2 to Q3 is where we’re like, “OK, let’s put metal to the pedal and try to really grow this.” That’s where the conversations with ads in terms of sponsors and partners are going to be key.

A lot of successful podcasts out there, they’ll do a series. So, there’ll be an interview series or they’ll have a series on a relevant topic. And that’s something that we’re exploring. So, with the Estée Lauder episode, seeing how successful that was, we would love to do another episode where it’s like a deep dive into L’Oréal, a deep dive into Coty.

We’re doing an AI and beauty series. I’m a data person, as is Julia, so getting to see which types of episodes resonate, we’ll try to recreate more of those and create them into a bigger series.

In terms of ad rates, CPM (cost per thousand) varies. What have you seen?

Bellary: Some CPMs are like $10. Some can be upwards of $50.

Where do you see beauty podcasts going in 2025? What are the advantages and challenges for you?

Bellary: I love long-form podcasts. I think a lot of how people learn about beauty is through social media nowadays and some written articles. Social media is how they learn about product launches or ingredients. It’s so hard to convey a super thoughtful message in 60 seconds or seven seconds.

People can learn things via short-form content, but I think if they’re curious or want to dive a little bit deeper or learn about something that would take hours and hours of rabbit-hole research. A podcast is a really great option.

On your podcast, you want to redefine the beauty community. How do you want to grow that community and your audience?

Li: Something we would like to do moving forward is having more meet-ups, get-togethers or live events and eventually do a live recording session. That’s how you really make communities, when you convene folks together.

What’s your thought process for picking podcast topics?

Li: We have this really long Google Doc.

Bellary: It’s very unhinged. We’ve always read a lot of news and not just like beauty news.

Li: Like The [Wall Street] Journal, I read it every morning.

Bellary: I’m a Financial Times girl. I’m always thinking about beauty in the back of my mind. I find ways to tie it back in and just find fun things to talk about. We also consume a lot of social media.

What are topics for future episodes?

Bellary: We’re going to do a deep dive on the white-label industry. We had a chance to go to Luxe Pack in Los Angeles, so we learned a lot about manufacturing turnkey solutions.

Li: Another series that we’re really interested in—and this fascinates both of us—is the rise of men’s skincare and beauty, like the rise of men’s cosmetics. Why is it so damn difficult to start a men’s line? I think a lot of that has to do with ad spend.

What guests would be great gets?

Li: No. 1 is Martha Stewart. She’s a bad bitch. Phil Knight is a big inspiration for me. Nike, biggest global brand of the world, has affected everybody. These are not necessarily beauty folks, but their business acumen and personal stories are so compelling.

How did you approach your analysis of Estée Lauder history in the episode about its failed acquisitions? Why did they not work out?

Bellary: We read every single news coverage of the company over years and years and years. We went through all of their public company statements and looked at their financial reports. In their quarterly earnings report, they do share a lot of information about how the different brands perform.

Li: We have some personal friends who have worked at Estée Lauder before. Hearing their perspective, it’s not just this echo chamber of people on the internet.

Bellary: In any type of VC [venture capital] or investing environment, you’re not going to hit every single time. But they hit it out of the park with a lot of their acquisitions: La Mer, MAC, Jo Malone.

Li: Beauty, in some ways, is like fashion. There are trends. So, the “it” girl in this season is not going to be the “it” girl five years later. Part of it is also the environment, not necessarily management.

What’s the reaction when you are blunt about people like Jane Lauder, Lili Reinhart and Addison Rae on your podcast?

Bellary: I like to take the approach that I would say it to that person’s face. We definitely stand behind our opinions. With the Estée episode, we have people in the comments section, commenting on their own experience and saying, “Oh, I personally worked with Jane Lauder.” “Oh, you know, I was fired by Estée Lauder, and all they gave me was the CEO’s autobiography as a parting gift.” It really did validate what we were sharing and saying and feeling.

At the end of the day, all Sasa and I are able to do is as much research as possible to have a very educated opinion on things. We don’t just want to talk out of our butts. We don’t want to get called out and canceled. We really put in the work to figure out what we want to say and how we’re forming these opinions.

What do you think is the sign of your podcast making it?

Li: We want an Erewhon smoothie. We want a “GlowJob” smoothie.

Bellary: We both love our day jobs, but I think a sign of success will be able to do this full-time and really commit to it. Honestly, if I could do this full time, I would. I love it so much.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.