In July 2012, I met Julie Schott at Hearst’s new-employee orientation; it was the first day at Elle for both of us. She was a gorgeous, shy 24-year-old beauty editor, and I was a wizened 28-year-old features editor. We both had plenty to prove. Now, a dozen-plus years later, she’s a gorgeous, shy beauty mogul with absolutely zero to prove, having co-founded the blockbuster, culture-shifting acne-but-make-it-fashion brand Starface in 2019 and the boldly eponymous morning-after pill, Julie, in 2022. (In case you’re wondering: I am still a features editor.)

What was clear back then (and continues to be evident) is that behind those anime-size green eyes was a superpower for understanding youth and Internet culture and translating it for a wide audience. Chief among her prescient insights: th

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