In ELLE.com’s monthly series Office Hours, we ask people in powerful positions to take us through their first jobs, worst jobs, and everything in between. This month, we spoke to Mélanie Masarin, the founder and CEO of Ghia, the nonalcoholic aperitif that’s been popping up on your feeds and on the menu at your favorite bar. After working for the CEOs of Dig Inn and Glossier, Masarin never expected to start a company herself, but when she stopped drinking during her Glossier years, she realized, “I felt so much better…but I felt completely left out.” Masarin launched Ghia in the height of the pandemic, so people like her could have a drink alternative that felt as complex and exciting as a cocktail. Now, on September 4, Ghia will introduce its latest product: Le Fizz, a $20 bubbly, strawberry-orange-blossom beverage that comes in a wine bottle. The drink’s price point and ease (no mixing necessary) is all part of Masarin’s efforts to make Ghia as inclusive as possible, in every sense of the word. Below, she explains what that looks like in practice, what she learned working at buzzy startups in her 20s, and her dream of one day bringing Ghia to her home country, France.
My first job
When I was 14, I worked at a tobacco shop in France. It definitely wasn’t allowed, but the lady who was there had to open so early in the morning, and she was like, “OK, you’re responsible, you can just do it.” I had the 6 A.M. shift on Sundays. You would sell lottery tickets, cigarettes, and magazines. Then you had to do the inventory of the magazines. We were also selling little bags of candy; they’re very popular in France, so I was making the bags. Honestly, it was great. I learned the value of money. There was a very social aspect to it, because it was in the tiny village where I grew up; there are 3,000 people, and it’s a lot of old people and families. It was a very community-forward job.
The job I’d never want to do again
I worked in banking at Goldman Sachs right after college for two years, and it just wasn’t for me. It was a lot of knowing what the health of a business looks like and understanding numbers. It was an incredible experience; I don’t think I would’ve been able to run my business in the way I learned to run my business without it.
My first food memory growing up
I learned to cook with my grandmother. Everything she made was really simple; she could just make something extraordinary out of the mundane. It wasn’t like her food was super fancy, or she used very special ingredients—she just knew how to make things taste good, and she knew how to be super generous with her food. My first job in the kitchen was cutting the sides of the green beans with her; I was always her sous-chef.
The college job that taught me everything
I went to Brown in 2008. I didn’t speak a ton of English when I got there, and I needed to make money. I could only work on campus, and by the time I got my Social Security number, which took a month or two, the only shift available was at the bakeshop. I took on more shifts as people were dropping them, and I ended up running dining services for the following few years. It was the job that taught me every other job; we had 350 or 400 student employees, and people would always bail during finals, so we had to make sure, in the most stressful time, that we were able to backfill all of these shifts and that people were fed. I was running 10 cafeterias on campus and the student staffing for all of those. It was actually amazing.
How it felt to work for major companies at a young age
It’s funny, I don’t think I was ever scared. I trusted myself to do my best; I never had a big imposter syndrome with work. I always felt very comfortable raising my hand if I didn’t know something. I think the downside is some people have a lot more fun than what I had in my 20s. But I kind of feel like the 20s are not necessarily to have fun, and it’s really important to build a future. The years get more fun as you get older, so no regrets there. There’s not enough money in the world for me to go back to my 20s, to be honest.
Why I finally decided to become a founder
I was really lucky to work for founders or CEOs from a young age. I worked directly for the CEO of Dig Inn. Then, for a period of time, I reported into Emily Weiss at Glossier. I was never like, “Oh, I want that job.”
After I left Glossier, I was freelancing for a bit, and I was very comfortable. Managing people can take a ton of energy, and where I sometimes struggle is managing people and also finding creative time, because the two are in direct competition. So it was nice to just be designing and working freelance and having no one to report to; I was going to 2 P.M. pilates classes just because I could.
I was actively trying to figure out what I wanted my next move to be, and I knew I didn’t want it to be another job I was going to be at for two or three years. I wanted something that would be more meaningful. I’d stopped drinking while I was at Glossier, and then [realized the idea for Ghia] was in front of my eyes the whole time. I even tried to find co-founders, but it just became a necessity for me to build it. I was just so excited, and no one was doing it. It was all I could think about. I knew what I wanted it to taste like. I knew what I wanted it to feel like. I always say I designed Ghia for me. I think maybe that’s what founders feel; it was just this thrilling creative flow that I had been missing for the past few years.
How I think about inclusivity at Ghia
I stopped drinking when I was at Glossier. When I left, and was reintegrating my social life, I was feeling so much better. I was sleeping better, and I was trying to be healthy, because I had more time. And every time I was going out, people were questioning why I wasn’t drinking. I felt so much better without it, but I felt completely left out. For us, [inclusivity is] an invitation for people. It’s making people feel welcome in the conversation and the party. So it takes different forms with Ghia. We really wanted to be in restaurants, to be where people were social. It’s not just saying, “If you’re not drinking, you can enjoy this drink from the comfort of your home,” because that’s not fully inclusive. It’s also saying, “We’re not going to make you feel like you’re going to have a lesser version of an alcohol that already exists, but instead having a product that is fun and irreverent.” It’s creating a brand that stands on its own.
On launching in France in the future
It means a lot to me. The market is prime in a way that if you’d asked me five years ago, I would not have thought. That reinforces the idea that we do well in places where people celebrate a lot, because there’s always someone who feels excluded. I’m scared, because it requires a lot of resources, and it’s a market that is very difficult, and people have very refined palates; people [in France] have very affordable, very high-quality wines and alcohol available. But I’m really sensing that there’s a strong demand for it. People socialize so much here that I think we’ll do well. It’s keeping me on my toes, for sure.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Madison is the digital deputy editor at ELLE, where she also covers news, politics, and culture. If she’s not online, she’s probably napping or trying not to fall while rock climbing.