Michelle Phan, From YouTube Personality to Forbes Under 30
Who said life is not a fairy tale? You should know that it can be, if you want. That is something I learnt from YouTube star Michelle Phan.
Michelle Phan’s childhood is full of hardships, abandoned by her immigrant father and brought up by her mother along with her older brother and a younger sister, Phan was reduced to sleeping on the floor at a point of her life. While working as a waitress, she started writing a blog that described her fantasy life of lots of money and plenty of time to get dolled up. In 2007, with the help of a webcam and a simple editing tool, she posted a 7 minute make-up tutorial on YouTube on two of her readers’ request. She didn’t think that anybody else would watch her videos except for the two girls, but wow! her video received 40,000 views within the first week and she knew that this was her call.
Buzzfeed featured two of Phan’s videos which helped them go viral and brought her over 2 million subscribers.
There is something magical about her videos that keeps you eagerly waiting for when’s the next video is going to be posted.
In 2010, Lancolm made Phan their official video make-up artist after she featured some of their products in her videos. In 2012, she launched Ipsy, a subscription cosmetics company. On August 15, 2013, L’Oreal launched a new cosmetic line called em by Michelle Phan, dedicating the brand to her mother.
“I didn’t have a roadmap, I just did it because it was meaningful to me and I wanted to disrupt the beauty industry,” said Phan at Forbes’ second annual 30 Under 30 summit in Philadelphia.
What makes Michelle Phan stand out from other beauty entrepreneurs is that she is always inspiring other. Her videos are all about inspirations, be it a make up guide or be it a spiritual guide.
As the inspiration she is, Phan launched a free program in 2015, Ipsy Open Studios, which offers ready access studio space and video production equipment plus an extensive suite of mobile apps and technology resources to beauty creators. How awesome is that?
She also has a music venture that promotes artists on social media.
Yes, the list goes on…
Last month, Ipsy raised $100 million to value the company at over $500 million. And the following month,she made it to the Forbes’ 30 under 30 list.
“Influence is the new power–if you have influence you can create a brand,” says Phan.
