Michelle Phan

Michelle Phan is an American beauty entrepreneur, YouTube pioneer, and investor who is widely credited as one of the first people to build a major business empire from beauty content on YouTube. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Vietnamese immigrant parents, Phan grew up in Tampa, Florida, and began uploading makeup tutorials to YouTube in 2007. Her video “How to Get Lady Gaga’s Poker Face Look” went viral in 2009, catapulting her to internet stardom and establishing her as one of the platform’s earliest beauty influencers.

Phan leveraged her massive YouTube following into several groundbreaking business ventures. In 2012, she co-founded Ipsy, a beauty subscription box service that grew into one of the largest beauty companies in the world. Ipsy’s parent company, Beauty For All Industries (BFA), has been valued at over $2 billion, and the company processes millions of subscriptions monthly. Phan served as a creative leader at Ipsy and her equity stake in the company represents a significant portion of her wealth. She also launched her own cosmetics line, EM Cosmetics, in 2013 with L’Oreal, later reacquiring the brand and relaunching it independently in 2017 to critical acclaim.

In 2015, Phan took a highly publicized break from YouTube, stepping away from regular content creation to focus on her mental health and business ventures. She returned to the platform in 2019 with a more authentic, personal approach to content. EM Cosmetics has grown into a respected prestige beauty brand known for its innovative products like the Lip Clouds and True Gloss. Phan has also become an active investor in technology and beauty startups. She published her book “Make Up: Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style, and Success – Online and Off” and has been recognized by Forbes and other publications as one of the most successful digital entrepreneurs of her generation.