In honour of International Women’s Day on March 8th, this week we’re celebrating women who rose to a unique challenge.
You wouldn’t think it to look at her now, but Michelle Phan’s childhood was a difficult one. Having lost contact with her father, who had a gambling problem that left the family in poverty, Michelle, her mother and her two siblings later escaped a controlling stepfather.
When her extended family pooled their money to buy the family furniture for their new apartment, her mother used it to pay for Michelle’s first semester at design college. Using the laptop given to her in class, she started uploading make-up tutorials. In one week she had over 40,000 hits on her own channel and it wasn’t long before Google offered her $1 million to produce 20 hours of content.
With her very own L’Oreal make-up line and a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30, the digital pioneer and trailblazer recently announced her partnership with Endemol Beyond USA, and will be expanding her lifestyle empire by building a boutique premium talent network that will feature key tastemakers and pioneers in the YouTube space.
She also launched a book with Random House in October 2014, called Make Up: Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style, and Success — Online and Off.
