YouTube star and Ipsy founder Michelle Phan is at the forefront of the social reinvention of the $39 billion cosmetics industry.
“Hi! I’m Michelle.” Michelle Phan is poking her head into a spacious room at the Ipsy Open Studio in Santa Monica, California, an outpost of the San Mateo–based beauty subscription company she cofounded four years ago. A young woman named Sophie Torres is sitting at a table, neatly arranging brushes, bottles, and tubes in preparation for a video tutorial she is going to film about hard-to-pull-off hairstyles. She is a member of Ipsy’s extended family of online beauty influencers, who, like Phan, are using YouTube, Instagram, and other social media to build careers as beauty gurus.
Phan is the biggest guru of all. Since 2007, when she started making videos of herself applying makeup in her bedroom and uploading them to YouTube, she has amassed a following of more than 8 million subscribers who tune in to watch her dreamy-voiced instructions on everything from “grunge beauty” to how to achieve the Daenerys Targaryen look from Game of Thrones. Now, through Ipsy, she’s helping others follow in her footsteps—last May, Ipsy opened this 10,000-square-foot studio, complete with 360-degree cameras, state-of-the-art lighting, and elaborate props, for its network of beauty vloggers to shoot their videos.
Torres seems a little flustered by the sudden appearance of the 28-year-old Phan and apologizes for not wearing any makeup. Phan, who’s dressed in a simple black turtleneck dress and colorful Nikes, smiles warmly. “It’s fine. We don’t judge here. I don’t have any makeup on either.”
This story is from the February 2016 edition of Fast Company.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February 2016 edition of Fast Company.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies - CAMPUS
FOR CREATING A NATIONAL ONLINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies - SOL DE JANEIRO
FOR DROPPING NEW FRAGRANCES AT AN INTOXICATING PACE
The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies - VANTA
FOR OFFER ING STARTUPS TOOLS TO TRUST BUT VERIFYIN THE AGE OF AI
The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies - PERPLEXITY
FOR LOCATING THE ANSWER TO THE PERENNIAL PROBLEMS OF WEB SEARCH
The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies - THE POWER BROKER
ITS CHIPS SPARKED THE AI REVOLUTION. NOW NVIDIA IS PUTTING THE TECH TO WORK ACROSS INDUSTRIES.
The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies - NATIONAL WOMEN'S SOCCER LEAGUE
FOR RESETTING THE VALUE OF WOMEN'S SPORTS
08 FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
WITH A NEW CEO BEHIND THE COUNTER. TACO BELL IS FOLLOWING A FRESH STRATEGY FOR GLOBAL CULTURAL DOMINATION. ONE TACO TUESDAY AT A TIME.
Reimagining the ways we work and meet
As business leaders rethink their real estate footprint, they're embracing smaller, high-quality, amenity-rich spaces that are more focused on human connection.” In other words, Convene.
10 Trend
From the Most Innovative Companies | Plus 606 Honorees From Advertising to Video
The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies
"The 1920s, water went into a generator, and DC Power came out. Now electrons go into a generator, and intelligence comes out."