Meet Millionaire Michelle Phan, The Internet’s Favorite Beauty Stylist With Over One Billion Video Views

Michelle Phan, YouTube
Michelle Phan, YouTube

Michelle Phan is YouTube’s sweetheart.

Her videos; friendly, relatable, hair, makeup, and general beauty tutorials have earned her millions of subscribers, hundreds of millions of views on her channel’s videos, as well as a heap of money from ad revenue.

Along with video game vlogger Pewdiepie and fellow beauty stylist Bethany Mota, Phan is one of the most recognizable YouTube celebrities, and has one of the strongest brands out there.

So how did Michelle, who made this “natural makeup tutorial” in 2007, go from being a regular vlogger…

…to being the creator of one of the most subscribed YouTube channels?

With one billion views?

And the author of a book?

Michelle writes about this in her book, “Make Up.” (And includes some adorable baby photos.)

Her first computer was an Apple iMac G3, which she begged her parents to save for.

She says her family didn’t have rules for the computer. She only had rules for the TV.

“It’s like the library!” she would tell her mother. “But it’s all on this computer.”

Michelle loved to draw, and discovered anime communities in the Xanga platform, where she went by the name “RiceBunny.”

“The online communities back then were very positive,” Phan says of her Xanga experience. “No bullying, no nasty comments.”

After Michelle posted her first video in 2007, she noticed girls were requesting more videos from her.

They wanted to know about smokey eyes.

And how to achieve different looks with makeup.

Very different looks.

Then, big things started happening when Lancome saw Michelle’s airplane makeup tutorial.

They asked her to be their digital spokesperson and do tutorials with their products.

She called it her “Cinderella moment.”

Now, Michelle makes millions of dollars doing what she does best.

For now, learn about another YouTube star…

Ricky Dillon!

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