How Michelle Phan Built a $500 Million Beauty Empire
The YouTube star embraced opportunity to envision a brighter future.
Not in the “I think pyramids are pretty cool, but I also like hexagons” kind of way. She can name any documentary about Egyptian history, no matter how obscure. She has a pyramid-shaped copper chair in her apartment for meditation. And she just spent the last 10 minutes explaining to me why the Egyptians didn’t build the pyramids just to be aesthetically pleasing, and that they’re probably much older than we think. (I’ll have to take her word for it because I don’t know much about the pyramids beyond the fact that they exist.)
“If I had to do it over,” Phan says, “I would probably be an archaeologist.” She already has a tagline: “What does the carbon tell us?”We’re sitting in the ipsy Open Studios in Santa Monica, California. Phan’s glam team is discussing which lip shade best complements an emerald blazer. They don’t seem to notice the massive gold-colored medallion around her neck until it’s time to select jewelry.“Oh this?” Phan says casually. “It’s a necklace that helps reduce the electromagnetic energy from phones. You can judge me, it’s cool.”
The gold-coated necklace is called a Sensor V, created by new age scientist and inventor Patrick Flanagan. A quick internet search reveals that the round, concaved medallion is adorned with different sizes of pyramidal structures that somehow protect the body from harmful energies, but that’s a story for a different day. Phan knows she sounds crazy for talking about do-overs and the healing power of pyramidal structures, but she stopped caring what other people think a long time ago.Her Vietnamese name is Tuyět Băng, which roughly translates to “snow exploding” or “avalanche.” Her father used to say that Phan lived up to her name by approaching life and challenges with an unstoppable energy—and her résumé supports that.
“If I see an opportunity that most people don’t see, it’s because I’m always looking for a way to take an idea and further it.”
For the past decade, Phan has worked tirelessly to build a multimillion-dollar beauty and lifestyle empire. The dynasty includes a monthly subscription beauty service, ipsy, reportedly valued at more than $500 million. There’s also a makeup line, EM Cosmetics, set to relaunch this year after Phan bought it back from L’Oréal in 2016. The root of it all is a multichannel beauty and lifestyle network on YouTube featuring more than 200 beauty influencers. She’s also written a book, has more than 1.1 billion lifetime views on her YouTube channel and was the first official video makeup artist for beauty giant Lancôme.
“I’m an opportunist,” Phan says. “If I see an opportunity that most people don’t see, it’s because I’m always looking for a way to take an idea and further it.”Even as a child, Phan found unique ways to achieve the things she wanted. There was never enough money growing up, so she built her own Barbie Dreamhouse out of a cardboard box and used the blank pages at the back of the phone book as a sketch pad.
“I don’t live with the idea that everything is scarce. Success is not scarce at all. Everyone can find their own version of success, but you have to define it in your own way.”
Phan’s way began with a grainy video, shot in 2007 from a living room floor in Tampa, Florida.
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