Meet Michelle Phan: One of the Beauty Industry's First Multi-Hyphenates

Michelle Phan is an absolute beauty powerhouse. While today we scroll through TikTok or Instagram and instantly have access to thousands of beauty how-tos, tips, and tricks, there was a time when online

beauty tutorials didn’t exist. Enter Phan, a digital pioneer you likely recognize as the original beauty blogger and, dare we say, the creator of one of the first YouTube makeup tutorials of all time. Over the last decade, she has garnered a global community of over 10 million followers, over one billion views, and more than 350 videos. She was at the helm of digital influencing and helped pave the way for an entire generation of beauty creators to come. 

In 2011, Phan co-founded Ipsy, a monthly subscription service that became the world’s largest beauty community where insider beauty content and samples were shared. Then, in 2016, she took a much-needed and well-deserved digital detox, going dark on all of her platforms—and when she came back a year later, it was with a driven purpose. Phan spent the year redesigning and relaunching her beauty line, EM Cosmetics, which she originally launched alongside L’Oréal in 2013. The relaunch symbolized her freedom as the owner with complete creative control to bring the brand into a modern beauty world and inspire consumers to create and rethink beauty.