Joyce's page 2c

**Michelle Phan:**

One of the most influential woman in the Asian community is the YouTube sensation, Michelle Phan. During the early years of Michelle’s life, her family struggled financially and she experienced terrible bullying in school. Her father had a gambling addiction and her stepfather was abusive. So, she turned to art, specifically makeup. She uploaded her first YouTube video demonstrating her everyday natural makeup routine, and the video began accumulating views fast. Later on, YouTube partnered up with Google and Adsense; thus, influencers could make money off of their videos. So, she quit her part time job and focused on her YouTube career full time. As time progressed, her YouTube channel kept growing and she became an icon to young girls around the world. In 2013, she reached her first milestone of creating her own makeup line, Em Cosmetics. This company is now valued at over 500 million dollars. Even after her enormous success, she remains humble and follows her motto “to learn, to love, and to teach.” The reason why I find Michelle Phan to be an inspiration is because in 2010, I remember feeling incredibly insecure of my cultural background and appearance. Her emblem of success proved to me that Asian-American women can be strong, independent and successful, despite what the media showed. At the time, she was the face of representation that I needed in my life. Furthermore, Michelle’s backstory of her early life made me admire her even greater. It is amazing how she dug herself out of a seemingly endless pit of financial struggles, and became one of the most successful individuals on the internet. In addition, her motto in life also proves that she is an individual that is always open to self-improvement. Although, she is an extremely successful woman, she still wants to learn new things everyday, to love everything and everyone around her, and to teach other individuals what she had learned. This idea has opened up the minds of young females to a new life style of living, without surrounding themselves in negative energy. Additionally, because her videos teach young woman to be beautiful inside and out, she has created a positive community of other beauty influencers. Since society often puts up girls against each other in terms of appearance and success, the beauty community has opened up girls to support one another instead. Therefore, Michelle Phan is an encouraging individual who has inspired, not only me, but many individuals across the globe.

Final Question:

 If you could interview anyone alive or dead as to how they achieved what they did or their life path, who would it be and why?

If I were able to interview any person from my list of role models, I would choose to interview Michelle Phan. This is because I found to be an iconic figure throughout my entire childhood. She was one of the only well represented Asian-Americans in the media. In addition, due to her success, it motivated me to work hard and achieve greatness as well. In the interview, I would ask her if she would have ever expected her success and whether her success was more based on luck or hard work. Furthermore, I would ask her if she has recognized the impact she has made on the Asian-American Community.

**References**

Draw my Life - Michelle Phan. (2013, May 19). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05KqZEqQJ40

Make magic. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from https://www.emcosmetics.com/

Why I Left. (2017, June 01). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuGpm01SPcA

YouTube Creator Stories: How Michelle Phan Became Everyone's Beauty Bestie. (2017, April

27). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-resources/content-marketing/michelle-phan/