Michelle Phan

Michelle Phan (born April 11, 1987) is an American YouTube personality and entrepreneur. She is the founder and owner of EM Cosmetics, a cosmetics brand she relaunched in 2017.

Phan Tuyết Băng Michelle was born on April 11, 1987, in Boston, Massachusetts. She was raised in Tampa, Florida, alongside her elder brother and younger half-sister. Phan has publicly discussed her family's financial struggles, including her father's gambling addiction and mother’s separation from her stepfather.

She attended Tampa Bay Technical High School before enrolling at Ringling College of Art and Design. Due to financial constraints, she left the college before completing her degree. In 2014, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts degree from Ringling College.

In 2005, Phan had a personal blog where she posted makeup tutorials, which led to her followers requesting more. She began posting tutorial vlogs on Xanga under the username "Ricebunny" and then began posting on YouTube in May 2007.

BuzzFeed featured two of Phan's "How To Get Lady Gaga's Eyes" makeup tutorials in 2009 and 2010, which helped them go viral and brought her over a million subscribers. In 2010, Lancôme made Phan their official video makeup artist after she featured some of their products in her videos, making her the company's first Vietnamese-American spokesperson.

In 2015, Phan was named to the Inc. 30 under 30 and Forbes 30 under 30 lists. The same year, she raised $100 million to value the company Ipsy at over $500 million.

Phan abruptly went on hiatus from YouTube in 2015. On June 1, 2017, Phan returned with her first video since the hiatus explaining why she took her break. Phan cited legal troubles, the failure of EM Cosmetics' initial launch, and her issues with self-image as what led her to take a break. She continued her hiatus until officially returning to YouTube in September 2019.

In 2011, Phan co-founded MyGlam, a monthly beauty product subscription service. It launched in September 2012 and has since been renamed Ipsy. Ipsy is a sponsor of the Generation Beauty conference. Phan became a YouTube advertising partner and launched FAWN, a YouTube MCN (multi-channel network), in 2012.

Phan is a believer of alternative medicine and has promoted products and beliefs based on pseudoscience.

Make Up: Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style, and Success -- Online and Off. Penguin–Random House. 2014. ISBN 9780804137348.