Background and career
Michelle Phan (born 1986 or 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 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.
How Michelle Phan makes money
The same year, she raised $100 million to value the company Ipsy at over $500 million. Phan was a client of disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti, who allegedly embezzled $4 million from Phan. Ultra sought up to $150,000 in damages per infringement for up to 50 instances of alleged infringement, for a total of up to $7.5 million.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth, in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
