Michelle Phan Quotes

The first videos I uploaded on my own personal channel were videos of dogs.

I always had that yearning, that hunger, to one day be independent and be my own person and build my own world. The most fulfilling thing is to live a life where you have freedom.

Whatever happens, I'll just keep moving forward. Like an avalanche.

You know when you're a child and your imagination is limitless and you really believe in magic? I thought I had super powers.

I got an apartment for my family so they can move out of this one-room that they were renting out from a family.

That's the beauty about beauty; it's not like a tattoo. You can just wash it right off, and your skin is your canvas, so you can do something new the next day.

My best advice for anyone out there that feels like, 'I don't have a million followers so why should I even give it a shot,' is that it's not about the numbers - it's about the engagement. That's how you can build influence.

It's a deeper connection when you meet someone online and talk to them every day.

The Internet opens a lot of doors to those who are passionate.

The beauty of the Internet is there's a niche market for everything, and if you can focus on it, you can build a sustainable and viable business of it.

Art was a way for me to express myself and for me to also escape because it was tough growing up as a child. We didn't have a lot of money. I was always creating. I was writing stories. I was doing comic books. I made my own universe.

Social media is an ever-changing world. You want to be ready if a certain platform becomes red-hot, and you don't want someone else taking your company name as his or her handle. That does happen!

I'm grateful that L'Oreal believed in me and helped me bring my dream of creating a beauty brand to life. I'm excited to be working with Ipsy to bring Em home to my community, the original inspiration for the brand.

When Google reached out to me in 2011, they wanted me to build out their female lifestyle vertical. When they were starting with that initiative, they were giving each production house a million dollars to produce content.

What if someone created some sort of eyebrow pencil that was revolutionary and that was made specifically to help eyebrows look more realistic?

I am first a creator, but my ongoing objective is to leverage my personal success to help mentor new and existing talent and further help them achieve their goals. Endemol Beyond shares this vision, and together, we will drive the future of original content for generations to come.

I really believe in giving tools and resources to other creators so that they can create beautiful videos.

As one of the first creators on YouTube, I've been fortunate to sit in the front row, witnessing the remarkable evolution of digital media. The experiences and knowledge I've been afforded are invaluable, and I'm excited to take that skill set, together with Endemol Beyond, to build a reliable, reputable business.

I always wanted a family environment, a community where a creator like myself could connect and vibe with other creators without feeling competitive.

You need interesting content that entertains or informs - preferably both. You want people to look forward to your posts and come back for more. People want to follow you. They want to hear your words and see your vision.

I see videomaking as an art - it's not a process for me.

Seven years ago, in my first semester at college, the professors handed out MacBook Pros. With mine, I filmed a seven-minute tutorial on 'natural makeup' - just me, my laptop, and a cup of coffee. When, a week later, it clocked 40,000 Web views, I knew people were connecting with it, so I kept going. That moment changed my life.

I believe that rejection is a blessing because it's the universe's way of telling you that there's something better out there.

Influence is the new power - if you have influence, you can create a brand.

As my YouTube following grew, I was soon earning as much from advertising revenue as from waiting tables, so I quit my job. My boss thought I was crazy, which just made me more determined. In 2012, four years and 200 videos later, my channel was so successful that Google offered me $1 million to create 20 hours of content.

I know I'm a storyteller at heart, and if there's a platform that needs stories, I'm going be there.

It's very easy to make a viral video, but longevity and consistency, that's hard.

I'm motivated by my love to share and teach. I love sharing things that inspire me, and I love connecting with people. Being a part of a community is in the millennial DNA.

When I smell pho, I just automatically think of my mom. All these nostalgic feelings and memories come rushing through my head.

I listen to a lot of Tibetan music before I sleep. I'll just type in 'Tibetan meditation music' on YouTube, and within 15 minutes, it knocks me out. I sleep like a baby.

Success is like a lightning bolt. It'll strike you when you least expect it, and you just have to keep the momentum going. You have to strike when the iron is hot. So for me, I just kept striking and striking to polish out the sword that I was making.

My mother would work 14 hours, and she'd come home, and she'd just get right into cooking ... she wanted to make sure my brother, my sister and I had food in our bellies.

My production style is all about imagination. I want my audience to use their imagination when they watch my videos. My goal is for my voice to be that little hope of encouragement in your head when you walk out your door.

What inspired me to work so hard and to maintain my determination was seeing my mother. She was an immigrant and was struggling in America to make it by; that inspired me to work hard.

I've colored my hair so many times, and nobody tells you the damage it's going to do! I went blonde and lost all my baby hairs. I'm not coloring it anymore. Never again.

Makeup is no different than clothes and accessories - it's embellishments for your face. And it also gives you creative freedom. You get to have that moment in front the mirror every morning and give yourself self-love. You're making yourself up beautiful, which is essentially self-love.

I don't believe in that term 'self-made' - not to be offensive, but I believe everything happens for a reason, every single person you meet. Even if it's one single person giving you advice, that person helped you get to where you're at today.

I am passionate about finding undiscovered and talented artists. I want to help those artists get to the next level and provide existing artists with a new way to reach fans. I wanted to partner with the Cutting Edge Group because they share my vision and have a proven track record in innovation in the music business.

My dad and I had been close - he called me Tuyet Bang, Vietnamese for 'avalanche,' because of my nonstop energy. I took a lot from him, like being a risk taker, and I know how much he loved my mother.

We're living in an age where we should be collaborating. Because it's the Internet now. It's hard to say who owns what.

I'm used to everything digital - the pictures, the avatars of the person, the profiles - so when I get to see someone in the flesh, it's really nice.

The Manuka honey face mask is another favorite of mine that I actually do. I know there are these people that recommend crazy masks, and I'm like, 'There is no way you're putting that on your face!' But I do put Manuka honey on my face. I take a teaspoon and warm it up.

When I first started, there really was no beauty guru community. I didn't have the right production resources. I had to learn how to edit. I didn't even have beauty products. I had to go out and buy them myself because beauty brands didn't even know what a beauty guru was.

I'm homemade. I upload my videos in my living room; I edit everything, and I upload on my laptop. And my viewers love that about me, and they get inspired and do it themselves.

So many of my followers who just graduated can't get jobs; they're hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and they don't know what to do. My dream is to see a new generation of entrepreneurs who are creating and having more meaningful jobs than the day-to-day grind.

I'm platform agnostic. I've been platform agnostic ever since I went online.

I'm a total nerd, so I'm on my telescope, or I read a lot. I'm very inspired by ancient history.

Every video I've made has an inspirational message behind it. Since day one, I thought, 'Okay, I want my audience to be, like, Disney members.' So if that's the case, I have to keep everything rated G.

I use sunscreen every single day, even if I'm not going outside in the sun, because I'm near a window. I can always get those UV rays on my face, so I always apply sunscreen on my face and neck. It's like brushing my teeth: I feel weird if I don't apply sunscreen.

So many of my friends have 200,000 subscribers, and they make around five to six K a month, which is completely cool.

Just like hair frames our face, brows frame our eyes. I see so much potential in harmonized beauty whenever I see a woman who's not filling in her brows, and I just want to go in with my brow pencil and just be like, 'Filling in eyebrows, OK, done - look in the mirror and be inspired.' That's one of my pet peeves, but beauty is subjective.

I glance through the pages of all the top magazines every month just to see if there are any colors that are trending. I'll also go on Instagram and look at the 'popular' page to see what people are liking, what's cool. I'll check it at different times of the day; for example, if it's really late in L.A., you'll see a lot of posts in Asia.

Your YouTube channel is your show. I think it's a wonderful platform for anyone who wants to have stronger creative control over their content, their message, their vision and their branding.

For me, money is a tool.

I am so inspired by the people watching my videos and responding to them. I have learned so much from my community over the years and always love reading their feedback and their own personal stories that they share with me.

All of the development I do is with the help of business advisors who are more like my best friends than just business people. They helped me as I created Ipsy back in 2011, which is a beauty community that ships out sampling bags to subscribers.

I now have 10-year-olds asking me about how to become successful, how to become a business owner, which is crazy - at 10 I was trying to figure out which Barbie I wanted.

Robust activity on one site is so much better than halfhearted activity on multiple sites.

I don't want to make videos where people are always happy and they're agreeing. It's boring! Do something where people can talk about it.

If I can find time to play games, it's console gaming. I don't want to be plugged into my phone all the time. I'm waiting for the new Mario Kart to come out, but I've been playing Donkey Kong and Mario 3D World on the Wii U.

There's definitely more to me offline than what you see online. Because what I show online is what I want to show to my followers ... If I showed everything I did offline, it might not align with some of my other followers around the world.