We live in the age of influencers, but Huda Kattan got in at the right time before Instagram was an opportunity to make money, and YouTube was the biggest social media platform for creators.
The Tennesee native and Iraqi American woman grew up believing she had to do a job for life stability. After working too many jobs that didn't fulfill her spark, she made the leap into the make-up industry after her sister encouraged her to follow her lifelong passion.
We live in the age of influencers, but Huda Kattan got in at the right time before Instagram was an opportunity to make money, and YouTube was the biggest social media platform for creators.
The Tennesee native and Iraqi American woman grew up believing she had to do a job for life stability. After working too many jobs that didn't fulfill her spark, she made the leap into the make-up industry after her sister encouraged her to follow her lifelong passion.
That passion turned into a YouTube channel, and later what Forbes estimates to be a company worth $1.2 billion in 2021 and 50 million Instagram followers to match. Kattan is a self-made blogger turned businesswoman, and at $18,000 per sponsored post, she claims to have never spent money on advertising.
Above all, amidst her self-made success, she uses her platform to talk about world issues such as turmoil and violence in the Middle East, and the need for body positivity in her industry.
Passion Project Turned Company
After finishing college in 2007, she and her then-fiance moved to Dubai for his job, and she was transferred within her company to the Dubai office. But 2008 hit the world, and she lost her position. It only took one more desk job for her to decide she was done with jobs that don't fulfill her.
Her sister encouraged her to study make-up as it had been a lifelong passion of hers. She did a certificate program in makeup artistry, which led to several opportunities. To practice her trade, she got a position at Revlon, but her side gig was launching Huda Beauty's YouTube channel in 2010. Kattan gave beauty tips and makeup tutorials. Today the vlog has more than 4 million subscribers.
The next step came in 2012 from a conversation with her sister about launching a false eyelashes line with Huda Beauty. Kattan knew if she was going to take the next step into having a cosmetic line, she wanted to do it right.
Although without the money for a professional photographer, she used selfies for her product launch, she said in an interview to Harper Bazar Magazine. Kattan was determined to sell the lashes in Sephora, Dubai and she achieved that goal in 2013.
At the time, she was a makeup artist with an eyelash line, not a businesswoman. Her warehouse was her apartment and she didn't know how to leverage her business economically, she said in the interview.
In 2016, her husband Chris left his full-time job in real estate to head finances for Huda Beauty and the company soared. Simultaneously, Sephora U.S. took on her products due to her social media domination by joining Instagram in 2016 and quickly opening up the game as an influencer. 2016 was the big year she became an international influence and businesswoman.
Continued Sucess
Today Huda Beauty is a multimillion-dollar industry, pulling in about $200 million in product revenue per year according to Forbes and they sell products in countries all over the world. The company has over 140 products including eye shadows, lipsticks and glosses, fragrances and makeup tools.
Kattan continues her Youtube vlog to promote her products, how to use them and also many positive agendas. She recently posted on Instagram the difference between an edited and a real photo of her for a campaign to bring awareness to how airbrushing photos don't promote body positivity.
In the caption, she says she wants to hold herself accountable if the beauty industry is going to change. On all of her platforms, she preaches self-love as a basis for her career, and what she wants her community to embody as well.
Another women's issue she brings forward on social media is her struggle with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) which causes hormone imbalance. She is not afraid to talk about her experience with PCOS, which includes hair loss. For a beauty mogul, she keeps it real with her personal health challenges and changing the image of beauty for others.
As an Iraqi American woman and UAE resident, Kattan posts on social media about the political unrest in Palestine and promotes support for those fleeing Afghanistan. She does not ignore the social issues that affect the communities in her part of the world and uses her platform to make that known.
This season she announced on her vlog a new rose quartz pallet, inspired by the crystal rose quartz she surrounds herself in. Kattan started keeping crystals in her new home to cleanse negative energy, inspire positive energy and healing. On all of her social media platforms, she brands the new product as embodying that energy into the makeup line.
Just a few of Kattan's titles include Forbes Top Beauty Influencer of 2017 and ranked 65 on Forbes list of Self Made women. This self-made beautify mogul has proven that she has what it takes to change the industry and continue finding innovation as an influencer.
