Ipsy, the beauty startup co-founded by YouTube luminary Michelle Phan — which vends personalized subscription boxes and has also cultivated a buzzy creator fleet to help drive sales — has welcomed the latest ‘official creator’ into its family.
Burgeoning beauty vlogger Jessica Vu joins Ipsy’s current roster of nine official creators: Cydnee Black, Jaleesa Moses, LaMadelynn, Lynette Cenée, Gabriel Zamora, Madison Miller, Bailey Sarian, Micaela Klein, and Roxette Arisa. Vu will make her debut this weekend in Los Angeles at Gen Beauty — an event that brings together thousands of beauty lovers, creators, and brands.
As an official creator, Ipsy will help Vu move to Los Angeles and grow her online presence — which already includes a hefty 420,000 YouTube subscribers and 240,000 followers on Instagram. Vu will also gain access to Ipsy Studios, a division of the company that furnishes state-of-the-art production and editing facilities. In turn, Vu — and the rest of Ipsy’s official creators — furnish content to promote its various ventures. The company’s Glam Bags, for instance, comprise five products and are priced at $10 per month. (In addition to its official creators, Ipsy partners with roughly 8,000 influencers who collectively count 20 million followers and generate 500 million impressions).
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Ipsy says this weekend’s Gen Beauty event will be its biggest gathering ever. The conference was launched in Los Angeles in 2013, and has since grown to encompass events in New York and San Francisco. Gen Beauty has seen double digit audience growth year-over-year year, it says. Workshops and panels at this weekend’s conference will cover audience development and how to deal with haters, while brands in attendance include Juice Beauty, Pixi, NYX Cosmetics, and Maybelline.
Phan co-founded Ipsy in 2011 alongside former Funny Or Die exec Marcelo Camberos (CEO) and Jennifer Goldfarb (president). The company has raised more than $100 million in venture funding and reported $150 million in revenue in 2015. Phan, who has taken a step back from her YouTube channel in recent years, left Ipsy last September in order to focus on relaunching her beauty brand, Em Cosmetics.
