Michelle Phan

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.

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.