YouTube star Michelle Phan has launched her own online network, Icon

As if further proof were needed that sitting in your bedroom talking to strangers can make you rich and famous, YouTube’s favourite make-up expert Michelle Phan has launched a new online network called Icon.

She’s partnered with Endemol Beyond on the new project, which will distribute content on YouTube, Dailymotion, and Roku, as well as via Icon’s own website and app. For now, it’s only available in the UK and the US but will expand into Europe and Asia later in the year.

It’ll focus on beauty, wellbeing, food, and fashion and feature shows presented by existing YouTube personalities, including crafty DIY-er Anne Le (AnneorShine) and
Charis Lincoln (CharismaStarTV), who posts pop culture inspired make-up how-to videos. Other shows will include the self-explanatory Pretty Little Pranksters, and The FAQs, an advice show.

Phan herself currently has around 7.5 million YouTube subscribers and 3 million likes on Facebook. She previously started her own network called Fawn, and content from Fawn will be repurposed for Icon. In the video announcing the new network, she says she’s always dreamed of creating a community ‘built on infinite possibility and positive, uplifting stories’.

So, is Michelle Phan destined to be the next Oprah, as US Glamour claims? It’s really too soon to say. I mean, she hasn’t given a roomful of people a car yet. On the other hand, she’s travelled to Asia with Michelle Obama (as part of the Let Girls Learn project) and she used the phrase ‘your best self’ in her intro to Icon. She could well be on her way to superstardom.

Image by Shwirtz via Wikimedia Commons.