Not long ago, the people who shaped what we bought were magazine editors and shop assistants. Today they can be a woman with a camera and a loyal audience. Some of them have gone a step further and built their own brands. This story looks at four creators from four countries, and at what they learned about turning followers into customers, and about what an audience can’t do for you.
Huda Kattan, Emily Weiss, Camila Coelho and Diipa Büller-Khosla turned loyal audiences into brands. Trust and audience feedback gave them a head start, but a following isn’t a guarantee. An audience gets you started, and a great product with solid operations keeps you going.
Huda Kattan (Dubai): from blog to billion-dollar brand
Huda Kattan grew up in the United States in a family without much money, and later moved to Dubai. She became a makeup artist and beauty blogger, and in 2013, frustrated by the lack of good false eyelashes, she launched her own, with a $6,000 loan from her sister Alya. The lashes launched at Sephora Dubai and took off after Kim Kardashian wore them. In 2017 the private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners bought a minority stake, valuing the business at around $1.2 billion. In 2025 Kattan bought that stake back, making the brand entirely founder-owned again. By 2023 she had more than 52 million Instagram followers, one of the largest audiences in beauty.
Emily Weiss (United States): a blog that became Glossier
Emily Weiss worked as a fashion assistant at Vogue before starting the beauty blog Into The Gloss in 2010. It featured interviews with women about their beauty routines. In 2014 she launched Glossier, and introduced its first four products on the blog. Investors weren’t easy to persuade: she reportedly pitched 12 firms and 11 said no. She raised $2 million in seed funding with the help of venture capitalist Kirsten Green.
Glossier grew fast, and in 2019 it raised $100 million and was valued at $1.2 billion. But the path wasn’t smooth. In 2020 former employees accused the company of failing to support Black workers, and in May 2022 Weiss stepped down as CEO and became executive chair. In February 2026, under new leadership, the company laid off about a third of its workforce as part of a reset. At the time of her step-down, Weiss said the brand had about six million customers, and that nearly one in two US women aged 18 to 34 had heard of it.
Camila Coelho (Brazil): from a makeup counter to Elaluz
Camila Coelho was born in Brazil. Her first full-time job was at the Dior makeup counter at Macy’s, where she started as a salesperson and became a makeup artist. She began posting makeup tutorials on YouTube in 2010, and her audience grew quickly. She has said she learned at the counter how to engage with people and be patient. By 2020 she had about 8.8 million Instagram followers and 4.7 million YouTube subscribers across two channels.
She launched a fashion line in 2019 and then Elaluz, a clean beauty brand inspired by her Brazilian heritage, in 2020. She has said her own beauty brand was her biggest dream, one she waited to pursue until the moment felt right. Elaluz’s stick bronzer won an Allure Best of Beauty Award in 2021.
Diipa Büller-Khosla (India): blogging on a small budget
Diipa Büller-Khosla began blogging in her early twenties. Her first investment was 200 euros from her family to buy fashion items to blog with. She grew into one of India’s best-known influencers, became a face of L’Oréal, and, in 2018, was the first Indian influencer to walk the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival.
In October 2021 she launched indē wild, an Ayurveda-inspired skincare brand. The idea came from her mother’s work as an Ayurvedic doctor and her own struggles with skincare.
Why so many creators are launching brands
As one Indian beauty writer puts it, influencers have always been the faces of beauty brands, and now they are making their own. There’s a logic to it. Creators already know what their audience wants, they can test ideas in public, and their followers often feel like friends rather than customers. Direct-to-consumer selling online also lets a small team launch without a big retail partner.
Beauty is the most common category because it suits the format: tutorials, reviews and before-and-after posts are natural marketing. But the same model is spreading into fashion, wellness and other categories.
What they have in common
Each began by building trust before she had a product. Their audiences knew their taste and their voice, and that trust gave them a head start: customers, feedback and free marketing. Each also used her audience as a test lab, listening to what people asked for before making it.
But an audience is not a guarantee. Weiss’s story shows that a brand needs strong operations and leadership as well as attention. Kattan’s buyback shows how much ownership and control can matter.
What we can learn
Trust is your main asset. A loyal audience is built on honesty and consistency, so protect it.
Listen before you launch. Your comments section is free market research.
Build the business, not just the brand. Supply, finance, hiring and leadership decide whether a brand lasts.
Start small. Kattan began with one product and Büller-Khosla with a 200-euro budget.
One key takeaway
An audience can get you started, but a great product and solid operations keep you going. The creators who last are the ones who treat the business as seriously as the content.
Conclusion
Huda Kattan, Emily Weiss, Camila Coelho and Diipa Büller-Khosla began by sharing what they knew and loved. Their stories show that a following can be a powerful launchpad, and also that the hard work starts after the launch.
Sources
- CEW UK: Huda Kattan reclaims full ownership of Huda Beauty (2025)
- South China Morning Post: Who is cosmetics queen Huda Kattan?
- Cairo Scene: Huda Kattan reacquires full ownership of Huda Beauty (2025)
- Wikipedia: Emily Weiss
- Wikipedia: Glossier
- Retail Gazette: Glossier appoints new chief executive as Emily Weiss steps down (2022)
- All American Speakers: Emily Weiss
- Fashion Magazine: Camila Coelho on creating Elaluz
- Glossy: Camila Coelho, Elaluz
- Harper’s Bazaar Arabia: Camila Coelho on Elaluz (2020)
- CEW: Camila Coelho launches Elaluz
- The Established: Why are Indian influencers launching so many beauty brands?
- Trailblazers: Diipa Khosla, global influencer
- Gulf Business: Huda Kattan, 100 Most Powerful Arabs (2023)
Disclaimer: This story is based on information available in the public domain, including the sources listed above, and has been carefully researched. It is shared for information and inspiration only. Details can vary between sources and change over time. GritView is not affiliated with the people or companies mentioned. If you spot an error, please let us know and we will review it.
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