The Social Media Superstars Who Used Their Influence to Launch Companies

This former Vogue styling assistant started her blog, Into The Gloss (@intothegloss), in September 2010. Since then, Emily Weiss (@emilywweiss) has been known as the go-to girl for insider knowledge on the beauty routines of celebrities, influencers, and industry gurus.

In 2014 she launched Glossier (@glossier), a cosmetics and skincare line inspired by the products she would feature on her blog. The company is one of the most sought-after “indie” beauty brands on the market, known for their eyebrow gel and face cleanser.

Because Weiss had amassed a huge following with her blog, she had a “ready-made” market from her blog’s audience at her fingertips once she was ready to sell her products.

Talk about optimizing your influence.

Photo Credit: Instagram

Huda Beauty is the brand that was built on the foundation of a very successful beauty blog and Instagram account.

Founded by superstar beauty influencer Huda Kattan (@hudabeauty) and her sister, Mona Kattan (@monakattan), this cosmetic company’s social media strategy is nothing short of genius.

The brand relies on user-generated content and reposts photos and videos of fans using the products on its Instagram account (@shophudabeauty). Customers are eager to post a selfie with the products and share it on their social channels, for a chance that Huda might repost their picture.

It’s win-win for both parties, as Huda Beauty benefits from the word-of-mouth marketing and customers are excited that their favorite beauty guru is sharing their content on her social channels.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Bloggers-turned-entrepreneurs Gabi Gregg (@gabifresh) and Nicolette Mason (@nicolettemason) are pioneering the plus-sized fashion market with their clothing line, Premme.

With their backgrounds as fashion editors at InStyle magazine and Marie Claire magazine, these two ladies know a thing or two about the industry – and the gaps within the market. They were able to use the knowledge they gathered as plus-sized fashion influencers to their advantage, as they had extensive knowledge of the issues their audience faced when trying to find stylish clothing that fit their body shapes. These co-founders were then able to leverage this information to create a product that solved issues their target market was facing when shopping for outfits.

Photo Credit: Racked

Move over Huda and Mona, these two Dubai-based influencers sisters are taking the beauty world by storm.

Nazanin Fara (@nazaninfara_official) and Aida Fara (@makeupbyaida) have over 2.4 million followers between the two of them on Instagram and are the founders of Fara Beauty (@farabeautyloves).

The company is known for their line of high-quality makeup brushes and false eyelashes (Cardi B is a fan), but it’s the Instagrammable packaging that’s really the star. Fara Beauty is on top of the latest Instagram beauty trends and is the go to brand for photogenic beauty products. Photo credit: Instagram

Casey Ho (@blogilates) is an award-winning fitness instructor, influencer, blogger, and YouTuber. She founded the concept of pop-Pilates, a Pilates workout routine, that combines pop music with Pilates – and is always sharing snippets of her workout routines with her 1.4 million followers.

Ho launched POPFLEX (popflex_active), a line dedicated to providing women with high-quality workout clothing – and is in the process of building her fitness empire. All of her clothing is affordable and on-brand with her Instagram aesthetic, making it appealing to her millions of followers – and an extension of her feed.

Photo credit: Instagram