Kristin Johns, who you may know as the wife of famous Vine star Marcus Johns, has been optimizing her 614,000 YouTube subscribers and 665,000 Instagram fans by sponsoring products and her love of Jesus.

Kristin has created sponsored content alongside Sephora, Marc Jacobs, Anthropologie, Princess Polly Boutique, and Aerie, as well as many other consumer brands and items.

Kristin has recently founded her own lifestyle brand and media company, “Kristin Made,” which market apparel, accessories and home and garden products.

On her channel and Instagram account, she has shared her beauty fashion, home décor, and recipe tips as well as promoting positivity and mental health awareness.

“Kristin Made” is about inspiring others to provide warmth and welcome to all communities of homemakers. Her brand IS a community for inspiration and encouragement. It is a place where you can come and be a part of something positive, and a place for home décor, style, plant, food, and beauty lovers.

What is inspiring about Kristin is her compassion for others and her joy found in the little things in life.

Kristin and her husband were recently in a hit and run accident, which required a lot of physical therapy, surgery, and prayers. It has been a long, tiring, and stressful road for Kristin, but she has been persevering mentally, physically, and entrepreneurially.

She is an aspiring entrepreneur who isn’t afraid to promote positivity and stand firm as a Christian woman.  She is vulnerable with her subscribers, fans, and buyers, which makes for an empathetic and strong entrepreneur.

Go Kristin!

At 13 years old, Hart Main wanted to buy a $1,200 bicycle that he could use for triathlons.

Around the same time, his sister started selling scented candles at a fundraiser for school. Curiously, he wondered what there aren’t any candles specifically for men.

Soon after this semi-serious, semi-joking thought, he started “ManCans.” These candles come in a range of scents whether it is the smell of a new baseball mitt, sawdust, or fresh cut grass.

A family friend taught him where to buy the supplies, how to create different scents, and essentially how to start his business.

Now, his candles are in 150 stores around the country and have made over hundreds of thousand of dollars since 2015.

I think it is inventive that Main’s candle are made in aluminum cans, which came from canned soup at the start of his business. What I found uplifting about Hart Main and his entrepreneurship and business, was that he does not pocket all of his profits. A large part of his business has been dedicated to giving back to local soup kitchens.

Main showed that age doesn’t define ability and a small thought determines no boundaries for expansion and innovation.

In this generation, it is quite unheard of to not know what “TikTok” is, or its stars such as Addison Rae. Monty Lopez is the father of this TikTok star, Addison Rae, and with her rising fame, he decided to create a TikTok account as well.

Monty and his family have received much of the spotlight from the “super-viral” platform, and have even been endorsed by known entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, owner of VaynerX, a media and communications holding company.

Now, you might be thinking, “Really? Why would he want to bring all this attention to his life and family?” but Monty is leading his family by sharing fun and entertaining content with his multitude of fans,  3.9 million to be exact.

Monty isn’t just a social media “star,” but an entrepreneur. In between doing the renegade and other TikTok Dance moves, he also runs a real estate investment company called “ML Sales.” He is not just on a journey to build wealth through the media, but through other means as well.

When asked on TikTok what his business strategy is for his family, he said that he likes to keep an open mind and pursue different opportunities that are presented to him and his family.

Monty has shown that you either get with the times or you do not. He hasn’t let his new stardom get the best of him and his family and their visions, but use it to his benefit to innovate and keep positive and open minded.

Post Malone, the 25-year-old Texan, has paved his own path to becoming a superstar, developing a signature style and sound that has allowed him to solidify his place within the culture.

Besides releasing top hits, Malone has become a sought-after performer and known as “self made.” He views being self-made as being successful without cutting corners or changing who you are to impress anybody. Malone said it is all about being yourself and doing it your own way, and if someone tells you no, being self-made is about having the ability to tell them (the haters) to shut up, and keep “rocking” anyway. It’s being able to get it done your own way. People are going to hate on you, doubt you and tell you how you should do things. Malone had to stay true to himself and do things on his own terms.

Post Malone started by moving to L.A., and then started making music. He had hope, but never thought anything would come from it. After he had put out his first song, the next day he had 30,000 views on it. He was ecstatic to think that artists such as Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller were into what he was creating.

Malone wants people to know that he isn’t just a one hit wonder or some kind of overnight success story. He is constantly pursing his ability to create new music and make something truly unique. He thinks it is especially important to think beyond the music and express himself in different ways. “When you think about Elvis, you see nice suits and good moves. You look at other greats across genres and you see a combination of music, fashion, and lifestyle…You are what your music represents, that’s why i think it’s important to be yourself.” (Forbes, 2017).

Malone thrives in celebrating individuality and paving his own way. He credits his success to always looking for ways to be authentically and genuinely better.

In 2016, independent makeup brands were up 42.7% due to a change in consumer tastes and buyer demographics (Forbes, 2016). Regardless of what you think of the Kardashians, or Kylee Jenner specifically, this is an impressive story about her ability to take advantage of many of the benefits that technology and changing consumer behavior provide companies today.

Jenner took full advantage of her exposure on Keeping Up With the Kardashians to voice her cosmetic line. In 2015, Jenner launched her own cosmetics line, Kylie Cosmetics. Although she had the accessible platform and influential voice, I have always wondered what made her believe she could successfully enter a cosmetics industry occupied by some of the most famous brands in the world?

Jenner had the passion for makeup and the ability to leverage a huge platform from both the show and her growing fan base and social media accounts, which allowed her to form manufacturing and distribution partnerships. She saw an unmet need in the market and wanted to focus on customers who were just like her, teenagers.

Jenner was able to relate to one of the largest, if not the largest, buyers of makeup, in a way that was inventive and up to date with social media. She was able to successfully promote her products, produce makeup looks and tutorials, as well as collect and analyze what her fan base and consumers were interested in purchasing if her cosmetics line were to grow. She also succeeded in recognizing that her cosmetics line could not be strictly cost based. She offered bundles, sales, and carries some of the cheaper items compared to some of the most famous cosmetic brands that hold credibility and longevity.

Being a celebrity most definitely helped get her foot in the door, but without great products, loyal customers and strong customer experience, it wouldn’t have mattered.

Fabrizio Freda of Estee Lauder commented, “Younger generations are defining the culture with images of self-expression…65% of teens rely on social media to discover and select beauty products…The art of leading through change is understanding what has not changed and hwo to leverage our historical strengths.”

As for Jenner, the current rate of growth of her company suggests that she will speed past the $1 billion mark by 2022 (Forbes). This is more than just because of a platform, Jenner was able to publicize her own insecurities and confidence in cosmetics, and turn that into something her fans could relate to.

Do people buy Kylie Cosmetics because of the brand? Because they want to look like Jenner? Sure, but the question I would like to propose is, are people buying Kylie Cosmetics because it is a good brand? Is it cost efficient, fun, applicable and reliable? As a user of Kylie Cosmetics and a long time beauty advocate and consumer, I can say absolutely.

The first person that came to mind when I thought of “millennial entrepreneurs” was David Dobrik. Dobrik stands out to me because he has redefined social media entrepreneurship. He has over 11 million subscribers on YouTube as well as being one of the most popular vloggers in the world. Since 2016, Dobrik has become one of the biggest vloggers on the platform.  Dobrik was born in Slovakia and immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 6 years old. His parents pushed him to succeed back handedly. After high school, his parents gave him an ultimatum: Either go to college or move out. Dobrik chose the latter. He was a self-starter. Dobrik optimized his potential to work at something and pursue it aggressively.

Dobrik later moved to L.A. and supported himself in the beginning. He ran Vine accounts and would upload sports clips, and then sell revines on those accounts. He had an entrepreneurial mind from the beginning. As Vine was going away, he was introduced to vlogging and the idea of recording your whole day.  David Dobrik used his upbringing and success to comment towards others with the same goal, “If you’re in it for the money, there is no way you will ever make it! Never. That’s not going to get you there at all. I just made fun videos with my friends. That’s the key. Actually that’s not the key. Don’t watch this and take tips from me. Just go do you. If people see that you’re passionate about what you’re creating, they’re going to enjoy it.” (Forbes, 2019)

Dobrik also embodies impressive work ethic. He has posted three videos a week for four years. On top of that, he also hosts a popular podcast, “VIEWS With David Dobrik and Jason Nash.” He wanted to diversify and keep expanding his entrepreneurial horizons. He wanted to get better at interviewing, so he hosted a late night podcast to improve on that skill. He doesn’t take breaks, and if he sees an opportunity, he attacks it. He can’t better his career unless he first betters his mind.

While a handful of YouTubers have burned out, Dobrik has continued to create consistent content and expand on “Fortune favors the brave.”