YouTube star turned business mogul Michelle Phan started out with a small handful of unassuming makeup tutorials. Those videos have since gained millions of views each and inspired her to create not one, not two, but three separate business ventures: ipsy, a beauty product subscription service; ICON, a network devoted to all things beauty and entertainment; and finally, Open Studios, a platform to provide future vloggers with the necessary tools and training to make it big.

In light of her recent accomplishments, Phan can now add "cover girl" to her growing resume. She graces the cover of NYLON Magazine's February issue, sporting tousled long hair and a streetwear-inspired ensemble.

Phan's cover interview begins with a short discussion of something she hasn't done yet but is curious to try: ayahuasca, an entheogenic brew that is said to bring on spiritual revelations. "I’ve never done any drugs," Phan clarifies, "but I have been doing a lot of research on the third eye and DMT lately. I’m very interested in it." After a brief pause, she also adds, "I hope my mom doesn’t read this. I’m not a druggie. Look at all I’ve built so far!”

As a self-identified introvert who taught herself how to be an extrovert, Phan doesn't see herself as the Oprah or Martha Stewart of her generation. "I try to give good life advice," she admits, "but I don’t see myself that way. I’m a bona fide nerd. It’s probably because I was always the outcast. I was bullied a lot growing up.” Phan attended a school where she was one of relatively few Asian students and faced constant verbal abuse from her peers. "I would walk down the hallway, and they would yell, ‘Ching Chong, Ching Chong!’ It made me insecure about my nationality and race. It was really hurtful."

It wasn't until college that she learned how to properly combat that kind of incessant bullying. "I eventually realized that they were just words, and that I could go into my happy place in my head and occupy my thoughts with my passions, like drawing and creating. I knew I would overcome it because I believed in myself."

Read Phan's full cover interview on NYLON's website to find out more about her family life growing up and her eventual discovery of makeup and its transformative power.

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