Huda Kattan

Huda Kattan
Born	(1983-10-02) October 2, 1983 (age 37) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Michigan–Dearborn
Occupation	Makeup artist beauty blogger entrepreneur
Years active	2010–present
Website	hudabeauty.com

Huda Kattan (Arabic: هدى قطان‎; born October 2, 1983) is an American^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} makeup artist, beauty blogger, and entrepreneur.^[7][8][9] She is the founder of the cosmetics line Huda Beauty.^[7]

Early life[]

Huda was born on October 2, 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,^[10] as one of four children.^[11] Her parents are both from Iraq.^[10] The family later moved to Cookeville, Tennessee, and then to Dartmouth, Massachusetts.^[12] Huda attended the University of Michigan–Dearborn where she majored in finance.^[10][11][13]

Career[]

In 2006, Huda moved to Dubai with her father because he accepted a job opportunity as a teacher in the emirate.^[11][12] A few years later, Huda moved to Los Angeles, where she studied makeup.^{[9][10][12][14]} Among her clients were celebrities such as Eva Longoria and Nicole Richie.^[10] Huda then returned to Dubai where she became employed by Revlon as a makeup artist.^[9][11] In April 2010, upon the advice of one of her sisters, Huda started a beauty-related WordPress blog which she named "Huda Beauty" on which she would post makeup tutorials and tips.^{[10][11][12][13][15]}

In 2013, Huda founded a cosmetics line which, like her blog, is also called "Huda Beauty."^{[7][11][12][13][16]} Her first product, a series of false eyelashes,^[11][12] was released through Sephora.^[13][17] The Huda Beauty label achieved success with the sales of the false eyelashes, which were famously worn by Kim Kardashian.^[13]

Huda's company, which is based out of Dubai, later began to offer other beauty products, including eye shadow palettes, liquid lipsticks, lip liners, highlighter palettes, foundations, concealers, baking powders and liquid eyeshadows.^{[9][11][12][14][16][17]}

Huda achieved popularity on Instagram, attaining more than 47 million followers as of 2020.^{[7][8][11][14][17][18]} Huda is ranked #1 on the "2017 Influencer Instagram Rich List", earning $18,000 for each post of sponsored content.^[11][19] Huda has been described as "a Kim Kardashian West of the beauty influencer economy",^[12] and was declared one of the "ten most powerful influencers in the world of beauty" by Forbes magazine.^[20] She was chosen as one of "The 25 Most Influential People on the Internet" by Time magazine in 2017.^[11][18] In 2020, Huda was listed on Fortunes 40 under 40^[21] In 2021, Huda was ranked number one on cosmetify Beauty Influencer Rich List.^[22]

In 2018, Huda began starring in her own original Facebook Watch reality series entitled Huda Boss,^[23] alongside her family.

In 2021, Huda participated in a campaign to provide food and donated one million meals through her cosmetics company Huda Beauty.^[24]

Philanthropy and activism[]

Through her cosmetics brand, Huda Beauty, Kattan has participated in various philanthropic efforts. In June 2020, Kattan announced that Huda Beauty will donate $500,000 dollars to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund^[25]

In 2021, Huda Kattan and Huda Beauty started a petition for beauty brands to disclose when they've retouched or edited their images or videos, to help dismantle "toxic" social media beauty standards.^[26] Through her beauty brand, she has also supported the Asian American community,^[27] Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and food drive initiatives such as 100 Million Meals.^[28] Kattan has also used her social media platforms to speak up about the forced evictions in Palestine ^[29] In May 2021, Kattan and her company, Huda Beauty donated $100,000 dollars to Help India Breathe, a COVID-19 relief fundraiser launched by former monk Jay Shetty and his wife, Radhika Devlukia-Shetty.^[30]

Personal life[]

In high school, Huda met her now-husband, Chris Gonçalo, who is of Colombian heritage.^[31] The couple moved to Dubai in 2006, got married in June 2009, and had their first child, Nour Gisele, in 2011.^[11] Huda is Muslim.^[13] One of Huda's sisters is her business partner, Mona; while another sister manages Huda's social media, Alya.^[12]

References[]