The Upstart: Gretchen Loves Beauty
YouTube beauty blogger Gretchen Geraghty’s videos have more than 25 million views
For Gretchen Geraghty, setting up lighting and equipment to shoot makeup and beauty videos in her BU digs between classes is a normal part of her routine.
She’s the creator and star of the popular YouTube channel GretchenLovesBeauty, which she began as a high school freshman in Latham, New York. Today, Geraghty (BSBA’19) is an internet personality—in the five years since starting her channel, she has successfully built a brand and made a name for herself in the competitive world of beauty blogging.
The channel has amassed almost 200,000 subscribers, and her videos more than 25 million views. As a YouTube partner, Geraghty makes money every time one of her videos is viewed (each is preceded by a product’s ad). And they have caught the eye of major fashion and beauty brands like Neutrogena, Pantene, Society6, and Urban Outfitters. She earns additional fees for promoting their products, although she prefers not to say how much.
“I work with brands that I feel are applicable to my audience,” says Geraghty. “I turn down a majority of brands because I want to work with the ones I like the most and think my subscribers will like.”
Geraghty began making the videos on a whim—a way to explore her passion for makeup and clothing. Now, with more than 400 videos posted on her main channel, she has become a pro at filming videos focusing on makeup and skin care routines, wardrobe suggestions, and what she calls hauls, where she shares recent clothing, makeup, and interior design purchases with viewers. She doles out advice from how to do your morning makeup in a hurry to how to dress for class and how to look fashionable in the cold winter months.
Geraghty says her Questrom classes have helped her communicate and negotiate with companies and keep track of what she earns from her videos. “I’m running my own business essentially. That’s been hard for me in certain cases, since I’m all on my own,” she says. “Questrom has helped me with the business end of things.”
Gretchen Geraghty’s videos mix fashion, beauty, and college life. Video by Gretchen Geraghty. See more of her videos on YouTube.
