• Dominique Capraro was born in 1988 in Visp, Switzerland and graduated from Universite de Lausanne with a degree in Art History.
• He became a runner-up in Mr Switzerland competition, and began modeling to support himself financially.
• He moved to Los Angeles with his girlfriend Michelle Phan, who is a YouTuber and fashion blogger.
• He has an estimated net worth of over $1 million.
• Michelle Phan has an estimated net worth of $50 million.



Early life, family, educational background

Dominique Capraro was born on 16 May 1988, in Visp, Switzerland. His mother, Monika Thoni, is Swiss-Austrian and his father is Italian. Dominique matriculated from Lycee-College de L’Abbaye and went on to graduate from Universite de Lausanne with a degree in Art History. He studied further at College d’Abbaye de St Maurice. During his school and college years, he participated in dancing and modeling shows.

Career

In his teenage years, Dominque was a contestant in the Mr Switzerland competition and completed it as the runner-up. Dominque began modelling as a means of supporting himself financially through college, with this career field later becoming his main source of income. He is also a dancer, and has participated in a number of shows in Switzerland during his college days.

He was signed by Jaffa Models in Chicago, Illinois, setting his future as a model, but he’s not opposed to expanding his repertoire into acting. He has a muscular, fit body, but surprisingly does not follow a workout routine. Regarding his body, he has said, ‘No special regime, but lots of sport and dance. No fitness training, just home exercises and dance classes.’

Personal life

Dominique and Michelle met in New York City on Valentine’s Day in 2008. They met again in Paris, France in 2010, and after forming a close friendship, they began dating. Michelle’s fans wanted proof that the two were dating, so in 2012, they released a video to her YouTube page which has garnered millions of views over the years.

He moved to Los Angeles to be with Michelle, and to try to become a successful model. It is rumored that the couple is engaged, but that’s unconfirmed. He used to appear in his girlfriend’s videos more often, but they have decided to make their relationship more private, so he has not been on her channel in a while. When they are together, their love and chemistry can be seen.

Appearance

Dominique has dark brown eyes and black hair, stands rather tall at 6ft 2ins (1.88m), and weighs about 172lbs (78kgs), with an athletic and fit physique. His chest is 40ins (101.6cm), and his waist is 32ins (81.28cm). His shoe size is a US 10. From what can be seen in his photographs, he does not have any tattoos or piercings.

Net worth and salary

He receives most of his income from modeling gigs, and has an estimated net worth of over $1 million as of early 2020. His salary varies according to the work he gets in any one year.

Who is Michelle Phan?

Michelle Phan is a YouTuber and fashion blogger. She was born on 11 April 1987, into a poor Vietnamese family, in Massachusetts USA and grew up with a brother and a sister in Tampa, Florida. Their mother escaped from Vietnam to the US during the war. She began her career in 2005 when she joined Xanga to post beauty and make-up-related blogs; she also drew sketches under the alias Rice Bunny. She later told “Glamour” that she depicted herself as ‘…the girl I wanted to be…’, someone with money and a successful family.

She had 10,000 consistent readers before then launching her YouTube channel, realizing that the only way she could grow her audience was by using a better-known site than Xanga.

During her first semester at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, in 2006, she began posting on YouTube. She used the laptop that was given to her for her studies, but she could not continue studying for much longer. In her second semester, she was forced to drop out of college for financial reasons. Her family had paid for her first semester, but she could not afford the second-semester fees, so she got a job waitressing. Ringling awarded her an honorary doctorate in March 2014. Her first video was a tutorial for a ‘natural’ make-up look, and it was viewed over 40,000 times within the first week.

Michelle Phan

She was hoping that if she had a successful career on YouTube, it would improve her chances of getting a well-paying job. After a year, her first video garnered over a million views, after which she joined YouTube’s partnership program, which allowed her to monetize her videos by featuring ads before or after her videos played.

Her first viral tutorial videos were her Lady Gaga “Bad Romance” and “Poker Face”-inspired make-up tutorials, but although the videos were uploaded in 2007, they only gained traction from late 2008, with her channel averaging 600,000 views a month, and her YouTube royalties were paying handsomely. She made a move from Florida to Los Angeles to dedicate her time to her channel, she told “Refinery29.com,” – ‘My whole life was working. I didn’t go out; I didn’t have a social life. I knew that if I wanted this, I would have to sacrifice something.’

In 2010, she was approached by Lancôme, and they began a partnership – Michelle would upload monthly tutorials only using Lancôme products. Strangely, she had applied for a job at a Lancôme store several years earlier, but was turned down due to her lack of sales experience. That same year, she co-founded Ipsy, a monthly beauty subscription box, which cost $10 a month and was filled with new beauty products for the subscriber to try out; any unsold make-up items were donated to charity.

In 2013, she partnered with L’Oréal and launched her cosmetics company, Em, meaning ‘sweetheart’ or ‘little sister’ in Vietnamese. Although she was allowed to choose which products were made and how the packaging looked, she could not price the items herself.

L’Oréal heading Em caused the company to flop, because most of the products were priced too highly for Michelle’s young clients, allegedly some things cost a whopping $50.

Em and Michelle received a lot of hate online, and she later told “Teen Vogue,” – ‘I had Reddit forums dedicated to hating on it.’ In 2015 she bought out L’Oréal’s shares for an undisclosed amount, but by 2016, the backlash from Em’s failure caused her to take almost a year-long break from posting anything online, including YouTube videos. She also opened up to “Teen Vogue” about the struggle of taking a mental health break as an influencer – ‘It is really scary because you can become irrelevant. If you don’t upload a video or stay updated, within a month, you’re irrelevant.’ She recently relaunched Em Cosmetics, working mainly behind-the-scenes in the company. The shift seems to have worked, because the company is now experiencing greater success.

In 2015, “Forbes” valued Ipsy at $500 million. After the valuation, Ipsy received an investment of $100 million which paid for the Ipsy Open Studios in Santa Monica. The Studios is a 10,000 square foot space built specifically for beauty vloggers to film professional content.

2015 proved to be a busy year for Michelle, because she also partnered with Endemol Shine Group to launch Icon, a multi-platform lifestyle network dedicated to lifestyle, beauty and entertainment. Seeing her success, cosmetic and beauty brands began approaching Michelle to advertise their products, and sent her brand-deals and PR packages. These collaborations with branded companies helped elevate Michelle’s status and bank account. In 2014, Michelle won the Shorty Award for “Best YouTube Guru” and a Steamy Award for “Inspiration Icon.”

Her YouTube channel now has over nine million subscribers. She often has Dominque featured in her videos, which helps him become recognized, followed and gain more modeling gigs. Most popularly, they do the “My Boyfriend Does My Make-up” tag on YouTube, because the viewers widely like it. Continuing to collaborate could become mutually beneficial the more famous Dominque gets, because his fans may then also follow Michelle.

Outside of make-up, Michelle has also dabbled a bit in voice-acting. She lent her voice on the mobile game “Marvel Avengers Academy”, for the character Jessica Jones. As of early 2020, Michelle’s estimated net worth is now estimated at an impressive $50 million.

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As a Freelance Writer at Biography Pedia, I oversee the full writing process, from in-depth research to the development of compelling narratives, ensuring accuracy and excellence in our output. Our goal is to produce insightful profiles that deeply explore the lives of prominent figures in business, entertainment, and other fields. Through meticulous research and engaging storytelling, we spotlight the significant journeys and achievements of individuals who captivate and inspire our readers.

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