Marjan Tabibzada, YoungCouture Talks Cannes Red Carpet, Content Diversification, and The Future of Beauty Marketing
I feel like sometimes in this world, we forget that we’re all human. And I feel like with social media, there’s so much happening in this world. Sometimes there’s a lot of hate happening in this world. And I feel like we’re all gonna die one day. We are, we really, really are. And I feel like spreading love is so important. I got married and I moved across the country. Looking back at it, I’m just like, those little moments with your family, your friends, and just doing any good in the world, being nice to even the people that are being mean to you, goes so far. Truly, I feel like an ounce of kindness to anybody, and everybody says so much about you and does so much. So be nice. Literally everybody, be nice. We have one life to live, let it be good.
I had the pleasure of talking with Marjan Tabibzada. Before she was a fixture on social media feeds with millions of followers hanging on her every brushstroke, she was a teenager walking from one MAC Cosmetics store to another, desperately asking if they were hiring. Today, she operates under the moniker YoungCouture, blending her Afghan-American heritage with high-end beauty, fashion, and lifestyle content. Her trajectory from a crowded, working-class household to digital stardom is a story of relentless hustle and adaptation in an industry that never sleeps.
Born in California to Afghan immigrant parents, Marjan grew up in a loud, chaotic environment as one of six children born back-to-back. Her family experienced incredibly humble beginnings. Her father was the sole provider, working two demanding security jobs. He would wake up at four in the morning for his first shift, return home for a quick hour of sleep, and head right back out for his night shift. Meanwhile, her mother stayed home to manage the busy house. She is brutally honest about what it took to arrive at her current level of success. “Looking at my journey now and where I’ve come, it really has been just me working my — sorry for my language — but working my ass off to get to where I am, because it was all me,” she says.
Her entry into the beauty industry was driven by pure obsession. Hired at MAC at just seventeen, she was the youngest employee in her department. She lacked retail experience, yet she was deeply dedicated to the craft of makeup. While MAC heavily focused on sales numbers, Marjan found herself drawn entirely to artistry and education. “When I worked at MAC, people would come in and I would teach them how to do a smokey eye, to the point where they asked, ‘Why don’t you do classes?’” she recalls. She soon realized she had far more to offer the world than pushing retail products over a counter.
While earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Marketing from California State University, Northridge, Marjan started posting content online. At the time, being an influencer was largely looked down upon as a passing internet fad. She originally planned to attend law school, keeping her degree in her back pocket. However, when TikTok launched, her account exploded. She gained over a million followers in under a year through ASMR and makeup videos that sometimes pulled in thirty million views. Seeing the momentum, she decided to dive into content creation full-time.
Her success soon brought surreal milestones. Last year, she found herself featured on a massive billboard in Times Square for a campaign with Tarte. She received the news from her manager while sitting at brunch with fifteen other influencers. “I was sitting there trying not to freak out because I couldn’t say anything,” she remembers. Seeing her face right next to where the New Year’s ball drops was an unforgettable experience. Equally memorable was a commercial she filmed for Behr paint. The campaign beautifully merged the seemingly distinct worlds of home design and beauty. “Painting a room really is the same creative process, just on a larger canvas,” she notes, explaining how working with color, texture, and blending translates perfectly from a face to a wall.
Yet, living life in the public eye comes with significant challenges and harsh lessons. The beauty space moves fast, and internet trends can be unforgiving. During the 2016 era of heavy, boxy eyebrows, Marjan got her brows microbladed twice, a decision she calls the worst mistake of her life. She later endured painful tattoo removal sessions to fix it. Her audience was quick to point out the misstep. “When you have an audience, they tend to humble you because they will call you out when something does not look good,” she admits. She learned to embrace that criticism, refining her approach to discover that less is often more.
The emotional cost of her career is the sheer lack of off-hours. Content creation demands a constant connection to the camera, whether relaxing on vacation or simply spending a weekend at home. She recently married cosmetic dentist Nomaan Vadria, and she admits that balancing her marriage with her work can be incredibly tough. There are moments when her husband pleads with her to be present, and she has to remind him she is working. Eventually, she recognized the validity of his request. She has since learned to take a step back, practice Pilates, go on walks, and breathe.
Unlike many creators who strictly limit their content to a specific niche, Marjan refuses to box herself in. Managers constantly advised her to narrow her focus, and she flatly rejected the idea. She posts about her lifelong struggle with cystic acne, her deep love for fashion, and even her recent journey of learning how to cook for her husband. “I felt like I offered so much; why should I only stick to one thing?” she says.
Despite the noise and the immense pressure of the internet, she remains remarkably grounded. When asked about the one idea she wishes to spread to her millions of followers, she bypasses makeup tips entirely. She focuses squarely on our shared humanity in an often hostile digital world. “So be nice,” she urges. “Literally everybody, be nice. We have one life to live, let it be good.”
Yitzi: Marjan, it’s such a delight to meet you. Before we dive in and talk about your work, our readers would love to learn about Marjan Tabibzada’s personal origin story. Can you share with us the story of your childhood, how you grew up, and particularly the seeds and genesis for all the amazing work that has come since then?
Marjan: It is so nice to meet you. I’m so excited for this interview. Oh, god. Okay, where do I begin? I am one of six kids, all from the same parents. People are always asking, “Same parents? Divorced parents? Step kids? Step sisters?” No, all from the same parents. We are literally 31, 30, 29, 28… we were all born back to back, so we grew up in the most wild, crazy, loud family. I am super grateful for my entire family. I’m close to all of my siblings, and my best friends are my sisters. I grew up in a very humble household, to be completely honest with you. My dad at the time was the only one working. He had two security jobs, so he would wake up at 4:00 in the morning to do security. He would come home for maybe an hour or two to sleep, and then he would head back and do his nighttime shift. At that time, my mom didn’t work. She was a stay-at-home mom taking care of four kids, then the fifth one, and then the youngest of our family, who is 14 years old now. I was 16 when she was born. We had super humble beginnings. Looking at my journey now and where I’ve come, it really has been just me working my — sorry for my language — but working my ass off to get to where I am, because it was all me.
Yitzi: Tell us about the next chapter. Tell us all that you do and how you got there.
Marjan: The way I began was, I always had social media here and there. When I graduated high school, I got hired at MAC Cosmetics. I think I got hired at 17 or 18 years old, and it was my first job ever. I was the youngest person in the entire department. I was working with 20-year-olds and 30-year-olds, and I was a baby. I had no retail experience, didn’t know what I was doing, and to be honest, I didn’t know much about the brand. I was so dedicated and loved makeup so much that I decided this is what I wanted, and I was going to do anything to get this job. I remember going from one MAC store to the other asking, “Are you guys hiring anybody?” because I really wanted to work there. It was my first big girl job out of high school. I got hired and was there for about three years. MAC is really sales-based. As much as I loved it, I was all about the creativity and artistry. Eventually, I realized that as much as I loved this career, I had so much more to offer the world, especially on the creativity and education side. When I worked at MAC, people would come in and I would teach them how to do a smokey eye, to the point where they asked, “Why don’t you do classes?” I wanted my audience to be bigger. I knew it was a job, not a career for me. I was posting stuff on the side on social media, and slowly it got picked up. It’s crazy because right now, influencing is considered a career. When I started, back when Instagram was taking off, social media and influencers were looked down upon. Now, I think a study showed that 90% of teens want to become influencers. I posted here and there, gained traction, and then TikTok came about. I think the first or second year TikTok launched, we gained over a million followers in less than a year. We were doing ASMR content and makeup content, and some of my videos were getting 30 million views. It was just blowing up. I graduated college around that time too. I got my Bachelor of Science in Business Marketing. I knew I wanted to do social media, but I still wanted my degree just in case. After getting my degree, my goal was law school. However, I loved fashion and beauty, and when I graduated, I decided I wanted to do this full-time. I went with it, and we’re doing amazing. I’m really grateful I chose this career.
Yitzi: Tell us about any exciting new initiatives or projects you’re working on now.
Marjan: The Cannes Film Festival is around the corner, so hopefully, you’ll see me on a red carpet there soon, which would be amazing. That’s definitely something I’m looking forward to.
Yitzi: You probably have some amazing stories from your successful career, and I’m sure it’s difficult to single them out. Can you share with our readers two stories that stand out in your mind from your career?
Marjan: One of the main things that stands out for me was when we got on a billboard in Times Square last year. That was an unexpected, random campaign that came about. I was on a brand trip, and my manager called me and said, “Just letting you know, you might be on a billboard in Times Square.” I was sitting there trying not to freak out because I couldn’t say anything. I was on the phone having brunch with 15 other influencers, internally freaking out but trying to stay calm because it wasn’t finalized yet. Getting on a billboard in Times Square is surreal. It’s everything and more that you can think of. When you go and see your face — and the billboard was right next to where the ball drops on New Year’s, and it was huge — it was incredible. I stayed there the whole day. We left and came back at night because I had to see the billboard at night too. It was a beautiful experience, and I did it with this amazing brand called Tarte.
Aside from that, I did a commercial with a paint company called Behr. You can find their paint at Home Depot or Lowe’s. When this commercial came about, I was so confused. I wondered how they were tying a makeup and beauty influencer into a paint company. I was skeptical about the concept. What I really loved about the campaign was that it took two completely different worlds that normal people wouldn’t connect — beauty, paint, and home design — and showed that they speak the same language. As a makeup artist, I work with color, texture, blending, mood, and transformation every day. Painting a room really is the same creative process, just on a larger canvas. The way the commercial worked was, I would take a makeup brush and swipe it into eyeshadow, and then a split screen showed me picking up a paint roller and swiping. Then I would take the makeup brush to apply it to my eye, and take a paintbrush to paint. It was an interesting campaign that worked together beautifully. Those are two things that, to this day, make me think, “Wow, I can’t believe I did that.”
Yitzi: That’s amazing. There are other beauty experts in the world. What do you think you do differently that most people in your role don’t do?
Marjan: I feel like I do everything. [laughs] A couple of years ago, almost every single expert or manager would say, “You need to niche down.” It was a trend where everyone advised finding a specific niche audience and only doing one thing that makes you stand out. I hated that because I am good at so many things. I love my hair videos and my skincare videos because I struggled with cystic acne since fourth grade, and that was a journey for me. I love makeup, but I also love fashion. I just got married, and that opened up a whole door of wedding and couple content. I just started a new series about cooking because I have never cooked a day in my life, and I’m sharing my journey of learning to cook for my husband. I felt like I offered so much; why should I only stick to one thing? While other content creators niche down, I post everything because I know that I can.
Yitzi: There’s a saying that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a story about a funny mistake you made when you were first starting and the lesson you took away from it?
Marjan: When it comes to makeup, we’re always making mistakes. The beauty world is changing, and trends change almost every day. Back in the 2016 era, makeup was all about Sharpied, boxy eyebrows, and I personally am not blessed with the best eyebrows to begin with. I fell hard into that trend. I even microbladed my eyebrows twice, which was the worst mistake of my entire life because I am still paying for it. I tried to get tattoo brow removal twice — the most painful thing ever — to try and fix that mistake. The way I learned from it is interesting. When you have an audience, they tend to humble you because they will call you out when something does not look good. Sometimes it’s negative, but as a creator, you realize that listening to your audience provides the best critique and criticism. It was true. I learned from it, started experimenting with different brow trends, and honestly, less is definitely more. It’s crazy that to this day, one of the top compliments I get and one of the most requested videos I’m constantly re-recording is a brow tutorial.
Yitzi: There’s a related idea that “no” is not rejection, but redirection and protection. Do you have a story where you got a “no” to an opportunity, but it led to an even better opportunity or greater success?
Marjan: So many. Within the beauty space and social media industry, a lot of brand deals or campaigns come in, but it’s a waiting and selection process. There actually was one I’m still a little salty about because I look back and wonder if I made a good choice. E! reached out to us for a new segment. Every time a red carpet event happened, they would have a live segment immediately afterward. For example, right after the Met Gala, it’s live with three experts, and I would have been one of the fashion experts breaking down all the looks, pros, and cons. I definitely wanted to do it, but I had to say no because logistically, the timeline was too hard. I had just gotten married, and I’m bicoastal, living between LA and the East Coast. They heavily required traveling back to LA numerous times for every single red carpet event. Logistically it just didn’t work out. To this day, I look back and wish I would have done it. However, I always believe that if a door closes, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, and something else even better may come about.
Yitzi: There’s a saying that the greatest university is adversity. What has hardship taught you that success never could?
Marjan: I feel like in order to be successful, you have to go through many hardships. In my career, there were so many times I would post content and it would not do well. There were times when I honestly felt over it, but you learn from those moments. You realize a video didn’t do well, so you tweak it, do something else, or add a new series. I truly believe consistency is key. Being consistent, believing in yourself, and going through hardships teaches you so much about yourself. Once you go through those hardships and learn what works and what doesn’t, the success will come.
Yitzi: What has been the most surprising emotional cost of becoming a public person, and what has been the most surprising gift?
Marjan: The most surprising gift for me is all of the experiences and opportunities I’ve received. I’m so grateful for this life. Influencing is probably one of the most rewarding careers. I’m incredibly blessed and happy. For example, I worked at MAC Cosmetics as a sales girl, and now their corporate offices are sending me PR packages. I have direct relationships with the head of marketing, and I attend brand events with them. Going from being an employee to having these insane experiences with a brand I used to work for is unbelievable. What was the beginning of the question again, I’m sorry?
The emotional cost in this industry is that we are working constantly. Content creation is not a 9-to-5 job with set hours. It happens at all times. If you’re vacationing, at home, or it’s the weekend, you make content. One thing people might misunderstand is that we are working almost all the time. There are times when my husband suggests going somewhere, and I have to say, “I can’t, I have to make content.” Or we go on a trip and he asks me to be present in the moment, and I have to remind him that I’m working. Sometimes that comes in the way of things. I remember one of our arguments was about him telling me I needed to enjoy the moment and be present. At first, I didn’t get it, but eventually, I realized he was so right. I’ve started to take a step back and remind myself to breathe. I don’t need to post 50 videos in a day; I can just step back a little bit and be fine.
Yitzi: This is our signature question. Marjan, you’ve been blessed with a lot of success and you must have learned a lot from your experiences. Based on your experience, can you share five things you need to create a successful career in the beauty industry?
Marjan: Five things a creator needs to be successful in this industry? First is dedication. This industry has gone from just creating content to becoming a career for a lot of people. If you want to make this a successful career, you have to be very dedicated and consistent with posting. Second, believe in yourself. A lot of people will judge you when you tell them your goals. When I said I wanted to be on a billboard, I felt like maybe it was too extreme, but I realized I deserved to be on a billboard. You really have to believe in yourself. Third is transparency. Being transparent will take you a long way, and building that core audience of people who truly believe in you is really important.
Honestly, having a good support system. For me right now, it’s my husband, my family, and my siblings. There are times when I doubt myself, and they remind me of who I am. All of those things will definitely add to a successful career in this industry.
Yitzi: Can you share some of the self-care routines you do to help your body, mind, and heart to thrive?
Marjan: I do a lot of Pilates. I love it. I try to plan spa days for myself. Because I struggled with cystic acne since fourth grade, aside from good skincare, I am really into getting chemical peels and facials done. I also just started on tretinoin. Beyond that, going on daily walks helps me stay present. I just remind myself to calm down, breathe, and be present.
Yitzi: That’s amazing. This is our final aspirational question. Marjan, because of your amazing work and the platform you’ve built, you are honestly a person of enormous influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can spread.
Honestly, I feel like this is probably so random, but I feel like sometimes in this world, we forget that we’re all human. And I feel like with social media, there’s so much happening in this world. Sometimes there’s a lot of hate happening in this world. And I feel like we’re all gonna die one day. We are, we really, really are. And I feel like spreading love is so important.
I got married and I moved across the country. Looking back at it, I’m just like, those little moments with your family, your friends, and just doing any good in the world, being nice to even the people that are being mean to you, goes so far. Truly, I feel like an ounce of kindness to anybody, and everybody says so much about you and does so much versus being, excuse my language, but a bitch, for example.
So be nice. Literally everybody, be nice. We have one life to live, let it be good.
Yitzi: Marjan, how can our readers continue to follow your work? How can they watch your material and support your work in any possible way?
Marjan: I am on every platform. I am on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat. We’re everywhere. It’s all under YoungCouture, so if they can follow me there, that would be awesome.
Yitzi: Marjan, it’s been a delight to meet you. I wish you continued success, good health, and blessings. I hope we can do this again next year.
Marjan: Oh, you are so awesome. Thank you so much. It was a pleasure talking to you.
Marjan Tabibzada, YoungCouture Talks Cannes Red Carpet, Content Diversification, and The Future of… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.