Five minutes with Chloe Morello: a Canberra-grown social media beauty sensation
Posted on
About 18 months ago, at the ripe old age of 39, I was about to make my latin dance performance debut with Kokoloco and was struggling with the whole idea of stage makeup. “You should check out Chloe Morello’s YouTube Channel – she’s used to teach here and has a couple hundred thousand followers,” said Director, Becky. “She even does a ‘Koko Smokey Eye’!”
I was gobsmacked. How could there be a Canberra girl out there with such a massive following that I didn’t know about? These days, Chloe Morello is well on the way to being a household name: she’s recently been on the Today show, been flown to New York Fashion Week, and has just launched her own Beauty Box. We spent five minutes with Chloe…
So how does a girl from Batemans Bay (then Canberra – I’m totally claiming you as our own) become a ‘YouTube’ phenomenon with a following of over 600 000 on YouTube alone? Did it just kinda happen? Or was it a conscious decision on your part to develop your channel to become a business?
It just happens, when you put yourself out there on the internet things can go ‘viral’ and I guess I was lucky and got a few popular videos and makeup looks that did the rounds on YouTube and Pinterest, so it ended up happening quite quickly.
I didn’t originally intend for it to become my occupation – I was just looking to interact with other like-minded girls, but when I discovered just what you could do with it as a career I invested lots of money and time to improve my vlogging in the hopes of it taking me somewhere and giving me real experience in the industry.
How long have you been working on your various social media platforms?
I started my ChloeMorello YouTube channel in March 2012 so it has only been going for two years! Instagram and Facebook pages started shortly after.
What opportunities has it brought you?
So so many opportunities have come from my online following and makeup videos; I starred in the Virgin Mobile Game of Phones Campaign, and my photo was on two storey high billboards all over capital cities and buses!
The Today Show did a segment on me just a few weeks ago… I met and interviewed Megan Gale as part of my involvement with L’Oreal and the Melbourne Fashion Festival, and was just recently flown to New York for Fashion Week.
And are you now at a point where you can make a decent living from your various activities?
Yes, I have been able to work full-time as a Vlogger since the beginning of 2013, but only started making a good living about six months ago.
So, tell me about your Beauty Box – what is it and where can people get it?
The Chloe Morello Beauty Box is a collaborative product designed by me and created by Lust Have It, a subscription box company. My beauty box is a one-off purchase and contains some of my favourite full sized beauty products and two sample sized products. It’s kind of like a goodie bag or lucky dip; you pay $49.95 and get the products (which are worth over $150) sent to you – some of the products are a surprise, and some are set. Its a really fun idea and the feedback has been incredible so far.
What’s next? Do you have a goal for this year or for in 10 years time? You’re still so young – surely, world domination is on the cards!
I don’t know whats coming next, which is really exciting! I’d love to be able to travel the world some more and teach workshops for women in Middle Eastern countries; that is hopefully happening this year! As for 10 years down the track, I’ve no idea. But just judging by how swiftly social media, let alone technology changes, it’ll probably be something very different! I believe my career will just evolve naturally.
The obligatory Canberra question – you lived here for six years – what are you favourite places to go or do when you come back to visit friends?
My favourite place is Tongue and Groove by far, I worked there for a long while! I have to visit them every time I go back and it’s my favourite place to go out. When I come back I also visit my good friends from Kokoloco Dance Studio in Phillip, where I taught Bellydance before I moved to Sydney – when I visit I always try to go to the studio or a dance event and catch up.
I would like to thank everyone for all the support I’ve received from Canberra since starting my YouTube channel! I get quite a few comments from Canberra followers asking me to come visit – I hope to host a workshop at Westfield some day! I tried organising one before I moved but left it too late. Hopefully this year…
the essentials
Who: Chloe Morello
What: Beauty Blogging Sensation
Where: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.