→ Nominated by Samir Chaudry, editor in chief
→ Written by Nate Graber-Lipperman
Mai Pham is a 21-year-old lifestyle and beauty vlogger turned “fashion mogul,” as Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam described her in 2022.
And the shoe fits. After dropping out of high school, Pham grew her YouTube audience to 3.3 million subscribers over 12 years. That community has powered her journey to building her successful independent clothing brand, Alchemai.
"My family is in the apparel business and I know firsthand how hard it is to create and sell a product. I’ve never met anyone who sells out faster than she does, let alone through a private Instagram account."
— Samir Chaudry
→ Mai began her YouTube at a young age and has since built an empire off of merchandise, her personality, and her story. / Photography by Stow Kelly and Alizayuh
Creating Alchemai, a super exclusive, comfort-focused clothing brand that’s Soho House meets Madhappy.
Pham first began developing Alchemai in 2021. She was looking for an oversized hoodie in a specific color and couldn’t find it—so she decided to make it herself.
Over the next year, Pham entertained several merch agencies before approaching manufacturers directly. At first, they told her that the one-size-fits-all, cut-and-sew design (with an elastic fabric bottom) “wouldn’t work” and “looked cheap.” Fast forward to now, and “people are claiming it’s the ‘hoodiest hoodie’ on social media,” Pham told us.
Through five collections since its launch in July 2022, Alchemai regularly sells out with no ad spend and effectively zero promotion from Pham’s primary channels. It’s her second “spam” Instagram—a private account where she reserves exclusive content and sneak drops for superfans who have been following her for at least six months—that drives the majority of her sales. In her last drop, she sold 7,000 hoodies in 10 minutes.
She innovated by…
→ Mai models her brand’s products / Photography by Alizayuh
→ Mai’s private Instagram account, “maispammy,” shows more of her personality—unfiltered.
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Where Mai Got Her Start
Pham grew up in a small Canadian town with a population just under 10,000. As someone who was “raised on the internet,” she began her creator journey at seven years old, finding hobbies through YouTube and sharing her adventures online.
Arguments with her parents led Pham to move out when she was just 15. As she was going into her junior year of high school (and starting to make about $400 per month from YouTube) she decided to stop attending classes in order to solo travel and film weekly vlogs, inviting viewers to grow up alongside her.
“That’s when I considered it a full-time job—when it was my only option,” Pham told us.
Pham slowly but surely grew her channel’s AdSense revenue and began partnering with brands including skin care companies Nivea and Olay in her late teens. Her business has taken off this year due to the success of Alchemai, which now accounts for 65–70% of her overall income.
“I’ve made more money off of Alchemai than I ever have off of brand deals in my entire life,” she said.
Mai Pham’s Total Number of Videos vs. Average Views Per Video Since 2011
→ Since first uploading videos to YouTube when she was just an elementary schooler, Mai Pham has remained remarkably consistent.
→ Over the years, her commitment to her channel has opened the door to build a thriving fashion and lifestyle business around her brand, including her highly-successful clothing company, Alchemai.
→ Note that this graph only counts Pham's long-form videos (and views), excluding her 228 Shorts and nearly 75M short-form views since 2021. Additionally, Pham does not currently have any public videos from 2012, which is why we didn't include that year on the graph.
The Path She’s Paving For Creators
Pham’s success at such a young age has taught her a lot about what she really values, lessons she hopes she can share with her young viewers. Because of that, she prioritizes building depth with her community, regularly inviting creatives to stay at her New York apartment so they can experience the city like she first did when she moved there in 2022.
Pham’s focus on community and intentionality has paid off literally, too: She was able to retire the same parents who once kicked her out of the house. “All of the little things have compounded into this…I think repairing the relationship between my family and I has been one of the biggest things,” Pham told us. “Just last Christmas was the first time we ever celebrated the holiday together as a family.”
→ Corrections: December 20, 2023 — Mai’s latest drop sold 7,000 hoodies in 10 minutes, not 6,000 in 36 hours. Photos of Mai in her Alechemai hoodie were also shot by Alizayuh (Isaiah Vigil), not Eric White.
🔗 Mai’s Links:
→ Photography by Alizayuh
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“I think that through and through, I've always done everything for my community and the people that watched me. And I think that it shows a sign of dedication for somebody to, ya know, actually follow and wait…it makes them feel like they're a part of something.”
— Mai Pham
