Huda Kattan

Huda was born on October 2, 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,[10] as one of four children.[11] Her parents are both from Iraq.[10] The family later moved to Cookeville, Tennessee, and then to Dartmouth, Massachusetts.[12] Huda attended the University of Michigan–Dearborn where she majored in finance.[10][11][13]

In 2006, Huda moved to Dubai with her father because he accepted a job opportunity as a teacher in the emirate.[11][12] A few years later, Huda moved to Los Angeles, where she studied makeup.[9][10][12][14] Among her clients were celebrities such as Eva Longoria and Nicole Richie.[10] Huda then returned to Dubai where she became employed by Revlon as a makeup artist.[9][11] In April 2010, upon the advice of one of her sisters, Huda started a beauty-related WordPress blog which she named "Huda Beauty" on which she would post makeup tutorials and tips.[10][11][12][13][15]

In 2013, Huda founded a cosmetics line which, like her blog, is also called "Huda Beauty."[7][11][12][13][16] Her first product, a series of false eyelashes,[11][12] was released through Sephora.[13][17] The Huda Beauty label achieved success with the sales of the false eyelashes, which were famously worn by Kim Kardashian.[13]

Huda's company, which is based out of Dubai, later began to offer other beauty products, including eye shadow palettes, liquid lipsticks, lip liners, highlighter palettes, foundations, concealers, baking powders and liquid eyeshadows.[9][11][12][14][16][17]

Huda achieved popularity on Instagram, attaining more than 47 million followers as of 2020.[7][8][11][14][17][18] Huda is ranked #1 on the "2017 Influencer Instagram Rich List", earning $18,000 for each post of sponsored content.[11][19] Huda has been described as "a Kim Kardashian West of the beauty influencer economy",[12] and was declared one of the "ten most powerful influencers in the world of beauty" by Forbes magazine.[20] She was chosen as one of "The 25 Most Influential People on the Internet" by Time magazine in 2017.[11][18]

In 2018, Huda began starring in her own original Facebook Watch reality series entitled Huda Boss,[21] alongside her family.

Huda met her now-husband, Chris Gonçalo, of Portuguese origin, in high school. The couple moved to Dubai in 2006, and welcomed their first child, Nour Gisele, in 2011.[11] Huda is Muslim.[13] One of Huda's sisters is her business partner, Mona; while another sister manages Huda's social media, Alya.[12] She holds both Iraqi and American citizenship.