| Bio/Wiki | |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Huda Heidi Kattan |
| Other Name | Heidi |
| Profession(s) | Makeup Artist, Beauty Blogger, Entrepreneur |
| Physical Stats | |
| Height (approx.) | 5' 8" (173 cm) |
| Eye Colour | Black |
| Hair Colour | Dark Brown |
| Career | |
| Awards | • 2016- Digital Innovator of the Year Award in the category of prestige beauty by Women's Wear • 2021- GLAMOUR's Women of the Year Entrepreneurial Gamechanger • 2022- Entrepreneur of the Year by Fashion Trust Arabia  |
| Personal Life | |
| Date of Birth | 2 October 1983 (Sunday) |
| Age (as of 2024) | 41 Years |
| Birthplace | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States |
| Zodiac sign | Libra |
| Signature |  |
| Nationality | American |
| Hometown | Cookeville |
| School | Dartmouth High School, Massachusetts, United States |
| College/University | • Joe Blasco Makeup Artistry School, Los Angeles, USA (2009) • University of Michigan (2005-2008) |
| Educational Qualification(s) | • Bachelors of Finance from University of Michigan • Certificate of Cosmetic Makeup from Joe Blasco Makeup Academy |
| Religion | Islam |
| Food Habit | Non-vegetarian |
| Hobbies | Doing Yoga, Journaling, Writing, Listening to classical music |
| Controversy | Criticised for her support towards Palestine In 2023, Huda Kattan faced immense criticism for her views about the Palestine-Israel war. She made a statement on Instagram stating that she don’t want blood money. Huda made the comment one day after Hamas attacked Israel. She received backlash for her comment from some of her fans and general public which even resulted in some people starting the "Boycott Huda Beauty products" movement. A petition was started to remove Huda Beauty products from Sephora stores in the US. ((The Economic Times)) |
| Social Media | • Instagram • YouTube |
| Relationships & More | |
| Marital Status | Married |
| Marriage Date | June, 2009 |
| Family | |
| Husband/Spouse | Christopher Goncalo (Businessman) |
| Children | Daughter- Nour Goncalo |
| Parents | Father- Dr. Ibrahim Kattan (Retired Engineering Professor) Mother- Siham Kattan (Homemaker)  |
| Siblings | Sisters- Mona Kattan (Businesswoman), Alya Kattan (Social Media Manager)  |
| Favourites | |
| Food | American Girl Scout Cookies |
| Money Factor | |
| Net Worth (approx.) | $400 million (as of 2023) ((Forbes)) |
Some Lesser Known Facts About Huda Kattan
- Huda Kattan belongs to an Iraqi-American family. Both her parents are from Iraq, and they moved to the United States after getting married. Huda was raised in Cookeville, Tennessee, and then went to Boston and Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
- Huda was always inclined towards the makeup industry, and she loved doing makeup and used to put a lot of makeup on her face on a daily basis.
- Huda did not grow up in a very wealthy household, due to which she used to DIY (do it yourself) various makeup products for herself.
- She met her husband, Christopher Goncalo, who is Portuguese, in high school, and they both started dating each other soon after.
- In 2006, Huda moved to Dubai with her father and her then-boyfriend Christopher because her father accepted a job opportunity as a teacher in the Emirate. Soon after, she moved to Los Angeles and started studying make-up.
- In 2006, Huda Kattan started working as a PR Director at the Golden Key International Honour Society, which is an international collegiate honour society and non-profit organisation based in the United States.
- In the same year, she started working as the president of Enactus United States, which is an international non-profit organisation.
- After completing her higher studies in Finance, she did not have much success in her finance jobs, and she eventually lost her job due to the recession during ‘The Great Recession of 2008,’ and became a full-time makeup artist.
- Describing the whole experience of getting into the beauty industry, Huda Kattan was quoted as saying in an interview that
I ended up losing my job after the recession, and I was pretty devastated. I was like, How could I have been let go? I was like one of the hardest-working people. And then my boss told me, ‘You don’t belong here.’ And at first I thought, Don’t tell me I don’t belong here! But he was right.”
- Soon after, she moved back to Dubai and began working for free for friends as a makeup artist before she was employed by the international cosmetic brand Revlon as a makeup artist.
- Initially, while working as a makeup artist, she had many influential personalities as her clients, including the American actresses Eva Longoria and Nicole Richie.
- In 2007, Huda created a self-titled YouTube channel and started uploading videos related to beauty hacks, DIY, and makeup tutorials. Her YouTube channel holds more than 4 million subscribers, as of 2025.
- In 2010, Huda Kattan was advised by one of her sisters to start a beauty-related WordPress blog. Huda named her blog ‘Huda Beauty,’ and she started posting makeup tutorials and tips on her blog.
- Talking about her journey of the beauty blog, she was quoted as saying in an interview that
My sisters encouraged me to start a beauty blog actually,10 years ago. And at the time I used to make my own false lashes, so I decided to create my own lashes that I could sell and Sephora was the first place to take us on with only one product. The rest is history!”
- During her initial YouTube days, her biggest beauty-related YouTubers were Michelle Phan and Kandee Johnson. She was inspired by their videos and started uploading videos just like them.
- In 2013, Huda launched a cosmetic line with her sister Mona Kattan, named after her beauty blog ‘Huda Beauty.’
- During that time, she was one of the first bloggers in Dubai devoted solely to beauty.
- The first Huda Beauty product that Huda launched was a collection of false eyelashes, which was released through Sephora in Dubai in 2011, followed by the United States in 2015.
- The sales of her false eyelashes were used to fund the beauty blogs and her other content.
- Her first beauty product, the false eyelashes, achieved high success and big sales after the American TV personality Kim Kardashian.
- She eventually launched other products into her beauty line, and some of those products were eye shadow palettes, liquid lipsticks, lip liners, highlighter palettes, foundations, and concealers.
- In 2017, Huda Kattan was ranked number 1 on the ‘2017 Influencer Instagram Rich List’ as she was reported to be earning $18,000 for each post of sponsored content on Instagram.
- In the same year, many media houses described her as a ‘Kim Kardashian’ of the beauty influencer economy.
- In 2017, Huda was announced as one of the ‘ten most powerful influencers in the world of beauty’ by Forbes magazine.
- In the same year, she was chosen as one of ‘The 25 Most Influential People on the Internet’ by Time magazine.
- Till 2017, her stardom touched new heights, and she once mentioned a makeup brush from the skincare and oral care products company Foreo in one of her makeup videos. Soon after, the brush sold out within a week in Harvey Nichols and Bloomingdale’s Dubai.
- In 2017, she started working as the chairwoman of the board of the private investment office of Huda’s brand ‘Huda Beauty.’
- Huda tests all her ‘Huda Beauty’ products on herself and never on animals.
- In 2018, Huda Kattan launched her beauty brand Huda Beauty’s fragrance arm named ‘Kayali,’ which was founded by Huda Kattan’s sister, Mona Kattan.
- Huda’s sister Mona Kattan is also the co-founder of Huda’s beauty brand ‘Huda Beauty.’
- In the same year, she produced and started working on her own original Facebook Watch reality series titled ‘Huda Boss.’ The reality series showcased the personal and professional life of Huda Kattan.
- In 2019, her net worth was estimated to be $610 million in Forbes’s 2019 list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women.
- In the same year, Huda was diagnosed with Endometriosis, which is a chronic estrogen-dependent condition. Due to her condition, she revealed in an interview that she suffered from a miscarriage as well. She was quoted saying that
I was able to get pregnant, and we were lucky to have one child, Nour Giselle, who is eight. There were a couple of times when I was pregnant pretty early but couldn’t carry the baby for long. Fertility is a huge issue.”
- In 2019, Huda’s neon obsession eyeshadow palettes were criticised as it was accused of using the kind of colourants that were not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use around the eyes.
- The packaging of the neon obsession eyeshadow palettes contained warnings stating that the palettes were not intended for the eye area, which was misleading customers and raising safety concerns. The complaints led to a legal battle, which led Huda’s brand to pay nearly $2 million in 2022 to settle the claims.
- In 2020, Huda was listed on Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list.
- In the same year, she pledged to donate $100,000 to 100 freelance makeup artists struggling with a lack of work during the COVID lockdowns.
- Through her cosmetic brand, Huda has been involved in many philanthropic efforts. In 2020, she announced that Huda Beauty would donate $500,000 to the NAACP Legal Defence and Educational Fund.
- In 2020, Huda Kattan became a board member of ‘Humantra,’ which is a global supplements brand.
- In the same year, Huda Kattan stepped down from the role of CEO of Huda Beauty after some people advised her to the same and told her she did not know how to run a business.
- She promoted the former NYX Professional Makeup company President, Nathalie Kristo, to the position of CEO, who previously served as global deputy CEO of Huda Beauty.
- In 2021, Nathalie Kristo resigned from the role, which made Huda and her husband, Christopher Goncalo, share the role of CEO of the brand.
Huda Kattan in a social media advertising for her ‘Huda Beauty’ products
- In 2021, Huda was ranked number one on Cosmetify’s Beauty Influencer Rich List.
- In the same year, Huda took part in the food drive campaign named ‘The 100 Million Meals Mission,’ which was started by the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.
- Under the campaign, Huda donated one million meals through her cosmetics company, Huda Beauty.
- In 2021, Huda started a petition against the negative beauty standards, and she insisted that beauty brands to disclose when they’ve retouched or edited their images or videos in order to bust the beauty standards.
- In the same year, Huda Kattan donated $100,000 to Help India Breathe, which was a COVID-19 relief fundraiser launched by the British author Jay Shetty and his wife, Radhika Devlukia-Shetty.
- Huda Kattan has been very vocal about her views on Instagram about the Palestine-Israel war.
Huda Kattan’s Instagram post about her support towards Palestine
- In 2023, she donated $1,000,000 to two humanitarian organisations in Gaza named ‘Doctors Without Borders’ and ‘Human Appeal.’
- Huda and the American actress Eva Longoria used to be great friends, but their friendship came to an end after Eva Longoria’s continuous support for Israel in the Palestine-Israel war. Huda was quoted as saying in an interview that
I was just learning a lot of things about who she really was. She took a stance, she wanted to support Israel. I also understand that you’re in Hollywood, but you should be really careful with what you’re saying publicly. I was disappointed with her.”
- Huda Kattan, being a Muslim, calls herself a ‘spiritual person,’ and chooses not to wear a headscarf due to the demands of her job, which is mainly to show off your hair and full face with make-up on.
- Once in an interview, Huda revealed that she never spent any money on advertisement and promotions of her beauty brand ‘Huda Beauty,’ as all the advertising was done by her through social media.
- As of 2024, Huda’s beauty brand became a multi-million dollar company selling over 140 products with estimated annual sales of US$200 million.
- In 2024, Huda started her own podcast titled ‘Huda Hotline,’ which was focused on discussing beauty standards, overcoming failure, finding motivation, and hustle culture with different guests.
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