Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, YouTube entrepreneur Michelle Phan, XCOR Space Expeditions chief executive Michiel Mol, School for Startups founder Doug Richard and chief executive of Telefonica UK Ronan Dunne will be among the speakers at this year's One Young World Summit, which kicked off in Dublin last night.
More than 1,300 delegates from over 190 countries are in the capital for the event, which is the principal global forum for young leaders between the ages of 18 and 30.
Phan, Dunne, Mol will speak today, while Richard and Wales will address conference attendees on Saturday.
With a growing global community of over 6.5 million, Phan’s YouTube videos have been viewed more than 1 billion times.
Last year, she teamed up with cosmetics giant L’Oréal to launch her make-up line called Em by Michelle Phan.
Speaking to The Irish Times, she said she first created a blog to how to recreate various make-up looks through photos, later progressing on to videos.
“What began as a how-to for my readers proved to be the beginning of a career in beauty, when in 2007 I posted the video on YouTube – and garnered 40,000 views within one week . . . ,” she said.
“I never thought what I was doing would be such a success.”
She had some advice for other young people who want to go down the business route.
“Start small and see how far it can take you in your spare time,” she said.
“See if you can monetise out of it and, once you make a small living, then decide if it’s something you want to pursue full time.”
Other speakers at the event will include Live Aid creator and musician Bob Geldof, British sailor Ellen McArthur, Unilever chief executive Paul Polman and lead actress in US legal drama Suits Meghan Markle.
The delegates will debate formalising solutions for a number of global issues including sustainable development, global business, education, leadership, peace and conflict.
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