Laura Lee is a 38-year-old beauty entrepreneur who turned a makeup channel she started in a bedroom in Alabama into two self-funded companies. She is best known as one of the original wave of YouTube beauty gurus, the founder of the cosmetics brand Laura Lee Los Angeles, and the current co-host, with fellow YouTuber Manny MUA, of the weekly podcast “Fool Coverage.“
Laura Ann Lee was born September 1, 1988, in Montgomery, Alabama, according to her Wikipedia biography. She built her name during the mid-2010s boom of drugstore-to-luxury makeup tutorials, then leveraged that following into an actual product line rather than just sponsorships, a path several of her peers also tried with mixed results.
What makes Lee’s story worth revisiting in 2026 is the contrast between two eras of her career: the influencer who lost major retail and brand relationships in 2018, and the businesswoman who, seven years later, closed one company on her own terms and folded it into a second brand she still runs. Few creators from YouTube’s original beauty class have managed both the fall and the follow-through.
From Alabama Blogger to LA Beauty Guru
Before cameras and contour kits, Lee worked as a medical assistant for a dermatologist in Montgomery and also spent time as a preschool teacher, according to Wikipedia and a 2022 Glossy profile. She has an older brother and sister, and she has described her upbringing in Alabama as far removed from the entertainment industry she eventually entered.
She began posting makeup looks online in the early 2010s before formally launching her YouTube channel, “laura88lee,” in 2013. Like many beauty creators of that era, she started with product reviews and tutorials before her content expanded into hauls, vlogs, and lifestyle videos. She relocated to Los Angeles as her channel grew, and she still lives there today with her husband, Tyler Williams, whom she has been with since her teens, and her niece, Eryn, of whom she became legal guardian in 2019.
Building an Audience: How Her YouTube Career Took Off
Lee’s channel grew quickly within the tight-knit YouTube beauty community of the mid-2010s. StarCentral Magazine named her “Beauty Guru of the Month” in October 2014, an early sign that she had moved from hobbyist to recognized industry figure. Brand collaborations followed in short order.
She partnered with Too Faced in 2016, released an eyeshadow palette with Violet Voss the same year, helped create a lipstick shade with MAC Cosmetics in April 2017, and represented Benefit Cosmetics’ Precisely Brow Pencil later that year. In September 2017, she appeared on NBC’s “Today” to demonstrate a makeup look and promote her forthcoming line, a level of mainstream crossover that few YouTube beauty vloggers had reached at that point. That media attention set up the next phase of her career: building her own company instead of just fronting someone else’s.
From Palettes to Podcasts: Her Business Ventures
Lee launched her own cosmetics brand, Laura Lee Los Angeles, in 2017. The label positioned itself as vegan and cruelty-free, and rather than flooding the market, it stuck to four or five product launches a year, starting with the “Cat’s Pajamas” eyeshadow palette that October. A second palette, “Nudie Patootie,” along with liquid lipsticks and an eyeliner, followed in April 2018.
The “Nudie Patootie” name proved durable. In the fall of 2020, Lee spun it into a standalone clothing line, and by 2022 that venture had been relaunched under the name MinimLA, a “curated clothing and lifestyle boutique” that also began carrying body-care products. In December 2021, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Lee had signed with talent agency WME for representation, a notable step for a creator whose brand deals had been shaky just a few years earlier. In August 2021, she and Manny MUA (Manny Gutierrez) launched “Fool Coverage,” a weekly podcast covering beauty, business, and pop culture that reportedly reached the fourth spot on Apple Podcasts’ fashion and beauty chart shortly after debuting.
The two brands eventually merged into one operation. Laura Lee Los Angeles officially closed on May 30, 2025, with the company directing remaining customers to MinimLA, now billed as its sister brand for both fashion and beauty products.
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2013 | Launches YouTube channel “laura88lee” with makeup tutorials and hauls |
| 2016-2017 | Collaborates with Too Faced, Violet Voss, MAC, and Benefit Cosmetics |
| 2017 | Launches cosmetics brand Laura Lee Los Angeles |
| 2018 | Old tweets resurface, triggering major subscriber and sponsorship losses |
| 2020-2021 | Launches Nudie Patootie fashion line; “Fool Coverage” podcast debuts with Manny MUA |
| 2021 | Signs with talent agency WME |
| 2022 | Fashion venture relaunches as MinimLA |
| 2025 | Laura Lee Los Angeles cosmetics brand closes on May 30 and folds into MinimLA |
The 2018 Tweets That Nearly Ended Her Career
In August 2018, tweets Lee had written years earlier, including a racist joke about Black people and police and several fat-shaming remarks, resurfaced and spread quickly through the beauty community, according to Newsweek and The Hollywood Reporter. The backlash was immediate: Lee lost roughly 300,000 to 500,000 subscribers within about a month, per SocialBlade figures cited by Vox at the time, and brand partners including Ulta, Morphe, and Boxycharm dropped their relationships with her.
The episode became part of a larger scandal nicknamed “Dramageddon,” which also implicated other creators in her friend circle, including Nikita Dragun, Manny MUA, and Gabriel Zamora, after old tweets of theirs surfaced too. Lee posted an apology video that many viewers found unconvincing, later apologized again for that first video, and in 2019 posted a follow-up addressing the situation more directly. The controversy is well documented across multiple outlets and remains part of her public record, though it did not end her career; within a few years she had launched new ventures and eventually returned to brand deals and agency representation.
Where Laura Lee Stands in 2026
Lee remains active on YouTube, where her channel has 4.58 million subscribers, according to Wikipedia’s most recent tally, and she continues to co-host “Fool Coverage” with Manny MUA on a weekly basis, with the show still releasing new episodes as of early 2026. Her business focus has consolidated into MinimLA, which now handles both the fashion and beauty products that used to be split across two separate brands.
Various celebrity net-worth trackers place her net worth somewhere between roughly $1.8 million and $2 million, though these figures come from unofficial estimation sites rather than any confirmed financial disclosure, so they should be read as rough approximations rather than fact. What is better documented is her longevity: more than a decade after she started posting tutorials, Lee is still producing content, still running a company, and still one of the more recognizable names to come out of YouTube’s original beauty era. She’s one of 14 creators covered in OpenThreadNews’ full list of LA’s biggest fashion, beauty, and lifestyle creators.
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Laura Lee and where is she from?
Laura Lee was born September 1, 1988, in Montgomery, Alabama, making her 38 as of September 2026. She worked as a medical assistant and preschool teacher before starting her YouTube channel in 2013 and later relocating to Los Angeles, where she still lives.
Does Laura Lee still own Laura Lee Los Angeles?
No. The cosmetics brand officially closed on May 30, 2025. The company directed customers to its sister brand, MinimLA, which now carries both beauty and fashion products that Lee still oversees.
What happened with Laura Lee’s 2018 controversy?
In August 2018, old tweets containing racist and fat-shaming remarks resurfaced, part of a wider beauty-community scandal known as “Dramageddon.” Lee lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers and several brand partnerships, apologized more than once, and has continued her career since.
Is Laura Lee still friends with Nikita Dragun?
Lee and Nikita Dragun were both part of the same early YouTube beauty friend group, alongside Manny MUA, Jeffree Star, and Gabriel Zamora, and both were caught up in the 2018 “Dramageddon” scandal when old tweets from several members of the group surfaced. Their current relationship status has not been clearly documented in recent reporting.
What is Laura Lee doing now in 2026?
She continues posting on YouTube, co-hosts the weekly podcast “Fool Coverage” with Manny MUA, and runs MinimLA, the fashion and beauty brand that absorbed her former cosmetics line.
