Every issue, GRAZIA USA highlights Game Changers who inspire, educate and celebrate individuality, beauty and style. Meet Diana Madison, the entrepreneur who began her career with a YouTube talk show, branched into acting and launched her own namesake beauty brand.
I always had big dreams to act, but to tell your Armenian immigrant parents that you want to be an actress, you get a response like, “Are you kidding me? You’re going to be a lawyer or a doctor.” So in my head, acting was never going to happen. I studied communications journalism and worked at Entertainment Tonight for two years. When I realized I was never going to get hired there as entertainment talent, I started a YouTube channel called Hollyscoop, and it kind of blew up. One channel became four and I was interviewing some of the biggest names in the world and eventually going on E! News as myself.
I was one of the first YouTubers interviewing people on the platform and was a pioneer when it came to hosting on YouTube. I eventually sold my company right before the COVID-19 pandemic, but about three years prior to that, I was running around the clock. I felt like a chicken with my head cut off. I just wasn’t doing what I wanted to do; I wasn’t fulfilled.
I executive produced the Lifetime show Glam Masters with Kim Kardashian. I was supposed to host it until they said to me, “We’re going to go with a famous actress. She fills all these boxes you don’t.” When I asked if I could be a judge, they said, “You don’t have a beauty brand.” I was kind of devastated. What I thought was the end of the world for me was actually the beginning and a rebirth of my career. I started taking acting classes in my 30s and when I began telling people in Hollywood that I was acting, everybody thought I was crazy. But one person heard me and put me in two movies.
It’s fascinating because you think you have an idea of where you’re going in your career and what you’re going to do, and then life happens. I like to say, “Sometimes if Plan A doesn’t work out, Plan B, C, D, E, F, G might work out. Be open, and don’t have resistance.”
I think it’s important to know how to pivot from situations. I could have taken that rejection and been depressed and complained about it, but I felt that I had more to offer. I wasn’t going to let one rejection stop me from really pursuing my dreams. I’m so happy that the rejection happened, and I’m so grateful for that person who said those things to me because I wouldn’t be acting now. Currently, I’m in production for a documentary with a major studio about justice reform and I’m currently in pre-production for a movie.
I also launched Diana Madison Beauty. I felt like there was a need in the market when it came to clean products that help people with eczema, which I suffered from when I had my daughter. I started with one product, the magic holy oil Glowtopia. It has become a staple with celebrity makeup artists and beauty influencers and went viral on Instagram. It’s hard to make clean products and make them affordable, but that’s what I’m trying to do. With every product I launch, I find an ingredient that’s exotic. My latest, Illumin-EYE Saffron Oil Brightening Eye Cream, is made with saffron oil sourced from Armenia. The saffron oil will brighten under the eyes, the buckwheat oil will de-puff, and there are so many other benefits, from skin tightening to anti-aging.
People don’t like to hear that it took four years to launch the brand. I worked on my time off researching plants and remedies and working with labs. It was really a passion project. If you have an idea that comes to you and you want to pursue it, my advice is: Don’t quit your day job. Make time on the weekends. When I walk into a store, like Neiman Marcus or Anthropologie, and see people buying my brand, it trips me out because it wasn’t part of my plan. I want to launch four more items in the next year, but I just hope to be making more products that help people with their skin and help them feel empowered.
I believe if you are open and receptive, things will come to you. Then you just have to do what you can and surrender to the chaos. One thing I’ve learned is that if you have a mindset that’s focused on the future, that’s anxiety driven. If you look to the past constantly, that’s depression. If you’re in a mindset of living in the present, that’s pure joy and happiness. I try to live in the present and just enjoy the moment.
— As told to Colleen Kratofil
Read GRAZIA USA’s Spring issue featuring cover star Lucy Boynton:
