Tati Westbrook
Tati Westbrook | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | Tania Aleksandra Krievins February 14, 1982[1] Seattle, Washington, U.S. | |||||||||
| Other names | GlamLifeGuru | |||||||||
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2010–present | |||||||||
| Spouse |
James Westbrook (m. 2017) | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Subscribers | 8.17 million[2] | |||||||||
| Total views | 1.5 billion[2] | |||||||||
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Last updated: 5 July 2024 | ||||||||||
| Website | ||||||||||
Tatiana Aleksandra Westbrook (born Tania Aleksandra Krievins; February 14, 1982), best known under her vlogger name Tati, is an American YouTuber and makeup artist.[3][4]
Career
[edit]YouTube
[edit]Westbrook, a former image consultant turned makeup artist, created her YouTube channel GlamLifeGuru, later renamed Tati, on November 7, 2010.[5][6][7] When she started, she knew little about cameras and editing. "At first, when I sat down to edit, it would be a twelve-hour process," she recalled in 2015, "Beauty tutorials still take a long time, but I've been able to get this down to three hours."[8]
According to Newsweek, she is "widely considered to be a progenitor of YouTube’s beauty scene" and "the mother of the YouTube beauty community."[9] She reached the one-million subscriber milestone in early 2016.[10] Westbrook primarily focuses on makeup and beauty reviews, tips, and tutorials.[11]
Tati Beauty
[edit]In October 2019, she launched a cosmetic line named Tati Beauty, with her first product being a textured neutrals eye shadow palette.[12] In November 2021, Westbrook announced that Tati Beauty was closing in an almost nine-minute video titled "Why I'm Closing Tati Beauty", citing the COVID-19 pandemic and legal troubles.[13][14][15]
Halo Beauty
[edit]In February 2018, Westbrook co-founded and launched her own company, Halo Beauty Inc.,[16] which sells vitamin supplements.[17] Westbrook makes an estimated $1.3 million a year from YouTube and her company.[18]
Controversies
[edit]James Charles controversy
[edit]On April 22, 2019, Westbrook posted an Instagram story in which she discussed feeling betrayed by the beauty community. A few hours prior to her post, fellow beauty YouTuber James Charles posted an advertisement for SugarBearHair, a competitor to Westbrook's company Halo Beauty. On May 10, 2019, Westbrook posted a 43-minute YouTube video titled BYE SISTER... in which she claimed the feud between her and Charles was not only about advertising but also about her history with Charles and allegations that he preyed on heterosexual men. She gained more than four million subscribers in a week as a result of the video, and Charles lost more than three million subscribers in four days. She reached a peak following of over 10.6 million subscribers.[9][19][20] Charles responded to the claims on May 18 with a video titled No More Lies in which he shared his side of the story. Westbrook subsequently lost over a million subscribers, as well as eligibility for YouTube's Diamond Creator Award.[21]
On June 30, 2020, Westbrook posted a video on her YouTube channel titled Breaking My Silence..., detailing the events that led up to, and occurred after her BYE SISTER... video, in which she claimed Shane Dawson and Jeffree Star manipulated her into making the video against Charles.[22] The video has been set to private as of June 2021.
Halo Beauty lawsuit
[edit]In October 2020, Westbrook and her husband, James, were sued by former business partner and co-founder of Halo Beauty, Clark Swanson, for breach of contract, gross negligence and fraudulent inducement relating to Westbrook's vitamin line, Halo Beauty.[23] In July, 2024 the lawsuit settled out of court with Westbrook announcing on YouTube that she was leaving Halo Beauty.[24]
Personal life
[edit]Tati is of Latvian ancestry.[25] In 2017, she married James Westbrook, who regularly appears in her YouTube videos. Through this marriage, she has a stepson who occasionally appears in her videos.[26] In June 2021, Tati resumed her YouTube presence through a video entitled "A Year Later…," announcing her intention to revisit her original content format by creating makeup tutorials and reviews.[27] This decision followed approximately a year-long hiatus from YouTube after an apology video to fellow YouTuber James Charles, which had since been removed.[27] Notably, the video reaffirmed Tati's ongoing leadership role as the CEO of Halo Beauty amidst ongoing litigation.[27]
References
[edit]- ^ "TAG – Get To Know Me". Tati Westbrook. June 22, 2012.
- ^ a b "About Tati". YouTube.
- ^ "Beauty: Tati Westbook". Create + Cultivate. January 23, 2017. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
- ^ "Talking with Trendsetters: Tati Westbrook, GlamLifeGuru". EContent Magazine. May 4, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
- ^ "The Tati Westbrook and James Charles YouTuber feud: Everything you need to know". Hello!. May 14, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
- ^ "OK, but Who Is Tati Westbrook? Everything You Need to Know About the Influencer Who Turned Beauty YouTube Upside Down". E! Online. May 21, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
- ^ Aigbe, Kelvin (January 2, 2023). "Tati Westbrook ,Bio". KelvinsPlug. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
- ^ Craig, David; Cunningham, Stuart (February 26, 2019). Social Media Entertainment: The New Intersection of Hollywood and Silicon Valley. New York, NY: New York University Press. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-1479846894.
- ^ a b Lunning, Just (May 12, 2019). "YouTuber James Charles Loses 2 Million Subscribers Following Tati Westbrook Feud". Newsweek. Retrieved May 12, 2019.
- ^ Gutelle, Sam (February 3, 2016). "YouTube Millionaires: For The GlamLifeGuru, "Authenticity Is Key"". Tubefilter. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
- ^ Abad-Santos, Alex (May 16, 2019). "James Charles Dickinson, Tati Westbrook, and the feud that's ripping apart YouTube's beauty community". Vox. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/2019/10/16/tati westbrook video titled "I've been keeping a secret"
- ^ Wong, Wilson (November 4, 2021). "YouTuber Tati Westbrook shuts down beauty line, cites Covid, legal battle". NBC News. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
- ^ Westbrook, Tati (November 4, 2021). "Why I'm Closing TATI BEAUTY …". YouTube. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
- ^ Throne, Gabi (November 5, 2021). "Tati Westbrook Shuts Down Tati Beauty After Two Years — See Video". Allure. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- ^ Simmons, Shea. "Tati Westbrook's Beauty Line Is Officially Coming & The Announcement Has Fans Shook". Bustle. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
- ^ "Shop". Halo Beauty Inc. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
- ^ Schocket, Ryan (May 13, 2019). "Who Is Tati Westbrook? A Brief Explainer Of The YouTuber Who Exposed James Charles". BuzzFeed. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
- ^ "The James Charles vs Tati Westbrook feud proves it: YouTube influencers no longer hold all the power". The Independent. May 14, 2019. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
- ^ Bennett, Connor (May 11, 2019). "James Charles responds to Tati YouTube drama as he loses over 1 million subs". Dexerto.com. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
- ^ James Charles (May 18, 2019), No More Lies, retrieved July 13, 2019
- ^ Andrews, Travis. "Shane Dawson will not be able to make money on YouTube, after his apology for offensive content". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
- ^ "YouTuber Tati Westbrook Is Accused of Fraud in Lawsuit Filed By Her Business Partner". E! Online. October 31, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
- ^ "Tati Westbrook announces Tati Beauty relaunch after four-year legal battle settled".
- ^ @GlamLifeGuru (June 12, 2018). "Yes! Parents met at a Latvian dance" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Who is Tati Westbrook? The James Charles drama explained". Evening Standard. May 14, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
- ^ a b c "Tati Westbrook Is Back On YouTube Following The James Charles Jeffree Star Shane Dawson Of It All". BuzzFeed News. June 17, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.