Not only is James Charles 17 years old and not yet graduated from high school, he was also named the world’s first-ever male ambassador for American cosmetic brand CoverGirl in 2016. As a young teen, Charles built a beauty empire with the YouTube videos he created at home, most notably his entertaining makeup tutorials. Charles’ family was very proud and supportive as he began his career.

Charles was born in 1999 in Bethlehem, N.Y. He has one brother Ian that he sometimes records his YouTube videos with. Before his fame and career in L.A., Charles was a hairdresser as his side job. As far as his education goes, he has decided to take a break from high school to focus more on his career.

Though he isn’t necessarily your stereotypical makeup artist, Charles doesn’t let his gender stop his dream from coming true. As he said to ABC News, “Makeup is kind of becoming a more genderless concept, which is so cool and something that I’m all for.”

Becoming the first “Coverboy” was the turn of Charles’ career. After that, he was able to have the opportunity to work with former pop-star and cosmetic brand ambassador, Katy Perry and from there, his career only grew. Because of his new fame, Charles has moved to L.A. and now lives on his own.

The fact that there are thousands of makeup channels can leave people wondering what makes Charles’ videos any different than others. According to sophomore Kelsie Siedlik, “He’s very true about the products he uses and gives good backgrounds. Other artists are more judgy.” Sophomore Chloe Davis said Charles is fun to watch and always enthusiastic. “Not one of his videos are boring and it just makes me want to watch more, not only because they’re informative about makeup but (they’re) a thing you just want to spend your time on,” Davis said.

With over 3.6 million followers on Instagram and over 700,000 on Twitter, Charles’ fame has spread across social media platforms and continues to rise throughout the world.