The Emma Chamberlain POV: From Bedroom Vlogs to Billion-Dollar Boss Baby

Let’s talk about how Emma Chamberlain has been one of our current influencer girlies that have literally changed social media. In 2017, this 16-year-old from the Bay Area started posting YouTube videos from her bedroom, and no one could’ve seen the absolute cultural reset she was about to serve.

Emma began with something revolutionary: authenticity. We’re talking unfiltered acne shots, messy room tours, and a straight-up vlog of her caffeine addiction. She basically invented that chaotic editing style we all know and love now – you know, the zoomed-in moments, random text pop-ups, and those iconic jump cuts that hit.

Her sauce? Emma made you feel like you were just FaceTiming your bestie. While other influencers were busy staging their avocado toast for the perfect shot, she was filming herself having an existential crisis in her car while chugging coffee. And honestly? That’s exactly what we needed. Gen Z isn’t always buying the perfect influencer life anymore – we wanted someone who got how weird and messy life actually is.

& for me – as a millennial and microinfluencer.. I’d say the same. If you show me one more shot of you on a private jet with all your other entrepreneur bromies on the way to some Caribbean getaway for the weekend or NYFY, while I’d maybe want to know what show you’re going to, I’m literally a gag.

I’d literally rather know how many eggs you have in the morning WITH your avo toast or your steak and how you like it all. Scrambled? Over hard? Over easy? Both? One egg one way another another? Your steak? Are we talking raw? medio rare? medium ? well done ? Bone in? Cut? Do you leave some for your dog you bring to brunch because you’re THAT person ? I mean big love. We all love a dog at brunch x.

Fast forward to 2019, and the fashion girlies at Louis Vuitton were like “we need her energy.” Suddenly, our girl who started out thrifting in San Francisco was sitting front row at Paris Fashion Week. Vogue called her “the most talked about girl in the world,” and they weren’t wrong. Emma proved you could keep it real and still become one of “those girls”.

But the most iconic power move? Launching Chamberlain Coffee in 2020. Instead of just slapping her name on some random product (looking at you, every other influencer brand), she built something that actually slaps. Starting with those cute little coffee bags and expanding into matcha, cold brew, and merch that people actually want to wear, she turned her very relatable coffee obsession into a whole vibe – and a super successful business. We’re talking pop-up mobile coffee shops and an official brick & mortar.

What’s low-key the most impressive part of Emma’s journey is how she’s grown up with us without selling out. As her audience evolved from watching after-school vlogs to dealing with real adult problems, she kept it transparent. She’s been super open about dealing with anxiety, body image struggles, and the wild ride of becoming famous as a teenager. No toxic positivity, just real talk. Also let’s just peep her aesthetic. As someone who’s kept a pretty consistent aesthetic for pretty much her whole life, and as someone in the fashion industry, part of me wishes I had the calling and inclination to change my style and physical presentation as often as she does. But I can’t quite ever part with my mid length dirty blonde surf waves Madewell surf/skate aesthetic. Forever a Vans girlie.

And now? At an age when some of us are still trying to figure out how to cook something other than pasta, Emma’s out here running an empire. She’s proved you don’t need a business degree or a perfect aesthetic to build something massive – you just need to be authentically yourself, work hard, and surround yourself with people who always remind you you can do it – when you forget.

The coolest part? Chamberlain Coffee keeps getting bigger, and Emma keeps proving that the next generation of business leaders might not come from fancy MBA programs, but from their bedrooms, armed with nothing but a camera, a vision, and an unhealthy amount of caffeine. Big congrats to Chamberlain Coffee’s first brick and mortar in LA. Just opened.

Emma Chamberlain didn’t just grow up on the internet – she’s changed how the whole game is playing. And that’s really what makes her one of those girls.