Maintenance. Lyons. “I’m a bit of the daronne of Youtubeuses”: Enjoy Phoenix looks back on its success
By Theo Zuili
Published on
Marie Lopez was 15 when she filmed herself for the first time for a beauty tutorial on the YouTube video hosting platform.
Under the pseudonym Enjoy Phoenix, she quickly became successful, faced many critics, appeared on television shows, wrote books, launched several brands… She became a public figure.
His main YouTube channel, EnjoyPhoenix – Marie Lopezhas nearly 3.66 million subscribers in 2022.
From teenager to young adult in the spotlight, she was grandiose and educated in Lyon, the city where she set up her offices and a pop-up store for her Honest Mind brand. From the height of her 26 years, she granted an interview to News Lyon.
Getting out of school bullying
News: Why be broadcast on YouTube?
Marie Lopez, aka Enjoy Phoenix: The first videos that I post at 16 work a little, they make around 40 views. I had left the thing aside for a bit and when I came back to YouTube, I saw that it was starting to gain momentum. When I published a video in which I explained why I had started doing it, a decision related to the school bullying I was a victim of, it really started to take hold.
When I started making videos, it wasn’t a job and no one imagined it could ever be.
Do you expect this success?
ML: My videos were mostly teen-to-teen conversations, there was a bit of a big sister relationship, too. I realized that many identified with what I experienced, but I did not expect this success at all! When I started making videos, it wasn’t a job, no one imagined it could be one day. I totally hallucinated and from year to year, it was more and more incomprehensible. The peak was 2014-2015, when I was contacted to participate in Dancing with the Stars.
At the time, my family saw this success with a positive eye. They were happy for me, but they were also paying attention, because I was young and such exposure on the Internet, we didn’t really know what it could give. I was starting to get approached by brands, I had to manage all the business, entrepreneurship, contracts… I couldn’t do that.
Dealing with criticism
This sudden celebrity you met on the front of the stage exposes you to critics and fans. How did you experience it? How do we manage these waves of hatred on social networks?
ML: Some forget that we are a real person. I didn’t understand why people were following me in the street, why people were ringing my doorbell, why people could see me in pictures from a distance… It was weird and I didn’t realize that it could become very dangerous. As we give them everything through the screen, they have the impression that they know me whereas I didn’t know them! That was always a little freaky, and it still is today.
Hate, on does not manage it. We do nothing. Me, I cried and I cut the networks for a while. There is no protection against it and no one teaches you that. It’s always scary to anticipate the next controversy and I’m still careful what I say, I know that the slightest sentence can be taken out of context and turned against me.
You launch many projects, you undertake… How to get rid of labels, to feel legitimate in the face of criticism?
ML: People put me in boxes, but I’m not just “the one who does makeup” or “the one who does ecology”. It’s hard to get rid of those labels. But the legitimacy to launch projects, I take it. On all several facets. I don’t stay in the things I’ve always done, it wouldn’t suit me, and at some point, you also have to evaluate.
Critics are part of the game. As I am the first woman to have started to explode, with Natoo and Andy Raconte, I am a bit of the “daronne” of Youtubers. It’s a bit for that in my opinion that I often come back in the debates and that my slightest deeds and gestures are criticized or commented on. I sometimes take the time to answer when the criticisms are really unfounded and especially when we attack a project that is close to my heart.
I am a bit of the “daronne” of Youtubeuses. It’s a bit for that in my opinion that I often come back in the debates and that my slightest deeds and gestures are criticized or commented on.
How do you get rid of the image of perfection when you are an influencer? What is the image you are trying to convey to those you follow?
ML: By breaking away from the networks. I post without looking at the content of others, otherwise it creates a kind of inferiority complex and I can’t help but compare myself. On my channel, I talk about a lot of mental health topics, things that I go through, because I want to show that there is no perfection in me and in no one else.
I take charge of my body too, my stretch marks… When I had acne, I filmed myself removing my make-up and it was very hard for me, but I did it anyway because I knew it wasn’t quite represented on social networks. I try at all costs not to have a negative impact on my audience, and that’s already difficult!
What’s next?
Is the ecological awareness that you put forward in your work a marketing argument?
ML: I read the IPCC report, it makes me scream. I stopped a lot of things, I stopped consuming haphazardly, I thought about how I could do to change things on my scale, then I launched my first store in Clouds zero waste care and now Honest Mind because I am convinced that Fast Fashion is catastrophic and that people have to be educated about it, otherwise we’re not going to make it. No, it’s not a marketing argument!
And finally, how do you see the future of your Honest Mind brand?
ML: In the future, I see Honest Mind as the Asos of Slow Fashion. The idea is to show people that we can consume differently than what we are currently doing. With Honest Mind, we source young designers, we offer a co-creation that we sell and we explain the story of each garment. The idea is to be an additional showcase for these creators. Me, concretely, I don’t know how to make clothes. I let them do it and I just give them more visibility.
It’s already two big pieces and I want to do it right. When I’m well deployed, we’ll see if there aren’t other battles I can take on. I want to continue to promote both stores and make it a success. But I don’t just remain the muse of my brands, I wear them, I conceptualized them.
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