Online superstar Amanda Pavillard’s new clean beauty company, Radiate by Amanda, is permeated by her beloved grandma. Not only do 1% of all sales go to charity, Living Beyond Breast Cancer, in name of her grandma who suffers from the disease, but her grandma was in fact the original beauty influencer the 21-year-old looked up to.

One of Pavillard’s most affectionate memories is sitting next to her grandmother’s vanity mirror whilst she got ready for Sunday service. An experience that now stands as the genesis of her infatuation with beauty and it’s possibilities. However, Pavillard’s road to doing what she loves hasn’t always been as smooth as childhood optimism might imagine. After being diagnosed with OCD, Pavillard turned the notoriously difficult times that came with the global pandemic into an opportunity with which to channel the struggles she faced into something positive.

Enter beauty line, Radiate by Amanda. With the Volume 1 collection of the cosmetics line having already sold out, Pavillard is determined to continue making her customers feel nourished and beautiful, whilst giving back to a cause so close to her heart in the process.

Head below to read our chat with the mogul about the products that fill our her new brand, the journey to releasing them, and how her grandma influenced the endeavour…

Hey Amanda, I hope you’re great! How has this past year been?
Hello, thank you so much. I’m so excited to chat, I hope you’re doing well too. The past year has been a wild one for sure. So many exciting things have happened, including launching Radiate By Amanda, my new makeup company. That’s something I’ve been working on for a few years now so to have it finally come to life has been unreal. This year has really been about going after my dreams, which has definitely been exciting and I can’t wait to continue.

The pandemic affected everyone, how has it affected your creativity?
The pandemic was a tough few years for all of us I think. In terms of how it affected my creativity, that definitely came in waves. There were times during the pandemic where I feel like I was almost more creative than I maybe would have been normally because of all the time we had to sit around with our own thoughts. On the flip side of that there were also times during the pandemic, where I think for all of us the world was in such a state of chaos and uncertainty, that I couldn’t bring myself to be very creative at all. It was a tough journey, but the pandemic is where Radiate By Amanda came to fruition and I’m grateful for that for sure.

And in terms of your own journey, how did you first get into beauty?
From a very young age, I was always very interested in beauty and makeup. I grew up a competitive dancer and that definitely sparked a love for crazy makeup looks in me. All throughout middle school and high school I would spend my time watching YouTube videos about makeup and doing my friends makeup for school dances and such. When I started my YouTube channel sharing my tips and thoughts on makeup came naturally to me, being that I’ve always been so interested in it. My mom, grandma and older sisters were also huge influences in that area for me, as beauty has always been a huge topic we bond over.

You’ve developed your fan base very quickly, do you feel any pressure at all?
When something really matters to you, I think you’re always going to feel a level of pressure to a certain degree. I care a lot about the people that follow me and it’s important to me that I’m offering them something in anything I’m doing. I definitely feel pressure to continue growing as a person and putting out better and better content. There have been times where it’s been overwhelming, but I’m very lucky and very grateful to have an amazing support system behind me. I do my best not to look at the pressure as a negative thing, but as something that continues to motivate me.

Being a business owner at 21, have you faced any challenges?
Starting a business at any age you’re going to face challenges. The biggest challenges I’ve faced thus far have come with doing it for the first time. There’s a lot you have to learn to start a business, especially in the beauty industry. I don’t think many people realize how much actually goes into creating a single makeup product. There’s a lot of technicalities and terminology that’s important to understand to get what you want out of a product. That’s certainly been one of the biggest learning curves/challenges for me.

You speak very openly on mental health, why is it so important to you?
Mental health challenges are something everyone deals with at one point in their life. I think with social media people try to make everything seem so perfect all the time. That’s why it’s so important for me to be open about my journey with mental health. The less people feel alone and the more educated they are on mental health, I think the better our world will be. I don’t ever want people to feel alone or misunderstood and I’ll always do my best to share as much as I can if that can help even one person.

Tell us about what goes into creating a clean beauty line? What are the main differences between this and a standard one?
The FDA has no specific definition of what “clean beauty” means or qualifies as, so technically speaking it’s difficult to outline what those differences are from company to company. When it comes to Radiate By Amanda, clean beauty to us means that we are vegan, cruelty-free, fragrance-free and gluten free. All of our products are made with top ingredients and are meant to be genuinely good for your skin. It can be more expensive to create products that are “clean”, but it’s 100% worth it to offer the best of the best to our customers.

Living Beyond Breast Cancer is a charity that you donate some of the proceeds to, why this charity?
Living Beyond Breast Cancer is an incredible non-profit organisation that supports women and families fighting breast cancer. It’s extremely near and dear to my heart because my favorite person in the world, my grandma Inez, has been battling breast cancer for the last four years. It’s been incredibly difficult and something I hope most people never have to witness. She has been so strong and is a huge inspiration for me in everything I do. I chose Living Beyond Breast Cancer in her honor and I’m very grateful that we’ve been able to give back to other women and families fighting the same terrible diagnosis.

What is next for you? What are you most excited for?
There’s a lot coming up for me that I’m very excited for. I’m focusing a lot on acting and auditioning, which is another huge passion for me. The biggest focus I have right now is Radiate By Amanda and we definitely have some more drops and collections coming in the future. We’ve been working really hard and I can’t wait for everything to come together and for people to be able to use more of our products! I’m most excited to continue developing an intentional beauty company that shares important messages and high quality products with the people who support and follow me!