Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jul 15, 2025

Why this popular Asian beauty YouTuber wants to tell you her salary

Why this popular Asian beauty YouTuber wants to tell you her salary

Singapore-based Tina Yong, one of Asia’s most popular beauty YouTubers, isn’t afraid of talking about sex, relationships, mental health – or how much she earns.

Most YouTubers hold various cards close to their chests. Discussing what plastic surgery they’ve had, past acrimonious relationships and – most taboo of all – how much they earn is usually out of bounds.

But not Singapore-based beauty YouTuber Tina Yong, who’s not afraid to address the kinds of thorny topics most of her peers shy away from.

In between videos about hairstyle tutorials and K-pop-inspired makeovers, Yong coolly talks about the events that led to the breakdown of her previous marriage (a mutual incompatibility with her hard-partying ex), what cosmetic procedures she’s had (her eyelids) and just how much she’s made from YouTube in the past six months (a high of US$15,255 in May and a low of US$11,377 in September, or an average of “around US$10,000 to US$15,000 a month”).

And her 3.17 million subscribers love her for it.


“The older I get, the more comfortable I am in my own skin,” says Yong, who is Vietnamese but grew up in Australia. “I hope that by me being open and honest about these topics, it can help other people who may be going through something similar.”

But isn’t she worried that revealing just how much she earns will make her a target of criticism, no matter how unwarranted? Yong admits she was “a little hesitant” about sharing those details in a recent video, where she revealed the entirety of her YouTube analytics page to her subscribers and explained what each statistic meant.

She says she decided to reveal the page – and all the juicy figures within – so aspiring vloggers could get a better idea of the inscrutable industry.

“This kind of information wasn’t available when I first started my channel, and I kept thinking about how useful it would’ve been for me back then,” she says. “I knew that it would shed some light, and help those who were thinking about creating their own YouTube channel.”


A trained hair and make-up artist by profession, Yong set up her YouTube channel in 2013 without any delusions; she was, in her words, simply creating videos she thought her clients and students would like to see. It turned out that millions of others wanted to watch them, too.

Her uncomplicated beauty tutorials regularly rake in millions of views; in fact, her channel broke 1 million views in less than 10 videos, with her sixth video, “Big Voluminous Hair in under 5mins!” garnering 1.3 million views to date.


Yong is now working on opening her own make-up and nail studio in Singapore.


Yet as her channel began its steady ascent, Yong’s mental health took a nosedive.

In a 2018 video, a teary-eyed Yong confessed to the pressures that life on camera brings.

“And I’ve never told anyone this,” she starts, addressing her then-subscriber base of 2 million followers, “but when I first started YouTube in 2013, I was really depressed with my life at the time. My marriage was going down the drain, my relationship with my family wasn’t there, so when I found my passion in make-up, and being able to share it with you guys on YouTube, that really helped me get over that really bad time.”


Yong says her nascent YouTube channel quickly became an escape for her, something to “fall back on” after her marriage dissolved. But as her subscriber numbers began skyrocketing, her anxiety grew.

She says she struggled with impostor syndrome– the feeling that she couldn’t match up to the bubbly persona she created for the camera – and felt a growing sense of dread each time she uploaded a new video.

“During that time, I was so focused on creating content and chasing numbers that I eventually burnt out,” she says. “I felt like I was at the peak of my career, but I wasn’t feeling happy or fulfilled inside – the more popular my channel became, the more I was afraid that if I didn’t keep that momentum going, then I would lose everything.”


Yong holds a make-up demonstration.


Adding to the pressure was the fact that Yong wasn’t just providing for herself: she wanted to “take care of the people that [she] loves”, including her immigrant mother – who had fled Vietnam to give her three children a better life – and her husband Alfred Tran, who left a high-flying finance job in 2017 to help Yong with the business end of her brand.

Yong says that she’s since managed to get a handle on her anxiety. “Blending my personal life with my online personality has become more common – I think it’s gotten a lot easier over the years to handle, because I’ve learned that I don’t necessarily have to share everything in my life, and I still have control over what I choose to share.”


Yong and her husband Alfred have been based in Singapore for the last 4 years.


Yong is now working on opening her own make-up and nail studio in Singapore because she wants to connect physically with her supportive fan base.

“One of the ironies of being on YouTube is that even though my content is watched by millions of people, I’m not actually physically interacting with anyone,” she laughs, adding that this face-to-face interaction is “one of the things I’ve missed the most” about being a make-up artist.

“When I first started my channel and it was gaining popularity, I was chasing goals like reaching a million subscribers, for example – but that didn’t fulfil me,” she says. “Now, I’m just creating content that makes me happy, and that I enjoy.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
French Journalist Acquitted in Controversial Case Involving Brigitte Macron
Elon Musk’s xAI Targets $200 Billion Valuation in New Fundraising Round
Kraft Heinz Considers Splitting Off Grocery Division Amid Strategic Review
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
EU Proposes New Tax on Large Companies to Boost Budget
Trump Imposes 35% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Amid Trade Tensions
Junior Doctors in the UK Prepare for Five-Day Strike Over Pay Disputes
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Biden’s Doctor Pleads the Fifth to Avoid Self-Incrimination on President’s Medical Fitness
Grok Chatbot Faces International Backlash for Antisemitic Content
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
×