Eveline Karlsen (30) from Skien has always appreciated hard work and having many balls in the air at the same time. In recent years, she has become one of Norway’s most lucrative influencers.
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In her teens, Eveline Karlsen had only one plan – to become a football professional. She went to the top sports high school in Skien, played on the circuit team and devoted all her time and energy on the football field.
– Also, I and all my friends came at the age where you start to use makeup, and then it lit something in me in the wardrobe after football. I made everyone up, says Karlsen.
At the age of 20, the influencer had to put his football boots on the shelf as a result of injuries.
– It was absolutely awful. Imagine then, you have almost gone for 20 years and thought you would become a football professional.
– Did not earn a single penny
For many years after Karlsen left football, she worked in the perfume chain Fredrik & Louisa as a training manager and traveling makeup artist. In addition, she ran YouTube and made makeup videos on a hobby basis.
– Then I had come to a place where nothing was a challenge anymore. Either we had to do something new, or I had to do something else.
She made the drastic choice to quit her job to focus on YouTube – where she currently has over 90,000 followers and 20 million views.
– It was damn scary. I had recently been out of a long relationship. I had a lot of expenses, as I lived alone, she says, adding:
– I quit that job long before I should. YouTube was nothing. I did not earn a single penny on it, says Karlsen.
– Are you a person who often takes chances?
– That’s the only thing I do. If I do not, I do not think it’s fun.
–Created a million store
In recent years, the interest in make-up and beauty has developed into a million-dollar store for the 30-year-old. Karlsen is not in management and negotiates all of the agreements, operations and customer contact himself.
– It is difficult not to have someone to spar with. I work one hundred percent alone. There is no one who affects me in a day. There is no one I can discuss with. Absolutely cruel. Actually, I love having colleagues, she says.
With or without colleagues – in 2021, the influencer withdrew 15.2 million kroner through its wholly owned joint stock company bearing her own name. This is an increase of more than NOK 8.2 million compared with the previous year. The profit of the two-year-old company was 13.8 million.
For comparison had Sophie Elise’s company revenues of almost 8.4 million in 2021.
Karlsen believes the success is due to the fact that she never goes for simple and short-term solutions. It should preferably be a little challenging with lots of pulse and adrenaline – and often a lot that is at stake.
– It must be a little difficult to be worth it. At least I’ve always experienced that.
–Karlsen says she is strict with herself, and describes herself as an “overachiever” – people who are characterized by doing great things, but who still need to achieve more.
– In my head, anything is possible. It can be completely beyond things.
– I get up at six every day. That is just how it is. I think it’s just because I feel I have a bad time in everything and that I want to achieve so much in such a short time. Then I have to “max” the days.
With the strict schedule, it is difficult for the 30-year-old to separate work and leisure.
– We have a cabin out in Nevlunghavn. I was born and raised in that area. That’s probably the only sanctuary I feel I have. When I’m there, I feel calm. Otherwise, I’m a very restless person.
–For the past three years, Karlsen has been single, where two of the years have been marked by the corona pandemic.
– I now feel I have a spark to experience everything. I feel we have been trapped and limited for so long that I want to meet new people, travel around to new places and experience new things.
– Are you looking for a girlfriend?
– I can not say I’m in search. Then I’m lying. I do not have peaks or any dating app. I do not even know if people know I’m single, so I do not try at all. Can’t someone just fall in my lap?
– Simpler that not everyone has to doubt
Every time someone has asked Karlsen what she does, she has always answered “make-up”. In recent years, the 30-year-old has noticed a shift when it comes to people’s attitudes to her job.
– There has never been a need for me to convince anyone of anything. But now that I have been written more about in the media, I notice that people, and especially grown men, no longer ask the idiotic questions, says Karlsen, who says she has previously been seen as a young, stupid and blonde girl.
– Do you think the new “respect” comes from the fact that they have seen what you sell for?
– Yes, unfortunately! But that is the kind of world we live in.
– But I know it’s easier that not everyone should doubt or have prejudices against what you do all the time, because they have been proven that I do not just sit at home and put on make-up.
–Many projects underway
In 2020, Karlsen started collaborating with Bianca Ingrosso, one of Sweden’s biggest influencers, and was the makeup brand Caia Cosmetics’ face abroad in Norway. This collaboration has now ended.
Karlsen has recently established the company The Brand AS with its own general manager and several employees. Karlsen owns half of the company’s shares with Story House Egmont AS.
The influencer is currently secretive about details, but says the launch is planned to take place during the autumn.
– This is what I have worked for all my life. I finally have to realize my biggest dream. There is a very long term plan there as well. It will be my new everyday life, I hope.
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