Manny MUA on his following: ‘People gravitate towards people who just are themselves’

To our weekly Tick Tock segment where we take a closer look at the story behind The Sensation, our next guest is breaking the gender stigma in the beauty industry, one palette at a time, proving that makeup can be for all. Manny Gutiérrez, known to his fans as Manny. mua has become a mainstay in the industry celebrating the beauty of gender fluidity. He was the first male face at Maybelline in 2017, as it cultivates an inclusive community of

people

online who are now redefining beauty standards and joining us. Mr. Manny mua himself is welcome. to the program Manny, thank you very much for inviting me.

I appreciate it, we appreciate you being here. Manny, tell us how you have evolved into this beauty guru. You know it's been the craziest experience because when I started online I didn't. I knew he was going to be like a beauty guru. I didn't know I was going to be, you know, I had so many followers and stuff and

people

would look up to me. I was really trying to find a community where I felt like I could. be myself um and I think that's where he started. I was

just

being authentically me and I think a lot of people

gravitate

towards people who are

just

themselves

and who want to express

themselves

the way they want and so it just transformed. into what it is today based on this need of wanting to have a community for myself and that authenticity.

I think you're right. I think that can be really magnetic. In recent years we have seen more male influencers and celebrities wearing makeup. Who really took advantage of wearing makeup? Do you think there's still a stigma around men and makeup? I think there is a little bit, but I think it disappears more and more every year because I think that at the end of the Many people, when they see something that they are not used to, they fear them, or things that are not there, they don't see them all the time, so I think if you are constantly you know how to put things in people's minds. faces like this is who we are this is what I wanted this is my expression of who I am as a person I think with more of that it becomes more acceptance because people can see it it's like oh it's not scary, it's not the bad thing is just its form of expression in the way they want and I think that is very important to have people constantly in the media and showing what they want to do with any expression that they want to be perceived as you too star. in the reboot of the classic early 2000s reality show The Surreal Life hey, you were only 12 when the first season aired, how did this opportunity come about?

You know, I got the email from my team and she was like, "You know they're looking." a digital talent to go on the show because as you know, obviously the show tries to bring together so many different walks of life and I guess they didn't have a digital talent there and especially a man, a makeup man and a beauty guru. like he was just I think he had clicked so many checks for them that they were like oh my gosh, this is something different like he was a digital Creator who grew up in a very conservative home grew up Mormon, you know, now he's a guru of the beauty. uh uh he wears makeup, he keeps his beard, so there's a lot of things that were a little bit different from my perspective from the rest of the cast, so they're like, oh, that's right, you know, something that could be very unique to the situation in the that you are bringing together different walks of life and you are also the founder and CEO of lunar Beauty, a cosmetics line designed for everyone and what was the moment of closing the circle for you, going from being an employee of a cosmetics store to now found and formulate your own makeup line, I think it's impressive, thank you very much and do you want us crazy?

It's just like my coming full circle moment, I started my beauty journey working at Sephora and to have my brand when I launched it, I think two years. Later I got into Sephora, my brand got into Sephora and I was there for a year, so it was like this crazy full circle moment for me that in six years I went from working at Sephora to having a brand at Sephora, so it was Very much so, it was a full circle moment for me that I felt like I had really worked really hard to create something that I really loved and really believed in and you know, with Lunar Beauty it's my baby, you know, I'm a critic.

I make a living and when people buy my products I want them to know that I gave it my all and listened to a quick rap to the annual makeup issue's Rapid Fire game, okay, sleeping with a face full of makeup, yes or no, No. using a dry beauty blender, no, lip liner, yes, I thought you would say that based on your previous answer, boldly painted eyebrows, what was it that was boldly painted, really painted eyebrows? I'm going to say no or yes, I think it's whatever you want. the eyebrow if you want it to be bold be bold if you want to be simpler be simple whatever suits your face Manny thank you so much for joining our series this week and you can learn more useful beauty and makeup tips by watching his videos Below The Tick Tock handles in Manny mua773 a new episode of this real life that airs Monday on VH1.

Thank you very much Manny. Thank you very much for inviting me. Thank you so much. Have a good time. You too. Hello everyone, George Stephanopoulos. Thank you for watching the ABC News YouTube Channel, for more videos, highlights and live event coverage, click here on the right to subscribe to our channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app to receive breaking news alerts, thanks for watching.