It’s quite inspirational to look back at how some of the world’s most famous celebrities, game-changers, and entrepreneurs got started on their journey to success. While some get lucky by getting a good break, the majority of them had to work extremely hard to make their dreams a reality.
While most young people end up settling for a 9-5 job, others follow the road less taken yet amazingly succeed at a young age. There is no minimum age to become a millionaire, as these inspirational millionaires know firsthand. From acting to uploading YouTube videos to creating an app to starting up their own companies, get to know these 10 millennials who made millions before turning 30.
Margot Robbie
Margot Robbie is one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actresses, who achieved massive success at a young age. Robbie, shot to stardom with 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street when she starred alongside Leonardo Di Caprio, and her career has been on fire ever since. She has so far received nominations for two Academy Awards and five BAFTA Awards for her acting prowess. In 2017, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2019, she was ranked among the world’s highest-paid actresses.
Evan Spiegel
Evan Spiegel is the co-founder and CEO of the multimedia messaging app Snapchat which he co-founded with Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown while they were students at Stanford University. Spiegel initially launched a prototype called “Picaboo”, which they all later renamed as Snapchat. The mobile app was a hit and its popularity grew at such a rapid pace that in 2012, Evan decided to leave Stanford to focus on Snapchat shortly before completing his degree. As of October 2019, Snapchat has 210 million daily, active users.
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande began her career in the 2008 Broadway musical 13 but she rose to stardom for her role as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon television series Victorious from 2010–2013, and in its spin-off, Sam & Cat from 2013–2014. She eventually decided to pursue a solo music career and in 2013, she released her first studio album “Yours Truly,” which entered atop the US Billboard 200. The album’s lead single, “The Way,” opened in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, with critics comparing her voice to the legendary Mariah Carey. As of June 2017, Ariana’s music videos had been viewed a whopping total of more than nine billion times online. She has received three American Music Awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards, an MTV Video Music Award, and four Grammy Award nominations.
Ryan Higa
Ryan Higa aka “nigahiga” is an American comedian, YouTuber, and actor. He achieved YouTube star status for his comedic videos on YouTube. His YouTube channel, “nigahiga,” was actually the most subscribed channel on YouTube for 677 consecutive days from 2009–2011. Currently, he has one of the most-followed comedy YouTube channels in the world, boasting 21.4 million subscribers.
Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving is a professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A six-time All-Star and two-time member of the All-NBA Team, he won an NBA championship with the Cavaliers in 2016. According to Forbes, his jersey is actually ranked fourth among the NBA’s bestsellers during the 2018-19 season, his Nike shoe is among the NBA’s top sellers and a viral Pepsi ad campaign featuring Irving as the elderly Uncle Drew was so popular that it eventually led to a 2018 Hollywood feature film.
Kayla Itsines
Kayla Itsines is an Australian personal trainer, author, and entrepreneur. She is the creator of a series of fitness ebooks titled “Bikini Body Guides,” and a meal-planning and workout app, called “Sweat with Kayla.” Sweat with Kayla generated more revenue than any other fitness app in 2016. Kayla initially created the Bikini Body Training Company with her partner, Tobi Pearce in 2014 so that she can coach and motivate more women. In 2017 Forbes declared her the top fitness influencer on the Top Influencers list.
Nick Molnar
Nick Molnar is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in online retail. Nick is the co-founder and CEO of Afterpay, one of Australia’s fastest-growing fintech companies. Afterpay enables customers to pay retail merchants via a ‘buy now, take now, pay later’ service that does not require customers to enter into a typical loan or pay any upfront fees or interest to Afterpay.
Jordan Maron
Jordan Maron better known by his online alias “CaptainSparklez,” is a YouTube personality, gamer-commentator, and electronic musician. Maron is famous for playing the video game Minecraft, which is featured on his main YouTube channel, “CaptainSparklez,” and the channel “CaptainSparklez 2.” His main channel is currently one of the most-subscribed channels on YouTube with over ten million subscribers as of July 25, 2019.
Sean Belnick
Sean Belnick is the founder of BizChair.com. When Sean was 14 years old, he created his first website “BizChair.com” back in 2001. Using the drop-ship business model, this website’s purpose was to sell office furniture, shipping it directly to customers. Sean’s stepfather Gary Glazer, was an independent furniture veteran who had 20 years’ experience in the office furniture industry under his belt. Leveraging Gary’s connections with furniture manufacturers and importers, Sean began running BizChair.com. He may have modestly started his business inside his bedroom – but now BizChair.com is a multi-million dollar business.
Kaila Methven
Kaila Methven might be a KFC heiress, but she is a success in her own right. She currently runs two high-end lingerie brands: Madame Methven and Lactrodectus (LDKM)(madamemethven.com). Kaila has been featured in several magazines, including the covers of Femme Rebelle, Ellements, LA Fashion Magazine, Maxim South Africa and she has also appeared in Contrasts, Runway, Basic, Most, Fab UK, Maxim US, Marie Claire Italy, Business Insider, and The Sun. She has won Best International Designer Haute Couture and lingerie twice. She was also awarded the Most Dynamic Woman of the year by Angeleno Magazine as well. Kaila’s designs have been seen on many celebrities, including Oscar-winner Apollonia Kotera, Kitty Brucknell of X factor UK, and cast members of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.