In May 2010 I was privileged to attend Google’s “Think” event (http://www.youtube.com/user/think) , and as part of the day I interviewed Lauren Luke, the YouTube phenomenon.

Lauren started with ‘how to’ videos filmed simply in her room and published to YouTube under her username panacea81. Her ‘viewers’ grew steadily, with ‘readers’ requests’ becoming the norm. A particularly challenging “Leona Lewis” look was requested and, once done, took Lauren’s popularity into the stratosphere.

Now a published author (her book’s in the top 10 of the Amazon beauty list), one of the two most trafficked channels on YouTube in the UK, with a range of cosmetics on sale at Sephora stores in the US and now a TV show, Lauren is truly one of the few instances when one can say the word “phenomenon” without hyberbole.

I had the pleasure of corresponding with Lauren for a week in advance of our Q&A and throughout I was struck by her openness, integrity and charm – aspects that are really obvious from her comments.

It’s quite something to be cast into the limelight, but there can be few people in charge of a brand who can listen to Lauren’s candid, open and direct articulation of her approach and values without reaching for the marketing plan to take a cold, challenging look at whether it’s still convincing.

The first video below is from Google’s Think channel and covers our Q&A, while the second gives a two-minute showreel of the event.

Comments very much encouraged!

And here’s the event showreel…

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