From Viral Photographer to Skincare Empire with His Daughter Salish

Oct 17, 2025

Jordan Matter, a talented photographer-turned-YouTuber, shares insights into his remarkable journey alongside his daughter Salish. They discuss how their viral dance photography evolved into a powerful father-daughter brand with 300 million monthly views. Jordan emphasizes the importance of authenticity over virality in building trust and the success of their new Sephora-backed skincare line, which captivated 87,000 fans at launch. He also touches on balancing parenthood with creativity, and their approach to avoiding influencer burnout and maintaining genuine connections.

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ANECDOTE

Origin Of The Viral Photography Format

Jordan started a 10-minute photo challenge filming dancers to prove his photos were real and promote a book.
Weekly short videos unexpectedly went viral and grew his channel to millions of subscribers.

ADVICE

Prioritize Consistency And Repeatable Formats

Post consistently (Jordan posts once a week) to build an audience over time.
Use repeatable formats that lend themselves to collaborations and scalability.

ANECDOTE

Shift To Father–Daughter Content

Jordan gradually featured his daughter Salish in videos and shifted to father–daughter challenges.
Those videos deepened viewer relationships and boosted engagement beyond photography content.

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In this episode of Next in Media, Mike Shields sits down with Jordan Matter, the YouTuber, photographer, and entrepreneur behind one of the most surprising creator success stories of the year. What started as a simple series of dance photography videos turned into a global family brand with more than 300 million monthly views—and now, a Sephora skincare line that drew an unbelievable 87,000 fans to its launch.

Jordan opens up about his journey from photographing dancers in New York to building a thriving father-daughter YouTube channel with his daughter Salish, how they created an authentic bond with Gen Alpha viewers, and the lessons learned from turning that trust into a real-world business. He also reflects on the emotional chaos of their record-breaking Sephora event, balancing parenthood with content creation, and why he believes authenticity—not virality—is the real currency of influence.

Key Highlights

📸 From Photographer to Creator: How Jordan’s 10-Minute Photo Challenge videos transformed a niche dance-photography channel into a viral YouTube phenomenon.

👨‍👧 The Power of Relationship: Why shifting focus to his daughter Salish created a stronger emotional bond with viewers—and opened up an untapped “father–daughter” niche on YouTube.

💡 Avoiding Creator Pitfalls: Jordan’s take on why so many influencers burn out chasing money—and why his team refuses to flood their audience with endless brand deals.

🧴 Skincare Meets Storytelling: How Salish’s new “Sincerely Yours” line with Sephora became the Gen Alpha skincare brand—selling out instantly and drawing *twice the crowd of MrBeast’s burger launch.

😱 87,000 Fans, One Mall: Behind the scenes of the record-breaking American Dream launch event that shut down highways and had teens camping overnight.

❤️ Authenticity Over Hype: Why Jordan believes creators should focus on connection, care, and consistency instead of algorithms and short-term trends.

🎬 Beyond YouTube: His future plans for animation, apparel, and storytelling beyond the camera—while still keeping Salish’s childhood sacred.

Resources & Next Steps

📺 Watch Jordan Matter’s videos on YouTube
🧴 Explore Sincerely Yours skincare at Sephora.com
📲 Follow @JordanMatter and @saysaymatter on Instagram
🎧Subscribe to Next in Media on Apple Podcasts