this is "nightline." >> tonight, generation burnout. >> i hope to never have a traditional job again. >> the millennials ditching their nine to fives for adventure. >> we're just cruising around new zealand and exploring. >> achieving financial freedom to pursue passion. how you can live the life of your dreams. plus influence him. he's the cover boy. >> hi, sisters. >> who became the face of covergirl. makeup sensation james charles. >> these colors are absolutely insane. >> has millions following his every brush. >> i want to be a role model for everybody, no matter what age, size, where they come from, color. >> but how does he handle the haters lashing out? but first, the "nightline " 5."

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alwould you like a desk chair, weekends off, or the bathroom code? yes, please! which one? it's time to get more. lower fares. better service. sweeter rewards. alaska airlines. they're quitting a lifestyle of all work to focus on more play. it's a typical move most people make at the end of their b the drop-outs are on their own timeline. and it's not simply about

adventure, but economic empowerment. here is abc's gloria riviera. >> reporter: quitting a nine to five to hit the slopes is a fantasy many only dream of. for tonya hester and her husband mark, that dream is a reality. hester was just 38 years old when she retired. do you think you'll go back into the workforce at some point? >> i hope to never have a traditional job again. i don't want to have to go in and be there at 9:00 and leave at 6:00 or 7:00 or 8:00 or 9:00 or whatever it is. >> they're both part of a trend, people leaving behind the traditional workforce for something different, and some are following their lead. and it's picking up steam among millennials, garnering headlines. they're choosing very different paths than previous generation, who prioritized buying homes and starting families. >> i think for many, early retirement or saving towards financial independence is sort of just a way of saying well, no one else is going to help me be secure or safe in my older years, so i have to do that for

myself. >> reporter: hester and her husband are completely financially independent. >> we earned good incomes. i was really letting time do the work. >> reporter: how much time? >> from the time we decided to retire early until we actually did it was about six years. we definitely saved very quickly and aggressively in that time. >> reporter: with very strict budgeting, including wearing parkas inside during winter to keep the heating bills down, hester and her husband were able to quit stressful political consulting jobs two years ago with very healthy retirement accounts in place. >> we were able to kind of constrain our lifestyle and not inflate it year-over-year as a lot of people do as you earn more. and really focus on earning more, banking our raises. >> reporter: hester and her husband are part of a movement called fire, financial independence to retire early. most people who follow fire aim to save half of their take home income after tax and spend less, picking and choosing exactly where their money goes.

but it doesn't take complete financial independence to make the jump into an alternative lifestyle. just ask sarah solomon. >> right now i am outside of my camper van. i'm just cruising around new zealand and exploring. and then have i this great little table where i set up my laptop and do work in the morning. >> reporter: or nathan krasinski. >> running with the dog, it's kind of a euphoric feeling. it feels like you're riding a magic future. >> reporter: he deferred a future in chemical engineering for life on the alaskan frontier mushing dogs. >> i went to school for six years. a lot of time spent sitting down in the library. kind of ready for something different, a change of pace and took a little deter. >> what you doing there? >> reporter: but solomon unto doesn't know if or when she sever coming back. >> when i left new york city, i said i'll go for a year. i'll travel for a year and come back and probably get a job again. it's obviously been longer than a year with no end in sight. >> reporter: she left an enviable job at a big publicity firm. >> i started getting a little

tired of just the same nine to five routine every day, getting up, going to work, and just repeating it. and i was a little unhappy at my -- at one of my jobs. so i started looking for other opportunities. >> reporter: and now works as a freelance publicist from anywhere around the world, be it guatemala or hawaii. >> one of the things i found amongst millennials is that they have an idealized image of what their life should look like. and they don't want to settle for less. they really are a very self-aware generation that has been raised to ask the question why. why should i be working at this job that i don't like? >> reporter: robi ludwig is a psychotherapist in new york. >> when patients come to me, i ask them is it smart and wise to leave a job before you have something else or a plan in place? can they afford to make that switch? >> we're living at a time when the safety nets are disappearing, when corporations are promising less and less to

employees, you know. very few jobs have pensions anymore or have any kind of paid retirement. young people who have graduated into recession or who have come into this country where they have records student loan debt and they're getting paid less proportionately than their parents did and being promised less, it should be no surprise to anyone that so many are saying well, i need to take things into my own hands. >> reporter: for those looking to take control of their lives and finances, the fire movement is an attractive thought. but some, like suze orman say it's unrealistic. >> just don't be unrealistic. >> naysayers warn without padding that 401(k) over time, workers could be in big trouble later in life. hester admits that not everyone can achieve financial independence. but for her, the free time allows the flexibility to do more fulfilling work. >> this year i wrote a book. i write my blog. i do a podcast. all of those things that look like work, but they're passion projects for me.

did doesn't feel like work. >> reporter: she works to share her knowledge with a group often excluded from financial conversations, women. >> women have been since the beginning of time excluded from the high finance kind of conversations. so if you're going to talk about investing, you're going to talk about retirement planning, that's a conversation for the men. and if you're a woman on your own, you would have to hire a male financial adviser. >> reporter: she started hosting female-focused financial literacy female workshops. what are some of the hurdles women need to overcome two feet firmly in this movement. >> i think we have to be very realistic about the wage gap. we know women on average earn about 70% of what men earn. we know women make up the bulk of minimum wage earners in most states. women are coming at this a little bit lower down the hill in many cases. women can do everything financially that men can do, but it does take us kind of getting over all the socialization we've received that tells us that no, this isn't for us. this is for them.

no, this is for us foo. >> reporter: for women at the workshop like carla perez, it's an opportunity to learn. how does it feel when you look around the conference and see all these women? what are you hearing from them? >> so many women are ecstatic to be here, and they feel a sense of community and support which is great. it can feel very isolating at times. it's not something parents feel comfortable talking about or have themselves. so don't blame anyone, including myself for not having the perfect financial know how at 18 years old. >> reporter: hester believes financial independence shouldn't be exclusive to the uber wealthy or highly educated. instead, she recommends these tips for getting started. be mindful of your expenses, and cut out extra spending that doesn't bring you happiness. focus on increasing your take-home pay every year. and when you do get pay raises, don't spend the new money you're earning. instead, put it into retirement accounts. >> i feel like one of the luckiest people who has ever lived. i think the real power here was

just in creating a place for people to come together and less about what i might lap to know. it's more just saying okay, let's all get together and do this. and i don't think that's going to stop. i think for me it's not about -- it's not that i want to sit at home and sip on drinks, it's i want to help make the world better and make this accessible to as many people as possible. >> reporter: she wants everyone to have the freedom to choose to do something they love. for "nightline," i'm gloria riviera in colorado. next, how makeup guru james charles is coloring his own world. i wanted more from my copd medicine... ...that's why i've got the power of 1-2-3 medicines with trelegy. the only fda-approved 3-in-1 copd treatment. ♪ trelegy. the power of 1-2-3 ♪ trelegy 1-2-3 trelegy

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at 19 years old, makeup influencer james charles has a loyal legion of followers flocking to his social media accounts for beauty tips and tricks. abc's maggie rulli paints the town with the cover boy breaking boundaries. >> reporter: a sea of teenagers descending on a shopping mall just to catch a glimpse. fans camped outside of his hotel on a freezing winter night. >> oh my god. >> reporter: this is a glimpse into the new megawatt stardom social media makeup artist james charles. his fans, who he calls sisters -- >> hi, sisters! >> hi, sister. >> oh, wait. i got called sister. i was waiting to see how long before i got called sister.

i'm really excited. >> reporter: the 19-year-old has swept up hordes of generation z makeup enthusiasts with tutorials. >> gold over the edges. >> reporter: what the you think it is about you? >> i don't know. i think it's just i started doing makeup when i was 16 on youtube and instagram. and i was working really, really hard. people just like being around me and watching my content because it's relatable but still really fun and inspires people. >> reporter: and charles brings something different to the scene, being a young man in makeup. >> hi! >> reporter: he embraces his individuality and uniqueness in youtube videos. >> hi, sisters. >> reporter: where he goes from fresh faced teenager to glamazon, mermaid. he even considers his face a human canvas. he started out in high school outside of albany, new york. >> i can't believe i'm doing, this but it's about damn time. >> reporter: giving makeup tips. >> this will mimic the halo effect we are going on. >> reporter: and creating elaborate eye shadow designs.

came a tidal wave of likes, followers and subscriber, today reaching $15 million on both youtube and instagram. >> and i just really love watching what he does. >> i likes to connect with his sisters. >> reporter: his fans are part of a new generation, where it seems like anything goes. >> we love you! >> he is one of those people who are trailblazing. >> he is saying hey, i'm a boy, yeah, and i'm a boy that wears makeup and heels. and that's okay. he also had the reinforcement of 15 million fans who are saying it's okay to be the way you are. we accept you. >> reporter: after taking social media, he became covergirl's first cover boy. the announcement made by katy perry. what was it like when you found out what your new role was going to be for the very first time? >> i was shook. i had just started working with a new manager at the time. and hey, we got an e-mail from covergirl. you're going to be the face of covergirl. everybody was congratulating me. oh, this is i think a little bit of a bigger deal than we would

have anticipated. >> you have this kid who is garnering millions of people's attention. if you're kind of legacy cosmetics why wouldn't you pay attention to next hot thing in makeup? >> reporter: and charles is ready to capitalize. he has already launched his new line of sisters apparel. >> unleash your inner artist. >> reporter: and late last year, his own eye shadow palette, which sold out in minutes. >> that day palette. i wanted to go on and try. you know how many welcomes is went to and kept getting currently out of stock. >> reporter: it restocked this morning for the fourth time, and it's already gone. so you can literally create any look imaginable, whether it be a simple light airy makeup look or day/night or a crazy rainbow drag makeup look. >> reporter: and in part, because of influencers like charles, today's beauty industr. >> there is a shift in the industry to diversity and inclusion in a way that's not happening in other industries because of influencers and because there is, you know,

audiences that can speak directly to their -- to these influencers. >> these colors are absolutely insane. >> makeup used to be something that you put on for a special occasion. then makeup evolved into something you wore every day. and now makeup really is something that people do a whole face, and then they just take it off. it's like playing dress-up. >> let's see how she looks. oh, not that bad. >> what are some of the misconceptions you get as a man who wears makeup sometimes. >> i think that i'm transgendered. i'm not. i'm confident in myself and my gender identity. i'm happy being a boy. but at the same time, i love makeup. i have a full set of nails on at all time. i've been a woman for a few minutes, and i love it. >> reporter: are you sick of people wanting to talk to you all the time about the face? >> no, not at all. i hope one day within the nearish future that it doesn't become a conversation anymore, that people just accept it. i want to be a role model for everybody, no matter what age, size, where they come from,

color. so if that means talking about it to get the word out there and to tell people it's okay to express yourself, i'm down. i'll talk about it all day long. >> hi, sisters! >> charles here. >> reporter: james' parents embrace their makeup wearing son with a sense of humor. >> i'm just holding my thing gently and you're moving his face. >> focus on your side. >> i'm trying to. but you keep moving it around. >> but it wasn't always easy. >> every parent wants their kid to be safe, happy and healthy. it was really hard for us as a family to go to. but i understood it the whole time and i knew what they were doing. but it took a lot of trust for them to understand where i was coming from. and once we finally met in the middle, it was like the perfect relationship. >> reporter: and james' uniqueness that so many love also makes him the target of hate. something that's difficult for his mom and dad. >> i'm grateful for all his fans that follow and protect him and support him, because it gives me

strength to know that there is plenty of people out there that don't feel the way those selective few do. >> thanks, dad. >> what really struck me is when your dad started getting emotional about your safety. what are the negative comments you get? and how do you react to them? >> i learned to hold myself back and got involved with it a little less. and now i barely read my comments at all anymore. >> reporter: are you guys excited to see james charles? no haters here. james and his parents along with 15 of his sisters recently joined us for a very sweet meet and greet at new york sugar factory, where james answered all the questions they wanted to know. dahlia wanted to know how you deal with bullies out there. bullies online, bullies in real life. >> for me, i've always had a very, very thick skin. i did get bullied a lot in high school. and i personally ignored it. and i would try really hard not to pay attention.

and sometimes too it is important to stand up for yourselves. and sometimes i would clap back. and when it hit them, oh, i see the game you're playing. >> reporter: where is polly? so polly wants to know do you have any other projects in the works? we know you just came out ow with your eye shadow palette. >> i'm working on a lot of different things, including -- i can't tell you. >> reporter: oh, such a diva! >> i know. i was going to say something. everything i've talked about in my videos, i want to work on music, sisters apparel. going, going, going. like my dad said, once i accomplished one thing, we're on to the next. just know we're on the eight nexts right now. >> reporter: and what ever is next for james charles, his sisters will be watching. for "nightline," i'm maggie rulli. >> good for him. head to our "nightline" youtube channel for our full q&a with james charles and his super fans.

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and finally tonight, katy perry says this may have been the ugliest cry of her life. ♪ love no one >> coming off her biggest performance yet, "american idol" contestant johanna jones was stunned when her boyfriend surprised her, proposing on the "idol" stage. >> you're the love of my life. >> oh my god, no. >> will you marry me? >> yes! >> leaving everyone, including katy perry in tears. thank you for watching "nightline." we propose you head to hulu for a full episodes. thanks for the company, america. good night.