Share your favorite diverse creators here!
Grace Miller
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The vast majority of high-profile creators on YouTube are white and male.
As Akilah Hughes writes in a recent article on Fusion, “there are arguably fewer than 30 creators darker than a paper bag among the top 500 YouTubers.” In other words, less than 6% of high-profile YouTubers are people of color.
The same data source also indicates that only 18% of the top subscribed YouTubers are people who identify or present as women, or 60 of 327.
Akilah’s article asks for high-profile creators and YouTube itself to promote diverse talent, most notably through sharing videos on their social media. We can do the same in this space.
Auden Granger Thu 30 Jul 2015 1:38PM
My other favorite diverse creator is Vihart. While Vi primarily makes videos about math (which are so fascinating, honestly- and I say this as someone passionate primarily about English who struggles to keep engaged in STEM subjects), here is a video Vi recently made about gender. (I've avoided pronouns here because I can't remember what Vihart uses.)
Christine Chapman Fri 31 Jul 2015 12:38PM
I love community channel! Vihart is someone I've been wanting to start watching, so now you've motivated me. Also just trying to think of some of my own has made me realize (1) how little YouTube I watch these days and (2) how many of those people are white men. This needs to be fixed!
Mary Lipp Thu 6 Aug 2015 7:40PM
I definitely need to add some more diversity to my sub box, I can't wait to see the suggestions. I'm going to suggest Sabrina of Nerdy and Quirky and of Crash Course Kids
Gea Nils Mon 10 Aug 2015 7:17AM
Gosh, I have a bunch, so I will pace out my posts. I adore Team Andrew, made up of the amazing musician Andrew Huang, and the travel blogger Andrew Gunadie (aka Gunnarolla). They are the cutest best friends, and are both super creative and great and what they do with such different styles. <3
Runa Wed 12 Aug 2015 3:46PM
Yikes, scrolling through my subscriptions and realizing I really do not follow that many people of color. Chescaleigh is one of my favorite non-white YouTubers. I love my John and Hank Green, who, while both straight white men, both live with chronic disabilities. Karakamos is a fantasic smaller YouTuber who sometimes vlogs about being a woman who is not conventionally attractive. Lauren Fairweather is another female YouTuber who I love, and she's out as bi and has lived with mental illness.
Gea Nils Thu 13 Aug 2015 7:46AM
Ooh, I love all of these people. I watch much of Lauren Fairweather, but she is on my (rather long) to watch list.
My next favorite, is ASAPscience and ASAPthought.
They are both created and hosted by an openly gay couple, one of whom is a person of colour. ASAPscience is a science education channel aimed at people with no science knowledge. Making big ideas understandable to eveyone. ASAPthought is their vlog channel where they talk politics and show their process and show what adventures they are having.
Runa Thu 13 Aug 2015 4:18PM
Oh hey, speaking of Lauren, guess who's in the newest Uplift video? I was so excited to see her included in the discussion!
Gea Nils Sat 15 Aug 2015 8:44AM
Ooh, I have not watched the latest video yet! (I keep up with my videos with an RSS and am consistently a week behind)
Next up in Gem recommends all the youtubers:
If you like beautiful singing, and people creating full songs out of only their own body, then I think Alaa Wardi is the musician for you!
He is an Iranian musician who lives in Saudi Arabia and sings mostly in Arabic, with a few English songs thrown in occasionally (mostly covers). He also has a band, Hayajan which is pretty great. He is also adorable!
Alaa Wardi - A++ WOULD RECOMMEND!
Auden Granger Thu 20 Aug 2015 2:43AM
Ah, I just finished Felicia Day's new book "You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)." It has a lot of interesting things to say about #GamerGate and the way online communities treat women, as well as a lot of really cool stuff about her process in creating The Guild and Geek & Sundry.
Auden Granger · Thu 30 Jul 2015 1:25PM
I really adore Natalie Tran, communitychannel! You can watch the talk she gave on Asians in Media at Brown University here. Most of her videos are funny rather than serious, but they make me laugh every time. She's witty, she's creative, she obviously puts a lot of thought and care into her videos, and she seems genuinely kind and interested in her audience.