Celebrating female voices on YouTube

Over the past decade, we’ve seen women use their voices to make incredible things happen on YouTube. We’ve laughed with comedians like GloZell, watched beauty gurus like Yuya create new how-to videos from different corners of the world, and tuned in to see creators like Gigi Gorgeous start conversations about her journey as a transgender woman.

Women on YouTube are diverse, creative, and bold. We’re amazed by the way these creators inspire millions of fans around the world. Needless to say, it’s important to us that YouTube remains a place where everyone has the creative freedom to express themselves, their thoughts, and perspectives.

Today, ahead of International Women’s Day, we’re announcing two new programs to continue championing female voices on YouTube. The first is a new, year-long partnership with the United Nations that appoints top YouTube female creators as the very first Change Ambassadors for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Action campaign. The second is a global production program across the YouTube Spaces that puts women both in front of and behind the camera.

Through the years, we’ve seen women on YouTube become beacons of inspiration to their fans. That’s why we’re so excited about this new partnership with the United Nations and to announce Ingrid Nilsen, Jackie Aina, Yuya, Taty Ferreira, Hayla Ghazal, Louise Pentland, and Chika Yoshida as Change Ambassadors -- the first group of women on YouTube to join the U.N. in advocating for gender equality as part of U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. This group of passionate female creators are brilliant role models on YouTube, and we can’t wait to see how they’ll work with the U.N. to inspire and activate their global fan communities as well as women and girls around the world.

Change Ambassadors Ingrid Nilsen, Louise Pentland, Jackie Aina, Yuya, Chika Yoshida, Taty Ferreira, and Hayla Ghazal at the U.N.

An extraordinary community of women has also come together around our new global YouTube Spaces program over the last few months, creating new videos that put female voices in front of and behind the camera. Across our YouTube Spaces in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, New York, Sao Paulo, and Berlin, these female creators attended workshops and filmed over 50 videos on sets constructed specifically for this program. To help drive an atmosphere of collaboration throughout the program, six female creators including Anna Akana (U.S.), Alexys Fleming (U.S.), Julia Tolezano (Brazil), Em Ford (U.K.), Nilam Farooq (Germany) and Kuma Miki (Japan) acted as Creative Directors in their respective Spaces, helping mentor other creators who also participated in the global video shoots.

From tributes honoring historical female leaders and original scripted content, to discussions about women in the workforce and other women’s issues, these new videos will begin rolling out today on the YouTube Spaces channel, as well as the creators’ own channels.


YouTube has always been an open stage where anyone can share her story. We hope these new programs will inspire even more women to find their voices, create their own roles, scripts and stories, and advocate for the issues they care about.

And to the current generation of female creators who express themselves every day, thank you for inspiring all of us at YouTube ... and all of us around the globe.

Danielle Tiedt, Chief Marketing Officer at YouTube recently watched “Emma Watson at the HeForShe Campaign 2014 - Official UN Video.”