In September this year, AB (name withheld on request) was among the winners of the YouTube NextUp #WomenToWatch, with her channel ‘Laughing Ananas’ selected as one of the 2,000 global (and among Europe’s top 20) most impactful channels . 
 

This was a remarkable achievement for one who only recently left her marketing job to run her own independent You Tube channel, working out of Belgium and UK. It was a major shift in her career stream, and a successful one too – she now has nearly 28,000 subscribers, besides being one of the 900 Instagram accounts followed by You Tube, out of the millions of creators posting content on that social media site.

Her initial foray into creating videos, AB says “started with a single Aloe Vera plant that I love and am obsessed with.” Narrating the story, she tells us that she had written a blog post about how to extract Aloe Vera gel and use it for hair care, which got a lot of traction. In response to requests for a video to give people a better understanding of how to do it, she created her first YouTube video. “Through this, I discovered my passion for creating, eventually delving into the comedy genre, showcasing real life issues in sketches and giving them a comical spin. This is my story; from an Aloe Vera plant to a YouTuber,” she states.
 

Being selected by You Tube for the #NextUp winners’ camp brought her in contact with a lot of key people in YouTube, among many talented creators, and led her to explore the community further. It also taught her all the elements of film production, starting from camera essentials to correct lighting, audio and green screen use, she says, adding that it also helped unlock the YouTube space in London, enabling her to use the studio spaces there to shoot new videos.

AB creates comedy videos based on real-life issues such as the difference in the lives of Single women compared to that of Married women. “My channel has gained more than 4 million views, with one of my videos on YouTube going viral with over a million views. I have also been featured in the newsletters from the Universities I graduated from (The University of Warwick and King's College London).” 


She recalls, “In the beginning of my YouTube journey, I faced a lot of criticism and judgment for making videos online as YouTube is not seen as an ideal choice of career. Despite this, I continued making videos because they fulfilled me and helped me reach out to millions of people, giving me the opportunity to contribute to their lives. After having achieved these milestones on YouTube, I now serve as a role model for the community, both young and old.” 

At a broader level, AB hopes that her experience will “encourage the Palanpuri, Gujarati and female communities on YouTube, inspiring them to express themselves and embrace their unique personalities online. I have even mentored so many people from our community who reached out to me in the hopes of setting up their own YouTube channels, about how they can go about creating their own online content, break out of the norms and follow their own choice of career paths.” 

Links to AB’s channel and some videos:

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/LaughingAnanas

School VS College video: https://bit.ly/2AL8gNR

Single VS Married video: https://bit.ly/2Evt0K1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laughingananas