Safiya Nygaard, an American YouTube beauty and fashion guru, vlogger, writer, producer, and actor, gained popularity during her time at BuzzFeed. After working for the internet media company for nearly two years, she left to focus on her self-titled YouTube channel, which now has 5.5 million subscribers. Safiya is known for her frequent uploads, with two to three videos per week, and often collaborates with her boyfriend Tyler Williams. Her success has led her to be a finalist for the prestigious ‘YouTuber of the Year’ award at the 10th Annual Shorty Awards.
Quick Facts
- Boyfriend: Tyler Williams
- Also Known As: Safiya Jaffer Nygaard
- Age: 31 Years, 31 Year Old Females
- Family: mother: Mumtaz Nygaard
- Height: 5’10” (178 cm), 5’10” Females
- City: Chicago, Illinois
- U.S. State: Illinois
- More Facts: education: Stanford University
Rise to Stardom
Safiya Nygaard began her career while she was in college, working as a Library intern at Victory Gardens Theatre and as a sales assistant at Abercrombie and Fitch. She also appeared in several stage productions during this time. In December 2014, she posted a compilation of her acting samples on her YouTube channel. However, it was her association with ‘BuzzFeed’ that brought her popularity on the internet. She was hired by ‘BuzzFeed’ in April 2015 as a content creator and also starred in many of their videos.
Creation of ‘Ladylike’
In October of the same year, Nygaard teamed up with Fredricka Ransome to create the new series ‘Ladylike’ for ‘BuzzFeed’. The series focused on women trying out new beauty and fashion products, as well as experimenting with different techniques to show viewers the end results. Initially, the series was just a segment under the ‘Top Knot’ show, but it later became solely about hair tutorials.
Success of ‘Ladylike’
With the help of others at ‘BuzzFeed’, Nygaard and Ransome were able to keep the ‘Ladylike’ series alive. The show gained momentum and eventually became a full-fledged show for the ‘BuzzFeed’ channel, with a dedicated team and producers. Nygaard worked on the show for fifteen months until January 2017, when she decided to leave ‘BuzzFeed’ in order to focus on her own YouTube channel. At that time, her channel only had a couple of vlogs and her 2014 demo-reel. Since January 2017, she has been posting regular weekly videos on beauty, style, and ‘weirdness’, and has gained over 5.5 million subscribers and millions of views on her videos.
Controversies & Scandals
Nygaard waited six months after leaving ‘BuzzFeed’ to post a video titled ‘Why I left BuzzFeed’ on March 19, 2017. In the video, she explained that she left ‘BuzzFeed’ primarily because she wanted more independence. She also mentioned that certain rules at the organization prevented her from interacting with her fans on YouTube. Additionally, she felt that she and Ransome were not included in important decision-making processes regarding the future of ‘Ladylike’ and other collaborations. While she understood that ‘BuzzFeed’ owned the content she created, she realized that she had little control over how it was being distributed under her name. As the possibility of creating merchandise on her name arose, she decided to dissociate herself from the company.
Personal Life
Safiya Nygaard was born on July 16, 1992, in Chicago, Illinois. She is of Indian descent from her mother’s side and Danish descent from her father’s side. She attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School and graduated in 2011. She then went on to study at Stanford University. Nygaard met her boyfriend, Tyler Williams, while they were both studying at Stanford. He is also a YouTuber and the CEO and founder of Nextbeat. He occasionally appears in Nygaard’s videos, and the couple can often be seen hanging out together on their channels.