Ms. Rachel, the YouTube and TikTok host, has become one of the most beloved personalities for those under the age of 4. For those unaware, Rachel Griffin Accurso as she is also known, makes educational videos for kids that have taken the Internet by storm over the last year. Having only set up a YouTube account in early 2019, Ms Rachel's channel already has almost 4 million subscribers and over 2 billion views. So who is Ms Rachel? How did she get so popular? And why do kids and parents love her?

Ms. Rachel's story began 4 years ago when she was inspired to start making videos to teach kids how to speak after her own 2-year-old was experiencing a speech delay. She wanted to make videos that were interactive and engaging for those under the age of 4. In the videos she emphasized encouraging speech in babies and toddlers through a slow, easy to understand cadence. By focusing on enunciation and pronunciation, her videos started gaining traction due to their legitimate educational value. Incorporating sing-alongs and questions posed to the audience, her videos feel like a real life teacher speaking to her pupils.

It doesn't take a genius to see why Ms. Rachel has done so well. Firstly, she adopts a familiar, smiley sing-song approach to educational videos, similar to shows like CoComelon and Blippi. On most YouTube thumbnails you can see her smiling face along with a parent-friendly caption like, "First Sentences for Toddlers" and "Baby Sign Language Basics". Secondly, Ms. Rachel has real educational chops. She has a masters in music education from NYU and is almost finished with a second masters in early childhood education. Parents get comfort in the fact that Ms. Rachel is a real life preschool teacher and not just some YouTube personality. Finally (and perhaps the key to her sudden popularity), Ms. Rachel leveraged TikTok in a way other kids brands have failed to achieve. Her content on TikTok does particularly well among parents, as she demonstrates real life success stories of toddlers learning to read through her videos. In addition to this, Ms. Rachel also makes TikTok videos specifically for adults where she promotes mental health and wellness for parents.

Ms. Rachel's multi-pronged approach to engaging adults and children has proven to be a massive success. It doesn't take long to find testimonials from hundreds of parents who attest to Ms. Rachel's effectiveness in teaching young children their first words.

So what's next for the educational content maestro? Recently, Ms. Rachel made the decision to take a step back (albeit briefly) from social media. This appears to have been due to hate mail she received for featuring Jules Hoffman in her videos. Jules goes by they/them pronouns, which conservative audiences took umbrage to. Luckily, Ms. Rachel has returned, along with Jules, to defy online naysayers and continue doing what she does best, educate kids. It appears she's onto a winning formula.

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