LaToya Forever
LaToya Ali (née Wilson), better known under the name LaToya Forever, is a Canadian YouTube personality and author, best known for her eponymous YouTube channel as well as her video blog channel "LaToya's Life". In 2012, she was the official Vibe TV host at the American Music Awards and in 2015 and 2017 she participated in the Buffer Festival. Her self-named main channel on YouTube has more than 1 million subscribers with more than 125 million views. Her debut book, an autobiography titled "LaToya’s Life: Uncut Mishaps of a YouTube Star", was released on November 8, 2016.[6]
LaToya Forever | ||||||
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LaToya Forever in 2016 | ||||||
Personal information | ||||||
Born | LaToya Wilson February 7, 1987 | |||||
Height | 5'4 | |||||
Spouse(s) | Adam Ali (2014-2020) | |||||
Website | www | |||||
YouTube information | ||||||
Also known as | LaToya Forever | |||||
Channel | ||||||
Years active | 2010–present[2] | |||||
Genre | Comedy Video blog | |||||
Subscribers | 1,473,545 (LaToya Forever)[3] 887,292 (The Ali’s (previously named LaToya's Life))[4] (September 11, 2019[3][4]) | |||||
Total views | 121,433,059 (LaToya Forever)[3] 137,824,509 (LaToya’s Life)[4] (February 11, 2018[5]) | |||||
Network | LaToya Forever | |||||
Catchphrase(s) | "What's up Crazies" And "What's up Huntys and Huncles" | |||||
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Early life
LaToya Ali was born in Scarborough, Ontario,[1] Canada, daughter of professional baseball player Nigel Wilson and Debbie Howard, both are of Trinidadian descent.[1][7] Ali has seven younger siblings.[5] Around the time LaToya was 11–14 years old (middle school age) her family moved to the United States to allow her mother to get a college education.[8] While living in the United States Ali's family would often have to move from place to place, making it difficult to develop any strong friendships while she was growing up. Instead, she turned to creating videos and posting them online as an outlet for her feelings.[1] She would later relocate to Toronto, Ontario.[1]
Online career
Ali first started posting videos in 2009 and in 2010 she began her YouTube channel "LaToya Forever", posting comedy skits and jokes to entertain herself and others.[9] One of her most well-known early videos was titled "Shit Caribbean Moms Say", reflecting on her own mother growing up as well as other mothers from Trinidad.[10] While pregnant with her first child, Samia, she began a video blog, or Vlog of her day creating the channel "LaToya's Life", with "reality show" type content about her and her life.[9] In 2012, she was hired to be the Vibe TV host at the American Music Awards.[8] In 2015, she introduced the "LaToya Forever App" to give her fans access to her video content.[11]
YouTube made "LaToya Forever" their official YouTube Correspondent for the 2015 "YouTube FanFest Live" event that was held on May 2, 2015.[12][13] In June 2016, she partnered with Gone Viral TV (GVTV) for a social media seminar.[14][15] She was one of the featured guests at the 7th annual VidCon conference in Anaheim, California.[16] In August 2015, Ali and her team were one of three teams selected for the Canadian Film Centre and Canadian Broadcast Corporation's "Jumping Screens" Comedy workshop, a workshop intended to help the creators make the jump from online to television. The workshop ran from June through November.[17] Ali was one of the featured creators of the 2015 Buffer Festival, held from October 13 to 15, 2015, in Toronto Canada.[1]
She was named in 2016 VidCon’s list of Best and Brightest Black YouTubers.[18] LaToya Ali was invited to the YouTube’s Room 301 series by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for a haunted seance spectacular.[19] In October 2016, she launched a new endless runner genre mobile game Save Samia, where users race through the grimy streets of Toronto in order to get her daughter Samia to school on time.[20] Latoya Ali's now four year old daughter, Samia Ali, also followed in the footprint of her mother has over 190,000 subscribers on YouTube. She created Rihanna's favourite fenty beauty review, which was shared by the Rihanna on her instagram account and gained attention of media including Cosmopolitan,[21] Huffington Post,[22] Elle and others.[23]
Personal life
LaToya has three children with Adam Ali named Samia, Zayn and Ayah. In 2020 LaToya announced that she and Adam were divorcing after 6 years of marriage.[26]
Bibliography
- Ali, LaToya (November 8, 2016). LaToya's Life: Uncut Mishaps of a YouTube Star. Mango. ISBN 978-1-63353-419-3.
See also
References
- Kwan, Truman (October 23, 2015). "Buffer Festival 2015: Q&A with LaToya Forever". Can Culture. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- Williams, Jasmine (July 29, 2015). "Vlogger LaToya Forever Talks "Not Faking The Funk"". AndPop. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- "LaToya Forever". YouTube. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
- "LaToya's Life". YouTube. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
- "2015 Jumping Screens Comedy Workshop Participant Bios and Social Stats" (PDF). Canadian Film Centre and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. June 5, 2015. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "YouTuber LaToya Forever Shares Details About Her First Book | Vlog Nation". Vlog Nation. February 6, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
- "Marlins make Wilson's dream a reality". Bangor Daily News. Associated Press. November 18, 2011. p. 17. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
- "About LaToya". Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- Thomas, Tiffany (May 11, 2016). "The makings of LaToya Forever". New You. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "Top Caribbean YouTubers". Thiscalabash. November 4, 2015. Archived from the original on March 28, 2017. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "LaToya Forever". Google Play. Google. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- LaToya Forever (April 29, 2015). "Get ready to laugh...get ready to cheer….YouTube FanFest in Toronto is finally here!". Google Official Canada Blog. Google. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- Deschamps, Tara (May 2, 2015). "YouTube FanFest attracts a few thousand excited fans at Yonge-Dundas Square". The Toronto Star. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "REV and GVTV partner to bring YouTube star to local social media seminar". Cable Bahamas Ltd. June 30, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
- Ben, Yvonne (May 11, 2015). "#Event update ECASA announces host for #TheMovement LaToya Forever #Toronto". The Kalaidoscopian. Archived from the original on September 14, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "LaToya Forever Here is where you'll find Latoya Forever at VidCon". VidCon. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "CFC and CBC announce YouTubers selected as inaugural participants of Jumping Screens Comedy Workshop". Canadian Film Centre. August 31, 2015. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- Young, Danielle. "12 of the Best and Brightest Black YouTubers at VidCon 2016". The Root. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
- "YouTube Star LaToya Forever Launches Game In Which You Take Her Daughter To School". Tubefilter. October 12, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
- "YouTube Star LaToya Forever Launches Game In Which You Take Her Daughter To School - Tubefilter". Tubefilter. October 12, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
- "This Two-Year-Old YouTuber Made Rihanna's Favorite Fenty Beauty Review". Cosmopolitan. September 21, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
- "This Toddler Created Rihanna's Favourite Fenty Beauty Review". HuffPost Canada. September 21, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
- "This Two-Year-Old YouTuber Made Rihanna's Favorite Fenty Beauty Review". ELLE. September 21, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
- "LaToya Forever reveals secret on how to earn money on YouTube". Family Vloggers. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- "LaToya's Life: Uncut Mishaps of a YouTube Star". Amazon. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
- https://www.instagram.com/p/CBiiJ9cja0P/?hl=en Instagram. LaToya Forever announces divorce from Adam Ali. June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.