Three Malaysian female YouTubers are challenging stereotypes.
YOUTUBE has something for everyone, whether it’s make-up and skin care-related content or sports and gaming videos.
But over the years, female content creators worldwide have been breaking new boundaries, speaking their minds and using their content to make incredible things happen.
YouTube serves as a platform for them to express themselves and give their perspectives on current events and social issues.
At the Generation YouTube (#GenYTMY) meet-and-greet recently, YouTube Malaysia featured three female creators who are breaking stereotypes.
They are multi-talented personality Jenn Chia (SoImJenn), motorsports athlete Leona Chin and fitness icon Linora Low.
These women shared their journey and the obstacles they faced along the way, as well as what’s driving them to continue creating glass ceiling-breaking content.
WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES
Chia says YouTube has opened up a world of possibilities in her career.
The platform helps her to challenge others to be the best versions of themselves through relatable and meaningful exchanges of ideas.
She started her YouTube journey with music before making a name for herself with her comedy skits.
“I’m very close to my subscribers. I consider them friends and read all their comments,” says Chia.
“After my first skit on YouTube, comments flooded my channel. My friends apparently liked to hear me talk ‘crap’ more than my singing and so from there I started to do comedy.
“Feedback from friends told me what they enjoyed watching,” says Chia who now has close to 50,000 subscribers since joining the platform in 2009.
It also led her to realise her dream of opening for musician David Choi, in which she did a skit about the struggles of an indie musician in Malaysia.
YOUTUBE FITNESS
Low started being active on her YouTube channel last year. She used it as a platform to vlog about her fitness journey and even a bikini compeitition!
Although she created her account in 2009 to showcase her acting skills, the channel gradually became more infotainment-focused when she was involved with radio work.
“YouTube has became a sort of an online diary. It is a great way to interact with others. I actually got to speak with people overseas, which I never knew could happen.
“People from other countries approached me at malls, having recognised me from my fitness videos, and told me how they were inspired by the videos. That kept me going,” says Low.
BOOSTING MOTOR SPORTS
For Chin, being in the motorsports industry means getting the opportunity to drive high-quality sports and race cars.
She recalls being invited to Los Angeles, US, to attend a Michelin Tyre Company event where she was given the chance to test-drive premium cars.
Chin’s interest in cars was initially influenced by friends but it was her mother who kickstarted her motorsports career by buying her a sports car when she got her driver’s licence at 18.
“I remember promising my mother to take good care of the car. The fact that she bought it for me shows how much she supports what I’m doing. She has always been my back bone in the industry,” says Chin.
From how-to racing videos to creating her own racing content, Chin has broken down stereotypes about women and professional driving.
“It is rare for women to join the motorsports industry. I wanted to show that female drivers can be just as good as male drivers. That’s why I started the channel,” she says.
Since joining YouTube in 2011, Chin has garnered over 30,000 subscribers who enjoy her car escapades and fun vlogs of her travels around the world.
DRIVE FOR SUCCESS
Chin says her career would not have taken off if it weren’t for YouTube.
“I learnt how to drift after watching several videos on the platform to get the basics. Slowly, with the help of friends, I started getting better at it,” she says.
The lack of female presence in the local motorsports scene has also driven Chin to start her own YouTube channel.
“Whenever I try to search for women motorsports videos, they are always from overseas, mostly from Japan and England.
“There are only a few in Malaysia, so I take that as a motivation for me to upload more.
“Given YouTube’s wide reach, I decided to create my own brand on the platform to inspire women to get behind the wheel,” says Chin.
FITSPO FOR WOMEN
Yes, there’s a lot of Fitspo (fitness posts) sharing on social media, but Low wonders if all of them are true and good for women. After all, Fitspo refers to images and words that women post with the intention of inspiring themselves and others to live a fit and active life.
“I don’t think there are enough people who share about health and wellness for women, especially in Malaysia. I wanted to show them that lifting weights is not going to make them bulky and muscular.
“The thing is, they are not aware of what happens to their bodies when they start strength training.
“Fitness is so much more than just working out. There are things that need to be taken into account such as liver health, gut health, sleep and stress which shows how well your body is functioning,” says Low, whose videos also include healthy recipes and fitness talks.
For Chia, seeing other female creators on social media mostly doing beauty contents made her realise she can never be the same.
“Getting people to laugh brings meaning to my work. I know I am on the right path when friends keep telling me to do more,” she says.
She says YouTube is her choice platform because it is freely available to everyone and allows one to connect with the whole world.
“By sharing thoughts, ideas or stories, YouTube connects me with others who either feel the same or have different worldviews that will enrich mine.”
CHALLENGES IN INDUSTRY
Being a woman, girl, Chin says she always gets bullied by male drivers on the track.
“Because motorsports is expensive, I always try to avoid getting hit by aggressive male drivers on the track. In fact, I try to be as aggressive as them,” says Chin who hopes to one day race in GT.
Low says she finds it difficult to create content that is beneficial to people.
“Producing a video is one thing, making sure it has meaning is another. You don’t know who you’re going to inspire with that video,” says Low who is in the midst of preparing for her next competition in California later this year.
Being consistent is the biggest challenge for Chia.
“It’s not about quantity. I need to make sure my videos make sense, are of value, and of a certain standard.
“It’s always a struggle because I am very particular about how I want my videos to be.”
Chia recalls a bad experience she had with a client two years ago where she was forced to talk about a product she didn’t like.
“I eventually said no to that project and as a result, they cut my budget. I couldn’t sleep after that and even became depressed.
Moving forward, Chia has recently released an original song and hopes to also do more music-related content in the near future.
Her ultimate dream is to create and direct her own Malaysian comedy sitcom.