I found my voice: Dubai's 'change ambassador'

Popular video-sharing platform YouTube has appointed Dubai-based Hayla Ghazal as one of its first change ambassadors to “champion and empower women on YouTube through a new United Nations partnership.”

“I found my voice on YouTube through sharing my videos about lifestyle and entertainment and over the years I’ve built a family of fans that I can connect with on what's happening in culture and the issues that are relevant to me as a woman,” says Ghazal.

Ahead of International Women’s Day (March 8), YouTube says it is championing the diverse community of women on the platform through a new year-long partnership with the United Nations to appoint top YouTube female creators as the first Change Ambassadors to the UN’s Sustainable development action campaign.

The first group of YouTube’s Change Ambassadors features prominent international female YouTube stars, including Hayla Ghazal (UAE), Ingrid Nilsen (US), Jackie Aina (US), Yuya (Mexico), Taty Ferreira (Brazil),  Louise Pentland (UK) and Chika Yoshida (Japan).

The Change Ambassadors will serve as positive role models within their communities and rally audiences on YouTube by creating video content that raises awareness to eliminate discrimination against women and girls, it said.

“YouTube has always been a platform where women of all ages and backgrounds can find their voice and tell their stories. Through this new partnership with the UN, we’ll strengthen female voices on YouTube and around the world,” said Susan Wojcicki, CEO, YouTube.

“It’s wonderful to see that organisations like the UN are recognising that women on YouTube represent a powerful community of female role models from diverse communities around the world,” said Hayla Ghazal, a Dubai-based YouTuber from Syria.

This first-of-its-kind partnership with the UN appointed top female creators on the platform as Change Ambassadors, a group of millennial influencers dedicated to fighting for gender equality as part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. These women will be the voice of their generation into the UN, rallying their audiences to get behind important issues surrounding gender equality.

“193 countries around the world stood up and made gender equality a priority when they signed the Sustainable Development Agenda last September. To help champion these goals, the UN SDG Action Campaign is excited to work with YouTube to bring together these seven female YouTube influencers as new Change Ambassadors. We hope to work with these millennial role models to turn influence into action that is both measurable and building capacity at the UN,” said Mitchell Toomey, Director of UN Sustainable Development Goals Action Campaign.

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