LaToya Forever
LaToya Forever in 2016
Personal information
Born
LaToya Howard

(1987-02-07) February 7, 1987 (age 37)
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada[1]
Spouse
Adam Ali
​
​
(m. 2014; div. 2020)​
Websitelatoyaforever.com
YouTube information
Also known asLaToya Forever
LaToya Ali
Channel
Years active2010–present[2]
Genre(s)Comedy
Video blog
Subscribers1.53 million (LaToya Forever)[3]
820 thousand (Sam and the Fam)[4][5]
(14 January 2024[3][4])
Total views47.7 million (LaToya Forever)[3]
727 thousand (Sam and the Fam)[4][5]
(14 January 2024)
NetworkLaToya Forever
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers
Children3
Last updated: 14 January 2024

LaToya Howard, 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]

Early life

LaToya Howard was born in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough,[1] daughter of professional baseball player Nigel Wilson and Debbie Howard, both of Trinidadian descent.[1][7] Howard has seven younger siblings.[8] 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.[9] While living in the United States Howard'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

Howard 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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[10] In 2012, she was hired to be the Vibe TV host at the American Music Awards.[9] In 2015, she introduced the "LaToya Forever App" to give her fans access to her video content.[12]

YouTube made "LaToya Forever" their official YouTube Correspondent for the 2015 "YouTube FanFest Live" event that was held on May 2, 2015.[13][14] In June 2016, she partnered with Gone Viral TV (GVTV) for a social media seminar.[15][16] She was one of the featured guests at the 7th annual VidCon conference in Anaheim, California.[17] In August 2015, Howard 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.[18] Howard 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.[19] LaToya Howard was invited to the YouTube's Room 301 series by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson for a haunted séance spectacular.[20] 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.[21] Latoya Howard'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,[22] Huffington Post,[23] Elle, and others.[24]

Reality television

LaToya Howard appeared on Season 13 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, as a "Friend of the Housewives".[25] She was initially due to be a full-time housewife for the thirteenth season, but was demoted soon afterwards due to her ex-husband Adam Ali, not wanting to sign off for her kids to be featured on the show.

Writing

Outside of her video work, she produced an e-book titled How to become a YouTube Sensation.[26]

She has written an autobiography titled LaToya's Life: Uncut Mishaps of a YouTube star, published on November 8, 2016.[27]

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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.
  2. ^ Williams, Jasmine (July 29, 2015). "Vlogger LaToya Forever Talks "Not Faking The Funk"". AndPop. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c "LaToya Forever". YouTube. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c "LaToya's Life". YouTube. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  5. ^ a b "About latoyaforever". YouTube.
  6. ^ "YouTuber LaToya Forever Shares Details About Her First Book | Vlog Nation". Vlog Nation. February 6, 2017. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  7. ^ "Marlins make Wilson's dream a reality". Bangor Daily News. Associated Press. November 18, 2011. p. 17. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  8. ^ "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.
  9. ^ a b "About LaToya". Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  10. ^ a b Thomas, Tiffany (May 11, 2016). "The makings of LaToya Forever". New You. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  11. ^ "Top Caribbean YouTubers". Thiscalabash. November 4, 2015. Archived from the original on March 28, 2017. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  12. ^ "LaToya Forever". Google Play. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ Deschamps, Tara (May 2, 2015). "YouTube FanFest attracts a few thousand excited fans at Yonge-Dundas Square". The Toronto Star. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  15. ^ "REV and GVTV partner to bring YouTube star to local social media seminar". Cable Bahamas Ltd. June 30, 2016. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ "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.
  18. ^ "CFC and CBC announce YouTubers selected as inaugural participants of Jumping Screens Comedy Workshop". Canadian Film Centre. August 31, 2015. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  19. ^ Young, Danielle. "12 of the Best and Brightest Black YouTubers at VidCon 2016". The Root. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  20. ^ "YouTube Star LaToya Forever Launches Game In Which You Take Her Daughter To School". Tubefilter. October 12, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  21. ^ "YouTube Star LaToya Forever Launches Game In Which You Take Her Daughter To School – Tubefilter". Tubefilter. October 12, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  22. ^ "This Two-Year-Old YouTuber Made Rihanna's Favorite Fenty Beauty Review". Cosmopolitan. September 21, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  23. ^ "This Toddler Created Rihanna's Favourite Fenty Beauty Review". HuffPost Canada. September 21, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  24. ^ "This Two-Year-Old YouTuber Made Rihanna's Favorite Fenty Beauty Review". ELLE. September 21, 2017. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  25. ^ "Drew Sidora and LaToya Ali Reportedly Join The Real Housewives of Atlanta". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  26. ^ "LaToya Forever reveals secret on how to earn money on YouTube". Family Vloggers. Archived from the original on September 17, 2016. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  27. ^ "LaToya's Life: Uncut Mishaps of a YouTube Star". Amazon. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
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