Kat Blaque is an American YouTuber and LGBT rights activist.
| Kat Blaque | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Born | Lynwood, California, U.S. |
| Education | California Institute of the Arts (BFA) |
| Occupation(s) | Illustrator, writer, YouTube personality, vlogger |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2005 - present[1] |
| Subscribers | 555,000[2] |
| Total views | 44.65 million[2] |
Last updated: October 24, 2024 | |
Early life
editBlaque was born in Lynwood, California and raised in Walnut, California. She is adopted.[3] In middle school, Blaque began to question her gender identity and started to identify as genderqueer.[4] She began identifying as a trans woman in college.[5] Blaque graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 2012 with a BFA in character animation.[6]
Career
editYouTube
editBlaque started video blogging in December 2010. Her YouTube channel Kat Blaque is focused on discussing race, gender, and other social justice issues. Blaque has described herself by saying, "I'm a woman, I'm black, I'm curvy and I'm trans. There are a lot of things that I deal with. When I talk about those things, I am literally talking about my embodiment of these intersections."[7]
In 2017, Blaque started a weekly YouTube series called True Tea where she answers questions that viewers send her about racism, transphobia, black culture and several other topics.[8] Blaque has made guest appearances on several other YouTuber's videos such as the BuzzFeed video about gender pronouns. She has also collaborated with YouTubers such as Franchesca "Chescaleigh" Ramsey[9] and Ari Fitz.[10] The Advocate reports that "Her YouTube videos are shown as educational tools in classrooms".[11]
Illustration
editIn 2015, Blaque also teamed up with fellow artist and YouTuber Franchesca Ramsey to animate Ramsey's story "Sometimes You're A Caterpillar".[12] This short film addresses privilege and has since been shared on several sites, including Everyday Feminism,[13] Upworthy,[14] Mic,[9] and MTV.[15]
Other ventures
editBlaque has contributed to websites such as Everyday Feminism[6][16] and the Huffington Post's Black Voices section.[17] Blaque participated in a panel on writing transgender characters at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con[18] and was the keynote speaker at the University of Toledo's LGBTQA History month celebration.[19]
References
edit- ^ ""At What Point Is 3 Million Gonna Be Success?": The Ever-Evolving, Often Perilous Business of Being a YouTube Star". Vanity Fair. October 7, 2019.
- ^ a b "About Kat Blaque". YouTube.
- ^ Kat Blaque [@kat_blaque] (March 9, 2017). "I was not expecting to have one of these. I was born in Lnywood [sic], but was raised in Walnut, California. I'm adopted https://t.co/nyPwzltfdy" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "About Me". katblaque.com. Archived from the original on June 21, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
- ^ Reese, Ashley (February 12, 2015). "Everything You Wanted To Know About Transgender Girls, Answered By Kat Blaque". Gurl.com. Archived from the original on February 16, 2015. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
- ^ a b "Meet the Team". Everyday Feminism. May 27, 2012. Archived from the original on February 9, 2016.
- ^ Chase, Sidney (August 6, 2015). "Back to Blaque: Meet the Trans YouTube Queen of the Underground". The Huffington Post. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
- ^ Idika, Nicky (January 19, 2016). "YouTubers of Colour: Kat Blaque Is Your Weekly Dose Of Awesome". Pop Buzz. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
- ^ a b Clifton, Derrick (March 26, 2015). "A Snail and a Caterpillar Perfectly Explain How To Deal With Our Own Privileges". Mic. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
- ^ "Ep 40: Spiderman That Pussy ft. Ari Fitz & Kat Blaque". Okay, But What If?. SoundCloud. August 9, 2016. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
- ^ Guerrero, Desiree (May 1, 2017). "After Being Outed, Kat Blaque Became a Role Model for Trans Youth". The Advocate. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
- ^ "Animation". katblaque.com. Archived from the original on June 27, 2016. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
- ^ "This Advice on Dealing with Your Struggles and Privilege is Pretty Much Perfect – And Super Adorable". Everyday Feminism. April 20, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
- ^ Shoaff, Morgan (November 30, 2015). "This adorable cartoon explains privilege in the most nonconfrontational way possible". Upworthy. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
- ^ Speller, Katherine (March 25, 2015). "What Can Two Twerking Bugs Teach Us About Privilege?". MTV. Archived from the original on March 28, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
- ^ "Kat Blaque, Author at Everyday Feminism". Everyday Feminism. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
- ^ "Entries by Kat Blaque". The Huffington Post. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
- ^ Anderson-Minshall, Jacob (July 9, 2015). "Queer Con: The Gayest Things to Do at San Diego's 2015 Comic-Con". The Advocate. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
- ^ Mahaney, Lindsay (October 27, 2015). "Youtube Star to Visit UT Campus for LGBTQA History Month". UT News. The University of Toledo. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
Further reading
edit- Rudnicka-Lavoie, Dani. (2023). Trans vlogs beyond the transition process: transnormativity, visibility and controversy in Kat Blaque's True Tea Videos. Fronteiras ? Estudos Midiáticos. 24. 114-126. doi:10.4013/fem.2022.241.09.