Ms. Rachel

Rachel Griffin Accurso (née Griffin), better known as Ms. Rachel, is an American YouTuber, social media personality, songwriter, and educator. She is best known for creating the YouTube series Songs for Littles, a children's music series focused on language development for toddlers and infants.

Life and career

Early life

Accurso was born in Biddeford, Maine and raised in Sanford, Maine. She attended Sanford High School, where she did theatre, and the University of Southern Maine. She earned a master's degree in music education from New York University in 2016 and worked as a music teacher at a public preschool in New York City before starting her YouTube channel. As of 2023, she is pursuing a second master's degree in early childhood education.

Internet career

Accurso started her YouTube channel in 2019 under the name Ms. Rachel with her husband, Broadway music director and composer Aron Accurso; they created the channel in response to the lack of media resources for her son who had a speech delay and did not say his first word until he was two years old. She created Songs for Littles, a children's music YouTube series made up of a combination of classic children's songs, such as nursery rhymes, and original music for toddlers and infants. It was originally started as an in-person class led by Accurso and was inspired by the techniques of her son's early childhood intervention speech therapist with a focus on language development milestones and inclusive subject matter. The channel became especially popular starting in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and has over nine million subscribers as of 2024.

Songs for Littles features Accurso as the star, with her signature outfit of a pink shirt with overalls and a headband, alongside diverse cast and crew members including actress and teacher Keisha Gilles, diversity and inclusion consultant Alexa Smith, speech therapist Frida Matute, animator and editor Beth Jean, singer-songwriter Jules Hoffman, actress Natalie Kaye Clater, and Accurso's husband Aron, the last of whom writes and arranges music for the series and operates two puppet characters named Georgie and Herbie. Accurso also became popular on TikTok as Ms. Rachel, where she had over two and a half million followers by March 2023. Accurso took a break from TikTok in February 2023, citing her mental health. The break was assumed by fans to be in response to backlash from some parents on the platform against Accurso's co-star Jules Hoffman for using they/them pronouns. However, some argue that Accurso's inclusion on the show brought positive representation for children. That same month, Accurso returned to TikTok while she and Songs for Littles were signed to Creative Artists Agency. In June 2024, Accurso received backlash and a boycott campaign from conservatives after she posted a video on TikTok wishing viewers a happy Pride Month.

Fundraising

Accurso announced a fundraising campaign in a video published on May 12, 2024 to her TikTok and Instagram accounts. She offered to make videos on a Cameo, a website that allows users to pay for a personalized video with a message of their choice. Accurso stated that all revenue from the videos will go to Save the Children's emergency fund, mentioning the Gaza Strip, Sudan, Ukraine, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In a couple of hours, she had raised over $50,000 from 500 Cameo requests, which she later paused to record the requested videos. Accurso has stated that she has been bullied online for the matter, stating that she cares "deeply for all children". She has since disabled comments on her YouTube and Instagram accounts.

Notes

References

1. Nickmercs
2. Kai Cenat
3. Valkyrae
4. Ryan Garcia
5. Fanum (streamer)
6. Rachel (given name)
7. Nick DiGiovanni
8. Ryan Trahan
9. IShowSpeed
10. Rebecca Zamolo
11. Ryan's World
12. Liza Koshy
13. Call Her Daddy
14. JoJo Siwa
15. Rachel McAdams
16. Addison Rae
17. MS-13
18. Biddeford, Maine
19. Mark Rober
20. Brandon Rogers (YouTuber)