Anna Akana, YouTube sensation with over 1.7 million subscribers, is most well known for her dark and quirky humor, sarcasm, and refreshing honesty. She discusses real life issues that everyone can relate to using comedy, but not a lot of people know that Akana was inspired to pursue entertainment after her little sister committed suicide in 2007. She uses this life changing event to discuss mental health and suicide prevention through comedy sketches and sharing her journey, but is also open about other social issues or topics considered taboo:
1. Racial stereotyping
Akana shares her stories as a multiethnic Asian American woman and how her identity ultimately shaped her life experiences.
2. Adulthood
Being an adult, as expected, isn’t easy. She talks about bits of her life at work, home, and her general social interactions and obstacles in a light hearted manner, making adulthood relatable, encouraging, and reassuring.
3. Feminism
She discusses sexism, gender roles, masculinity, relationships, and her sex life. She encourages all of her viewers to be who they want despite social standards and shows women that there is no cookie cutter mold to what it means to be a feminist.
4. Mental health
Akana openly talks about her struggles with her chronic depression and normalizes mental health. She is also a huge advocate in suicide prevention and has some serious videos regarding mental health and how to cope with it.
5. Empowerment
She encourages people to take risks in life and emphasized the importance of self care and confidence. She understands that it’s hard and shares her personal experiences to let her audience know that it’s okay to be afraid or insecure. She also shows that it’s possible to move past these fears.
Image from YouTube.