Rachel Anne Accurso (; born November 30, 1982), better known as Ms. Rachel, is an American

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

social media personality A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

, singer, songwriter, and educator. She is best known for creating the YouTube series ''Songs for Littles'', a

children's music Children's music or kids' music is music composed and performed for children. In European-influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has hi ...

series focused on language development for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.

Early and personal life

Accurso was born in

Biddeford, Maine Biddeford ( ) is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddef ...

, and raised in

Sanford, Maine Sanford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,982 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, making it the seventh largest municipality in the state. Situated on the Mousam River, Sanford includes the village ...

. She attended Sanford High School, where she participated in theatre, and the

University of Southern Maine The University of Southern Maine (USM) is a public university with campuses in Gorham and Portland, Maine, United States. It is the southernmost university in the University of Maine System. It was founded as two separate state universities, Go ...

. She earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as primary education, elementary or secondary education, secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a rese ...

from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in 2016 and worked as a music teacher at a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

preschool in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

before starting her YouTube channel. , she is pursuing a second master's degree in

early childhood education Early childhood education (ECE), also known as nursery education, is a branch of Education sciences, education theory that relates to the teaching of children (formally and informally) from birth up to the age of eight. Traditionally, this is ...

. She married

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

music director and composer Aron Accurso in July 2016. On April 8, 2025, Accurso announced that she and her husband had a second child via

surrogacy Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman gets pregnant and gives birth on behalf of another person or couple who will become the child's legal parents after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as infertility, danger ...

Career

Accurso started her YouTube channel in 2019 under the name Ms. Rachel. She and her husband created the channel in response to the lack of media resources for their son who had a

speech delay Speech delay, also known as alalia, refers to a delay in the development or use of the mechanisms that produce speech. Speech – as distinct from language – is the actual process of making sounds, using such organs and structures as the lungs, ...

and did not say his first word until he was two years old. She created ''Songs for Littles'', a

YouTube series made up of a combination of classic

children's song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studie ...

s, such as

nursery rhymes A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fro ...

, and original music for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. 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 Early childhood intervention (ECI) is a support and educational system for very young children (aged birth to six years) who have been victims of, or who are at high risk for child abuse and/or neglect as well as children who have developmental d ...

speech therapist Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

with a focus on

language development Language development in humans is a process which starts early in life. Infants start without knowing a language, yet by 10 months, babies can distinguish speech sounds and engage in babbling. Some research has shown that the earliest learning b ...

milestones and inclusive subject matter. The channel became especially popular starting in 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and has over fifteen million subscribers . ''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 TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

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 nonbinary co-star Jules Hoffman for using ''

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically occu ...

'' pronouns. That same month, Accurso returned to TikTok while she and ''Songs for Littles'' were signed to

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency, LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. With 1,800 employees in March 2016, it is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous client ...

. In June 2024, Accurso received backlash and a boycott campaign from conservatives after she posted a video on

wishing viewers a happy

Pride Month Pride Month, sometimes specified as LGBTQ Pride Month, is a List of month-long observances, month-long observance dedicated to the celebration of LGBTQ pride, commemorating the contributions of lesbian, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender a ...

. A Ms. Rachel toy line was announced in August 2024, which included a Ms. Rachel doll. The popularity of the doll led to knockoffs being sold prompting Accurso to post a guide on how to identify the real doll. Netflix premiered four compilation episodes of ''Ms. Rachel'' on January 27, 2025.

Fundraising and activism

Accurso announced a fundraising campaign in a video published in May 2024 to her

and

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

accounts. She offered to make videos on Cameo, a website that allows users to pay for a personalized video with a message of their choice, with all revenue from the videos going to

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

's emergency fund, mentioning the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. 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 stated that she was bullied online in relation to her fundraising for the children of Gaza, stating that she cares "deeply for all children". She soon disabled comments on her YouTube and Instagram accounts. Accurso has often posted on

about the conditions suffered by children in Gaza due to Israel's bombing and

blockade of the Gaza Strip The restrictions on movement and goods in Gaza imposed by Israel date to the early 1990s. After Hamas took over in 2007, Israel significantly intensified existing movement restrictions and imposed a complete blockade on the movement of good ...

. She has called for an end to the bombing and blockade, and for the delivery of

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and Humanitarian Logistics, logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homelessness, homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. Th ...

to the civilians and children in Gaza who have been forcibly displaced. In a May 2025 interview with

Mehdi Hasan Mehdi Raza Hasan ( ; born July 1979) is a British and American progressive broadcaster, writer, and founder of the media company Zeteo. He presented ''The Mehdi Hasan Show'' on Peacock from October 2020 and on MSNBC from February 2021 until ...

, Accurso reaffirmed her support for the children of Gaza, saying that "It’s sad that people try to make it controversial when you speak out for children that are facing immeasurable suffering."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rachel, Ms 1982 births 21st-century American women educators 21st-century American educators 21st-century American women musicians 21st-century American musicians American anti-war activists American children's musicians American children's rights activists American TikTokers Educators from Maine Educators from New York City Educators from New York (state) Living people Musicians from Maine Musicians from New York (state) People from Biddeford, Maine People from Sanford, Maine Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni University of Southern Maine alumni YouTubers from Maine YouTubers from New York (state)