Nicole Lilly Christou (born 22 July 2004; known professionally as Nikki Lilly) is a British charity campaigner,

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

, author and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

. Christou was awarded the

International Emmy Kids Awards The International Emmy Kids Awards, founded in New York City in 2013, recognize excellence in international children's programming produced initially outside the United States, and are presented annually by International Academy of Television Art ...

in 2019, for her episode of the

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

series ''My Life'', ''Nikki Lilly Meets'', ''Nikki Lilly Bakes'' and has appeared in Celebrity Supply Teacher doing a lesson on vlogging. and is the youngest ever recipient of the BAFTA Special Award. In 2016, Christou received the Child of Courage award at the

Pride of Britain Awards The Pride of Britain Awards is an annual award ceremony which has taken place in the United Kingdom since May 1999 and first televised on ITV in April 2000. The awards honour British people who have acted bravely or extraordinarily in challen ...

Early life

At age six, Christou was first diagnosed with

arteriovenous malformation Arteriovenous malformation is an abnormal connection between arteries and veins, bypassing the capillary system. This vascular anomaly is widely known because of its occurrence in the central nervous system (usually cerebral AVM), but can app ...

(AVM), a rare medical condition that has required treatment with numerous operations, and which has visibly changed her physical appearance. She missed 4 months of primary school and went to The United States multiple times for treatment. Christou first became known for her

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

videos, which she started making at the age of eight, to share her experiences of living with a 'visible difference'. Her YouTube channel covers topics including living with a chronic illness, bullying, mental health, baking and beauty.

Television work

Christou has been the subject of two episodes of the CBBC documentary series ''My Life'': ''Born to Vlog'', and ''I Will Survive''. In 2016, Christou won the

fourth series Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

of the ''

Junior Bake Off ''Junior Bake Off'' is a British television baking competition in which young bakers aged 9 to 15 tackle a series of challenges involving baking cakes, biscuits, bread, and pastries, competing to be crowned ''Junior Bake Off'' Champion. The se ...

'' competition, and in 2018 Christou started presenting the CBBC show ''Nikki Lilly Meets…'', in which she interviews politicians and celebrities including tennis player

Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray ...

and former Prime Minister

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

The Butterfly AVM Charity

Christou and her parents set up The Butterfly AVM Charity to raise awareness of AVM, raise funds for research into the condition, and to support sufferers and their families.

Book

In October 2020, Christou's book, ''Nikki Lilly's Come on Life: The Highs and Lows on How to Live Your Best Teen Life'', was published by

Walker Books Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase. In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lilly, Nikki Living people 2004 births British people of Greek descent British YouTubers British television presenters International Emmy Award winners British Academy of Film and Television Arts winners