Safiya Nygaard (born July 16, 1992) is an American

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 ...

. She gained prominence through her work with

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. ...

, creating the series ''LadyLike''. Her video explaining why she left the network went viral. She is now known for her solo YouTube channel, containing content such as her Bad Makeup Science series.

Early life

Nygaard was born in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

to a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

father Niels Nygaard, who is a math professor by profession and an Indian mother Mumtaz. She has an younger brother named Adil Nygaard. She was raised in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

where she attended

Whitney M. Young Magnet High School Whitney M. Young Magnet High School (locally known simply as Whitney Young) is a public magnet high school and middle school located in the Near West Side neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Whitney Young is operated by the Chicago ...

until 2010. Upon graduating from high school, she entered Stanford University where she completed a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in Drama and English.

Career

Nygaard was hired by

in April 2015 and worked as a video producer for BuzzFeed's show

Ladylike ''Ladylike'' is the fourth and final studio album by German pop trio Monrose. It was released by Starwatch Music in association with Cheyenne Records and the Warner Music Group on 11 June 2010 in German-speaking Europe. Conceived during a hiatu ...

. She left BuzzFeed in January 2017. Nygaard explained her reasoning for leaving the company in her popular 2017 video titled "Why I Left BuzzFeed". "Why I Left BuzzFeed" has over 14.9 million views. Nygaard appeared on the 2018 season of ''

Escape the Night ''Escape the Night'' is an American reality television series created, hosted, produced, and owned by Joey Graceffa that was first broadcast on June 22, 2016, on YouTube Premium. The series follows fantasy plots based on horror and murder mys ...

''. She is known for her YouTube series "Bad Beauty Science" in which she has mixed together all of her liquid lipsticks, foundations, eye shadows and highlighters to create "Franken" products. Nygaard is often credited with starting a YouTube trend of mixing large quantities of a single type of beauty product together. She has also made several fashion related videos including wearing strange or novelty clothing items such as clear pants, 9-foot long jeans, and thigh-high

Ugg boots Ugg boots are a unisex style of sheepskin boot originating in Australia. The boots are typically made of twin-faced sheepskin with fleece on the inside, a tanned outer surface and a synthetic sole. The term "ugg boots" originated in Austral ...

. In October 2019, Nygaard released a lipstick collection in collaboration with ColourPop. In 2022, Nygaard signed with the management company, Night.

Personal life

Nygaard is married to YouTube collaborator Tyler Williams. Several YouTubers, including Jenna Mourey (Jenna Marbles),

Shane Dawson Shane Lee Yaw (born July 19, 1988), better known as Shane Dawson, is an American YouTuber, actor, fimmaker, writer, and musician. One of the first people to rise to fame on YouTube, he began making videos in 2008 at the age of 19 and garnered ...

, and Cristine Rotenberg (Simply Nailogical), attended Nygaard and Williams' 2019 wedding. In 2015, Nygaard and Williams adopted a street cat and named him Crusty. He ended up becoming a prominent part of Safiya's channel. Crusty died in late 2021 due to old age. Nygaard uploaded a YouTube video as a tribute to Crusty on April 2, 2022. In 2021, Nygaard and Williams sold their house in

Studio City, Los Angeles Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927 ...

, which they originally purchased in 2019. It was bought by actress

Uzo Aduba Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba (; born February 10, 1981) is an American actress. She gained wide recognition for her role as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren on the Netflix original series '' Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), for which she won an ...

for $3.1 million, turning a $200k profit in under two years of ownership. Nygaard and Williams temporarily moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

in early 2021 before permanently relocating to

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the South ...

that February. Safiya was born a dual national of the United States and Denmark. However, she subsequently lost her Danish nationality due to the 22-year rule.

Filmography

Television

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nygaard, Safiya 1992 births Living people American YouTubers Beauty and makeup YouTubers BuzzFeed people English-language YouTube channels Entertainers from California Entertainers from Illinois Fashion YouTubers People from Chicago People from Santa Clara, California Women video bloggers YouTube channels launched in 2016 American people of Danish descent American people of Indian descent