Sophia Smith Galer

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

(born 1 June 1994) is a British digital journalist, author, and

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 ...

influencer. In 2022, she was named as one of ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' 30 Under 30 for Marketing and Media in Europe, and short-listed on

British Vogue ''British Vogue'' (stylised in all caps) is the British edition of the American Fashion journalism, fashion magazine Vogue (magazine), Vogue. The magazine was launched in 1916 by Condé Nast, linking together fashion and high society.König A ...

's list of Top 25 Most Influential Women in the UK.

Early life and education

Smith Galer was born to an English father and a mother of Italian origin. She grew up singing in

St Peter's Italian Church St Peter's Italian Church is a Roman Catholic basilica-style church located in Saffron Hill on Clerkenwell Road, Holborn, London. It lies just within the boundaries of the London Borough of Camden, but is particularly associated with the Italian ...

in Clerkenwell. She attended

St Albans High School for Girls St Albans High School for Girls is a selective, Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for girls aged 4 – 18 years, which is affiliated to the Church of England and takes girls regardless of their faith or lack of faith. Th ...

, a selective private day school. She went to St Mary's College at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

, from where she graduated with a degree in Spanish and Arabic in 2016, before studying for a Master's in Broadcast Journalism at

City, University of London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" an ...

Career

Smith Galer began her journalism career in May 2017 as a social media producer for BBC.com, and later became a visual journalist covering faith and ethics at

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

. In 2019, she started posting to short-form video-sharing app ''

'', becoming one of the first BBC journalists to do so, despite her employers not agreeing with her posting journalism content. She uses the platform to takes parts in trends, receive and gather news, and post explainer content, covering

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

sexual and reproductive health and rights Sexual and reproductive health and rights or ''SRHR'' is the concept of human rights applied to sexuality and Human reproduction, reproduction. It is the recognition of every person’s right to make fully informed and self-determined decisions ...

, and

digital culture Internet culture refers to culture developed and maintained among frequent and active users of the Internet (also known as netizens) who primarily communicate with one another as members of online communities; that is, a culture whose influence ...

. In March 2021, Smith Galer posted an informative original

sea shanty A sea shanty, shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ...

explaining how a container ship obstructed the Suez Canal, which went viral, amassing one million views in over eight hours. In June 2021, it was announced that she was leaving the BBC. Three months later, she joined VICE World News as a Senior News Reporter. She stayed in the role for two years until her departure in September 2023, becoming a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

journalist. Chris Stokel-Walker of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' named her as one "of the biggest ex-BBC names" on the platform. Matthew Leake from The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism described her as "an authority on how journalists and news organisations can use TikTok to research stories, reach younger audiences and build relationships." Academic research identified Smith Galer's work exhibits intellectual virtues such as autonomy, carefulness, curiosity and thoroughness, and adapts journalistic information to TikTok to appeal to younger generations. In February 2023, Smith Galer joined

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

's Information Futures Lab as one of their inaugural fellows to address information disorders and digital literacy. In 2024, she co-hosted the

podcast Where To Be A Woman with

Scaachi Koul Scaachi Koul (born February 7, 1991) is a Canadian former culture writer at BuzzFeed Canada. She is the author of the book of essays ''One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter'' and was one of the reporters in BuzzFeed's Netflix d ...

, which interrogated "what it really means for women to live their best lives around the world."

Filmography

Television

Books

* ''Losing It: Sex Education for the 21st Century'', 2022.

Awards and recognition

** Voices of Change (2020) – TikTok 100 *

British Journalism Awards British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

** Innovation of the Year (2021) – TikTok Usage *

** 30 Under 30 (2022) – Media and Marketing in Europe *

** One of the UK's Top 25 Most Influential Women (2022)

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith Galer, Sophia 1994 births 21st-century British women journalists Alumni of City, University of London Alumni of St Mary's College, Durham BBC people English people of Italian descent English TikTokers English women journalists Journalists from London Living people Vice Media Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts