“it’s been awesome to just watch her grow throughout this process.”

We got the chance to sit down and talk to Javoris Hollingsworth, 1/2 of the Gracies Corner duo. Gracie’s Corner is a beloved YouTube animated sing-along series featuring an adolescent Black girl named Gracie, singing and dancing to fun tunes on topics ranging from the ABCs to loving one’s hair. The series was created by father and daughter duo, Dr. Javoris Hollingsworth and Graceyn Hollingsworth in hopes to create a space for Black creators to be seen on and off the screen. Dr. Arlene Hollingsworth utilizes her psychology background to formulate strategies that aid in the development and education of children.

Javoris is a former chemistry professor from the University of St. Thomas (UST) in Houston, TX. Prior to teaching at UST, he taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Florida A&M University. Before beginning his career in higher education, he was a musician, playing the piano and drums at local churches in Georgia. Javoris is now the creator, songwriter, and executive producer for Gracie’s Corner. His passion involves promoting diversity in science and contributing to the academic development of underserved groups in early education.

Check out our interview below to learn more about how Javoris has embraced the journey of Fatherhood while building a YouTube channel with his beautiful daughter.

Can you describe what life has been like for you while building the brand and as a Father from 2020 to now?

Man, it has changed drastically. In 2020, I was a college professor teaching organic chemistry at the University of St. Thomas. And at that same time, during the pandemic, the kids had to learn from home. I’m trying to teach from home. And occasionally, YouTube had to be one of those extra resources to help with keeping the kids occupied.

But even during that time, seeing a lot of what they were watching, and it really stood out like, man, that representation where there’s children of color that they can see and see themselves, it really wasn’t there. So just creating the channel so that we could create something that our children can see and be proud of and see that representation, it was important. But from there, it was just kind of like this seat where we saw like there was a need, but then it just began to gain traction. And honestly, it was a labor of love for like up until a year or so ago. And we had that viral moment where things really took off. And then that’s where I had to make a decision like, okay, managing this channel is getting crazy. So I can either focus on doing this or like something had to give because I couldn’t grade grade exams and read emails and like the whole nine with the professor stuff. And so, yeah, I decided to go this route and do YouTube full time as far as like creating content. And yeah, we are where we are now. But yeah, it’s been a crazy journey from that point where it was only like family members watching. So like now it’s like a global sensation where people are really tapping in.

For the past 3 years, you’ve been able to work with your daughter, but then also have to be her Father. I’m really interested to see what that balance is like, are you able to flip the switch and go from work to being a Dad? How is that dynamic?

I’m going to be honest, it’s tough sometimes because you know where you want her. I know where I want her to be. As far as she’s already told me what her goals are in life, I’m like, OK, if this is what you want to get to, you have to do x, y, z. But at the same time, remembering, like, hey, this is a little kid. There’s been other parents out there who have done similar stuff. And they lose sight of the fact that this is a little child that you’re dealing with, especially your own child. And they get so caught up into trying to make sure that their kid make the point to point B that you kind of lose sight of the child’s feelings and are they happy and things like that. So I’m always constantly having to make sure I’m, and then my wife too, she had, sometimes she may say, hey, make sure you’re not coming down hard on her or just make sure that she’s happy. So yeah, it’s a big thing because me, on the music side, like I’m writing the songs and all that fun stuff, but making sure that she’s okay and comfortable the whole time. So that’s probably been the biggest challenge because she knows what strains to pull as far as like, she can pretty much break me as far as like, maybe we should do this or maybe we should do that. Because she, as far as the creative that we have going on, she likes to have a voice too. I try not to stifle her and make sure that she, I don’t know, I love it that she can be part of the process. But yeah, just maintaining the dad head. That’s like the main thing I want to try to keep on the whole time, but at the same time, making sure that she is OK with getting from point A to point B as far as her career goals. Because she told me she want to become an actress. And even with doing what she’s doing now, this would be a perfect segue. But at the same time, make sure that I keep sight of her well-being.

What are you most proud of in terms of what you’ve seen in the growth of your daughter throughout the journey of building Gracies Corner?

It’s been crazy. As we watch the channel grow, and she’s been growing along with the channel, I can see that her self-confidence, that’s grown tremendously since we first started. At a very early on, you can see she was very uncertain about herself. And even early on, too, we were dealing with different things like bullying and stuff like that she was encountering at school. And just to kind of see her just growing herself to where these little things that normally used to bother her, now she almost like she’s brushed off her shoulders. And she does stuff now too that, like we had a million subscriber celebration last year. Like to see her up on a stage and performing in front of tons of people, like that’s something, like early on, first of all, that’s something she never would have done. But just to see this, it’s self-confident in me, because I feel like beyond just this Gracie’s Corner stuff, this is something that she can carry on with her throughout life, that confidence to be able to be in a room with strangers and still feel comfortable and confident. So yeah, it’s been awesome to just watch her grow throughout this process.

What are you most proud of in yourself as a Father during the Gracies Corner journey?

The thing I’m most proud of is how I’ve been able to use this to actually even become more closer to my family. I know it sounds weird, but when I was a professor, like, if you allow it, those type of roles can really, it can consume you. Meaning like between the work on campus, a lot of stuff carries over to at home where you’re writing exams, you’re grading exams, you’re checking emails, you’re doing letters of recommendation. It’s like, it’s a lot. But now, now that I’m completely independent and just overseeing like the greatest part of stuff. Now, like if my kid has an event that’s going on, okay, we’re going to close this off and I can go do that. So yeah, just having that ability to just be more present, I think that’s probably the most, the thing that I love the most and most proud of with everything that we’ve done. So, but outside of that, just to see the impact that the channel’s having across the community, man, that’s another thing that I’m proud of too, because it was, when we initially started, it was just, again, that necessity of saying like, man, we really need to have more stuff out there that our children can see themselves in. But to see moms and dads like jamming to our stuff, man, viewing it along with their kids. Because normally, you know, with Cheerleader’s content, you turn it on and go, I don’t know, iron your clothes or cook or something, do something else. But like having this content that’s actually creating this co-viewing experience where moms and dads and the children, even grandparents can all enjoy it together and is educational to like to see that man. That’s something that I never would have imagined. I’m extremely proud of it too.

In a sense, Gracie’s the star of the show, but in the household, what’s it like also having two additional children who aren’t involved in the show?

So far, it’s been okay. In the series, there’s a little baby. So the name of the baby is Cece. So it’s based on my second kid, who is Celine. But when we started the channel, my son, he just turned four yesterday, actually. No, the day before yesterday. He wasn’t featured in it. So from time to time, if a Gracie’s Corner series or something is showing, he’ll be the one that pointed out to me like, hey, where am I? You know what I mean?

Yeah, so he’s the one that I got to, and I got some ideas as far as like potential spinoffs that we can create that will have that figure in there for him, but yeah, it’s been interesting. Outside of that, everyone’s been at peace with each other. Grace, her being that older sister, she’s been really graceful about the whole thing. She doesn’t go around the house with this superstar type mentality. In fact, a lot of times she seems almost clueless about the impact and success of the channel. We just finished a project with Snoop Dogg, and even when we had the whole imitation of the whole audio come together, and I’m like, hey, you’re going to be on a song with Snoop, and she was like, oh, okay lol.

Any advice for other parents on how to hone into their children’s creativity without stifling them, but then also giving them the opportunity to explore?

I think a lot of it is just paying close attention to what your child is passionate about. Like Grayson, she really do love to sing. Like, she’s probably somewhere right now just humming and singing on her own. But to your example, too, like, let’s say your kid’s interested in playing video games. I know it may come across like it’s this unhealthy thing, but I’ve seen people on YouTube, Twitch, and all these other platforms who literally play video games. And these guys are making like bank like I wish I could could could be on a video game and then and whatever commentary to it and then because people people will tune in to watch other people play games now like it is is mind-blowing what’s possible so yeah like just find out you know if it’s gaming or if it’s singing if it’s whatever like find out what they’re happy doing and passionate about. And then sometimes too, sometimes you have to try to expose them to different things that are out there just to see like, hey, you know, you want to try baseball, you want to try this, you want to try that. And then they can kind of decide themselves like, oh, you know, I actually didn’t quite, I’m not feeling this, I don’t like that. And just being open to listening and hearing them out. And then once they identify that thing, then try to make sure that they got the necessary tools to just excel at it. So that’s been our thing.

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