Zoe Elizabeth Sugg (born 28 March 1990) is an English fashion and beauty vlogger, YouTuber, and author. She is best known by her YouTube username Zoella. Her debut novel, Girl Online, was released in November 2014 and broke the record for highest first-week sales of a first-time novelist since Nielsen BookScan began compiling such records in 1998.
Video Zoella
Personal life
Sugg is the older sister of Joe Sugg, who is also a vlogger and internet personality known on YouTube as ThatcherJoe. She grew up in Lacock, Wiltshire, where she attended The Corsham School and Arts College, and currently lives in Brighton, East Sussex. She has been in a relationship with fellow YouTube star Alfie Deyes since early October 2012. The couple's relationship was first revealed to the public in a blog post by Sugg in August 2013.
Maps Zoella
Career
Sugg was working as an apprentice at an interior design company when she created her blog, "Zoella", in February 2009. By the end of the year it had a thousand followers and as of September 2015 it has received over 540 million total visits. The fashion, beauty and lifestyle blog expanded into a YouTube channel in 2009, while Sugg was working for British clothing retailer New Look.
In 2013, Sugg was named as one of the National Citizen Service's ambassadors, helping to promote the newly launched youth service. The following year she was named as the first "Digital Ambassador" for Mind, the mental health charity.
YouTube
Sugg's main channel, Zoella, first named "zoella280390" after her birth date, is mostly fashion, beauty hauls, and "favourites" videos (showing her favourite products of the previous month). Her second channel, MoreZoella, contains mostly vlogs where she shows her viewers what she does in her day. She is a member of the Style Haul network and is represented by Dominic Smales at Gleam Futures. Sugg also appears alongside many other YouTubers on the channel Daily Mix, which is managed by Gleam. Throughout her time on YouTube, Sugg has collaborated with other YouTubers, including: Louise Pentland, Tanya Burr, Alfie Deyes, Tyler Oakley, Miranda Sings, Troye Sivan, Grace Helbig, and many others.
Sugg is influential through social media, being mentioned by The Telegraph as one of "Britain's most influential Tweeters" in 2013. As of May 2018, Sugg's main YouTube channel has over 12 million subscribers and over 1 billion video views, and is the 147th most subscribed channel on the website; her second channel "MoreZoella" has over 4.8 million subscribers and over 727 million video views. She also has over 13.6 million followers on Twitter and over 10.9 million on Instagram.
Published works
Sugg signed a two-book deal with Penguin Books in 2014. The North American publishing rights were purchased by Atria.
Sugg's debut novel, Girl Online, was released on 25 November 2014. The book is aimed at a young adult audience and surrounds a 15-year-old anonymous blogger and what happens when her blog goes viral. While based around similar experiences, Sugg has stated that the book is "in no way autobiographical". The novel achieved "the highest first-week sales for a debut author since records began in 1998," 78,109 copies. As of December 2014 it is also the fastest selling book of the year.
Penguin stated that "Sugg did not write Girl Online on her own", stating that she "has worked with an expert editorial team to help her bring to life her characters and experiences in a heartwarming and compelling story". It has been reported that young-adult novelist Siobhan Curham was a ghostwriter for the novel, although neither Penguin nor Sugg have stated this. Penguin stated that Curham was an "editorial consultant" for the novel.
A sequel, Girl Online: On Tour, was released on 20 October 2015. A third book, Girl Online: Going Solo, was published on 17 November 2016. Sugg's books, alongside those by other YouTubers, were criticised in 2017 for 'not being challenging enough' in a number of UK newspapers.
A non-fiction book, Cordially Invited, will be published by Hodder & Stoughton in October 2018. It will offer advice on entertaining guests at home, and planning celebrations.
Music
Sugg featured on the 2014 single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" as part of the Band Aid 30 charity supergroup, raising money for the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa. The single debuted at No.1 on the UK Official Singles Chart.
Television appearances
In June 2014 Sugg was a guest panellist on the daytime chat show Loose Women. She also appeared on This Morning in July 2014, to talk about social anxiety. Sugg took part in the 2015 comic relief edition of The Great British Bake Off.
Sugg, along with The Slow Mo Guys and Vice News, featured in television, print, and billboard advertisements in the UK which ran from 25 September 2014. The prime time TV adverts were broadcast on the three terrestrial UK channels.
Zoella Beauty
Sugg launched a range of beauty products under the brand name Zoella Beauty in September 2014. The "bath and beauty" range launch was, according to the Metro, the "biggest beauty launch of the year". She launched an edition of the products called "Tutti Fruity" in 2015, as well as a limited Christmas edition. In 2016 she launched an edition called "Sweet Inspirations". In July 2017, the "Jelly & Gelato" range was released.
Sugg Life
In late 2016, Sugg together with her YouTuber brother Joe, released a range of branded merchandise called 'Sugg Life' created in collaboration with The Creator Store, a company owned by Alfie Deyes and Dominic Smales of Gleam Futures. The term 'Sugg Life' is a play on 'Thug life', a phrase popularised by Tupac's 90s hip hop group and more recently an internet meme. The online shop offered a range of products such as hoodies, stickers and phone cases. In August 2017, The Creator Store opened a pop-up shop in Covent Garden which, for ten days, sold limited edition 'Sugg Life X PB' merchandise; a collaboration of Sugg Life and Deyes' 'Pointless Blog' brands. As of May 2018, the Sugg Life online shop is currently inactive and under renovation.
Awards and nominations
Sugg won the 2011 Cosmopolitan Blog Award in the "Best Established Beauty Blog" category and went on to win the "Best Beauty Vlogger" award the following year. She was also awarded the 2013 and 2014 "Best British Vlogger" award at the Radio 1 Teen Awards; the 2014 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for "UK Favourite Vlogger"; and the 2014 Teen Choice Award for "Choice Web Star: Fashion/Beauty".
Sugg was listed as one of The Telegraph's "40 best beauty bloggers" in September 2014, and "Queen of the Haul" by British Vogue in November. Hers was the fourth most popular channel in the UK in 2014. She was included in the 2015 Debrett's 500, listing the most influential people in Britain, under the New Media category. In 2015 she was named as the "Most Inspirational Women of the Decade" in technology by Grazia and she was named the 34th Sexiest Woman in the world by FHM.
Sugg won the "Choice Web Star" award in the 'Fashion/Beauty' category at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards.
Criticism
Vlogging while driving
In December 2014, Sugg was criticised for filming whilst driving her car. A member of the Metropolitan Police said, "She could have killed someone. How can anyone who has their eyes off the road for that amount of time be in complete control of a vehicle?," Sugg's spokesperson stated that "at the time of filming she was in mostly stationary traffic."
Advent calendar
Sugg attracted criticism from some of her followers and in the media during November 2017 after releasing a 12-door £50 Advent calendar; with criticism focusing on the "extortionate" price and alleged poor quality. The calendar contained items such as a small pack of confetti, a packet of seven stickers and cookie cutters. A spokesperson for Sugg responded that "Zoe is incredibly proud of the Christmas collection and excited to see it in store. However, the pricing and in-store promotional strategy of the collection, including the calendar, is at the control of third parties and is not set by Zoe."
Sugg apologised in November 2017 following controversy surrounding posts she had made on social media between 2009 and 2012 mocking gay people and "chavs". Sugg responded on Twitter claiming the posts had been "taken out of context" and writing "I'm sorry if I have offended anyone, that was not my intention."
References
External links
- Official website
- Zoella on IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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