'Gracie’s Corner' Creator Discusses the Impact of the Educational Show, Plans for the Future

Since its debut in June 2020, the YouTube-based animated educational channel Gracie’s Corner has amassed nearly 4 million subscribers. The channel educates children through nursery rhymes and music-based videos featuring Gracie, a young Black girl. The series was created by Dr. Javoris Hollingsworth, his wife, and his oldest daughter Graceyn, known as “Gracie”’ after whom the series is named.

Dr. Hollingsworth was inspired to develop the series shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic began. He explained, “We were all isolated and we had to depend on things such as social media and YouTube to help entertain our kids while we were having meetings and teaching classes. [It] dawned on us there wasn't that much content out there that starred children of color. We feel like representation is important because everyone deserves to realize that they belong to [the] picture that we call society.”

Dr. Hollingsworth emphasized the unique appeal of Gracie’s Corner, making it relatable and enjoyable not just for children but also for their parents. He explained, “The way we're packaging [the show] is palatable for the kids as well as the parents because if you look at traditional nursery rhymes after a while, you may want to pull your hair out, but the way we're doing it parents tend to find themselves bobbing to the music while the kids are also enjoying it.”

Before creating Gracie’s Corner, Dr. Hollingsworth had a substantial background in education as a professor. He credits The Bill Gates Scholarship with setting him on the path to success. “Once I received that scholarship, I was sure that I wanted to go off to college and I decided to pursue chemistry, which was under the STEM umbrella. So I thought that was cool because with that type of education, you can potentially create something that could help save the world whether it be developing a cancer treatment or something that helps diabetes. You name it using that type of science,” Dr. Hollingsworth said. He went on to teach at Florida A&M University and the University of St. Thomas. However, Dr. Hollingsworth’s educational background isn’t the only influence on Gracie’s Corner; he also brought his experience as a church musician to the project.

In discussing how music helps learning, Dr. Hollingsworth said, “I don't know if sometimes if it's the repetition of it, or if it's the beat that gets people kind of caught to it. But I think some people have a tool where you have this catchy tune, [with] written instruction, somehow it gets ingrained. I'm always blown away by kids. learning words like ‘quintessential’, which is something that we threw into the ABC song, and learning to count to 50, which is a counting song.” He added, “Some people may learn through repetition, some people may learn through visual aid, and with our content, we're kind of tying a lot of those elements in where you have the visual aspects with the animation.”

Dr. Hollingsworth explained that the animation aspect of the series is completely self-funded and initially, the work was outsourced to a freelance Nigerian animator. Recognizing that one person could not handle everything alone, Dr. Hollingsworth devised a plan to form a team to support the animator. “So what we did was say, ‘Hey, we're going to make you our point person, our head of animation, you hire a team of people to surround you and help with the production so that way it wouldn't be stressful on him. And he could have the support that he needs, and then at the same time we could provide more content for our viewers.” He added, “So now we have an animation studio in Nigeria, which is strictly [producing] Gracie’s’ Corner content, it's been great to kind of see that whole development.” 

It was a learning experience working with the Nigerian animation team Dr. Hollingsworth shares. “While I've been learning from their culture as well, my wife and I visited for the first time last year and it was so cool to see the strong sense of community there and family is highly valued and the food, that was another thing we really enjoy there as well.”

The success of Gracie’s Corner has taken Dr. Hollingsworth and his family to prestigious events such as the NAACP Image Awards and television shows like Great Day Houston. Reflecting on meeting representatives from major media networks at these events, Hollingsworth expressed, “I feel like what we're doing is very purpose-driven, and that's something that gives us great pride with this project. Some of the different companies that are out there that we've been in categories competing against like Cartoon Network and Disney. In fact, we've been up against Disney two years in a row now when it comes to The Proud Family, and that's been an amazing series. It's just cool to kind of connect with these different people because, again, they have a lot of experience in their particular area.”

Despite being around for only four years, Gracie’s Corner has already secured a branding deal with a major retailer, Walmart. “We have a plush Gracie plush doll and Gracie’s Corner learning play mat that's available in over 500 Walmarts in the US. We are working on putting a tour together. We have partnered with a production team to bring that to life. So we're going to bring all of the greatest hits from Gracie’s Corner to have this real-life in person experience for families. So it's gonna be great to see the children as well as their parents come together to just have a fun time with us.” 

Dr. Hollingsworth described his three children as a lot of fun, sharing insights into their involvement in his projects. “It's cool to kind of see their growth and development in this whole process. We have a song that we recently released called the Veggie Dance. At first, it was like my idea, ‘Okay, let's just do the song with Gracie. And I saw my two younger kids, Elliot and Celine, my son and other daughter, were really interested in being a part of the project. So I found a part where they could hop in. So it really did turn out to be like a true family moment that they really enjoy,” Dr. Hollingsworth said.

Dr. Hollingsworth shared his vision for the future of Gracie’s Corner: “I really want to see this become a true global brand. I know right now we have a strong presence in North America, which is great, but there are elements that will really be beneficial to people worldwide. We want to continue to evolve and bring different aspects that people worldwide can connect with,” Dr. Hollingsworth said. “Right now, we have only the short-form version of Gracie's Corner with individual songs, but something else that our family really would like to see happen is the creation of a long-form version of Gracie's Corner, where now you can learn more about Gracie herself, learn about her family, the different dynamic situations that she may be in and how she explores and learns about the world,” he added.