Pokimane

Pokimane, also known as Imane Anys, is a well-known personality in the world of video games and the Internet. She got her big break streaming video game-related content, most notably in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Fortnite’, gaining a huge fan following in very less time. Widely known as Twitch queen, Pokimane is the most followed female streamer on the purple platform. Along with being most-loved female streamer among gaming community, she is a popular TikToker and YouTuber, with 3 active channels.

Pokimane, also known as Imane Anys, is a well-known personality in the world of video games and the Internet. She got her big break streaming video game-related content, most notably in ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Fortnite’, gaining a huge fan following in very less time. Widely known as Twitch queen, Pokimane is the most followed female streamer on the purple platform. Along with being most-loved female streamer among gaming community, she is a popular TikToker and YouTuber, with 3 active channels.

Early life and family background

Pokimane was born in Morocco, North Africa on May 14, 1996. While Pokimane's dad (whose name is not known) is a businessman, her mom is a homemaker. Pokimane's parents relocated to Quebec, Canada when she was four years old. She grew up with her brother Mo and had a sense of obligation to succeed in their eyes. Eventually, she developed a strong dedication to reliability and academic achievement.

As a child, she learned French, Moroccan Darija and English fluently in the country. Pokimane holds dual citizenship, both Canadian and Moroccan, as a result of her birth in Morocco and subsequent move to Canada during her childhood. Since she comes from a mix of different backgrounds and has a special connection to China. She's a big fan of Asia, and she loves it so much that she's planning to move to Japan soon. While she currently resides in Los Angeles, her parents are in Canada.

Pokimane often acknowledges the curiosity her fans have about her ethnicity and so, she addressed their query via YouTube video titled "Is Pokimane Asian? I take a DNA test!" on her channel. In the video, she addressed questions surrounding her Asian heritage. She loved playing video games when she was a kid, and she got into 'League of Legends' game when she was really young.

Education

Pokimane was raised in St. Catharines, Ontario. She first went to a French Elementary school and later switched to an English High school. Her older brother used to share his old Game Boy, Nintendo DS, and Wii games with her, following which she developed a passion for gaming. During her middle years of school, Pokimane delved into multiplayer online games like MapleStory and Endless Online, emphasizing character customization and social interaction. After finishing schooling, she went to the University of McMaster in Hamilton, Ontario. She pursued Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, but eventually dropped out to fully commit to her streaming career.

Before Fame

After quitting college half way through, Pokimane moved to Los Angeles and began streaming videos of herself playing on Twitch. People liked her videos and started following and subscribing to her channel. This encouraged her to try sharing her content on other social media platforms too.

YouTube career

• In February 2013, Pokimane made her own YouTube channel and started putting up videos there
• Later, she changed the name of her channel to ‘poki ASMR’ and started sharing videos where she posts calming sounds that people like (ASMR videos). The channel has 750K subscribers
• In December 2013, she made a Twitter account and began sharing her thoughts there
• She has more than 4 million followers on Twitter
• In March 2014, Pokimane started another YouTube channel, which eventually became her main channel ‘Pokimane’. On this channel, she shares videos about her life, challenges, video games, and other relatable stuff. Currently, more than 6.4 million people follow her on her channel
• On July 3, 2017, Pokimane co-founded an organization called 'Offline TV,' an online social entertainment group of content creators, who create fun videos on YouTube
• In January 2018, she made another YouTube channel ‘PokimaneToo’ just for her Chinese fans and started putting up memes, videos there. Right now, that channel has 628K subscribers

Twitch

• Pokimane made her Twitch account in June 2013. She started streaming later that same year using a $250 computer she got from a classified website
• This was after she reached Platinum rank in the game ‘League of Legends’
• Pokimane’s videos of playing and talking about ‘League of Legends’ made her super popular on Twitch
• On Twitch, Pokimane streams gameplay while doing commentary on ‘Fortnite’
• She first started streaming ‘Fortnite’ as part of a sponsorship deal
• In 2018, during the E3 event, Epic Games, the creators of ‘Fortnite’, organized a special event called the Pro-Am. This event brought together streamers and famous celebrities to play Fortnite's Battle Royale mode. Pokimane initially teamed up with rapper Desiigner, but he was later replaced by basketball player Josh Hart
• However, by the middle of March 2019, Pokimane reduced the number of ‘Fortnite’ streams. Addressing the issue, she candidly mentioned she needed to take some time off to evaluate what she enjoyed or didn't enjoy about the content she was creating
• Pokimane’s Twitch livestreams are fun and interactive. Her fans describe her personality as relaxed yet enthusiastic, making her a great fit for long streaming sessions
• In addition to playing games, Twitch queen also hosts podcasts and streams moments from real life
• In March 2020, Anys signed a multi-year contract with Twitch, making her exclusively stream on their platform
• In the later part of October 2020, Anys teamed up with U.S. representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, as well as other well-known streamers like Disguised Toast and HasanAbi, for a game of Among Us. This collaboration was part of an initiative to encourage people to vote in the 2020 U.S. presidential election
• In June 2020, Twitch queen joined the fashion brand Cloak, founded by Markiplier and Jacksepticeye, as a partner and creative director
• Moving to October 2021, Anys played a key role in launching a talent management and brand consulting company named RTS. In this endeavor, she assumed the role of Chief Creative Officer
• In February 2022, Pokimane renewed her contract with Twitch by signing a new agreement
• On January 8, 2022, Pokimane’s Twitch account faced a suspension of 48 hours during a streaming session of "Avatar: The Last Airbender." This suspension occurred due to a DMCA claim from Viacom CBS
• The same month, during one of her streams, she experienced a raid from JiDion's viewers. JiDion was later banned for this action, which caught the attention of fellow streamer Ninja. Ninja stated that he would use his connections to help reverse the ban. However, Pokimane criticized Ninja's response, specifically addressing his use of the word "bitches" while discussing the matter

Awards, achievements and trivia

• In 2017, Pokimane got 450,000 new followers on Twitch, making her one of the top 100 most-followed people on the platform
• In 2018, she was nominated for Content Creator of the Year at The Game Awards
• The same year, she was nominated for Live Streamer at the Streamy Awards
• Her success that year earned her the title of Best Twitch Streamer at the Shorty Awards
• She even featured in ‘League of Legends’ trailer where they announced a new game mode
• In July 2018, Twitch chose her as one of 15 ambassadors for their TwitchCon event. They also included her as a partner in their Twitch Creator Camp, which is a series of broadcasts and articles meant to help content creators succeed
• In October 2019, Anys was revealed to be among several internet personalities appearing in Ryan Reynold’s movie "Free Guy," directed by Shawn Levy. The film was eventually released in August 2021
• Her team won 2019 Twitch Rivals LOL Tournament
• In 2022, Pokimane was again nominated for Live Streamer at the Streamy Awards
• In 2021, Pokimane made it to Forbes 30 Under 30 list, specifically in the "Games" category. This acknowledgment highlighted her position as the biggest female streamer on Twitch and one of the creators of OfflineTV
• Pokimane also had a cameo appearance in the music video for Bella Poarch's song "Inferno," which was released in August 2021
• In 2022, she was nominated for Best Valorant Streamer, Live Streamer and received the Legacy Award at the Streamy Awards
• According to Social Blade, which tracks online statistics, Pokimane is ranked as the 9th most followed streamer on Twitch

Streaming name origin

Imane Anys is a huge fan of the popular animated series 'Pokemon'. Her streaming name ‘Pokimane’ is a blend of Pokémon and her own name, Imane. She even created a video to explain the meaning of her pseudonym. Her YouTube videos often feature anime characters and are inspired by anime.

Social Media Following

Pokimane has amassed over 34 million followers across social media platforms. She has 9.4 million followers on Twitch, 6 million on Instagram, 563K on Threads, 1 million on Facebook, 4.2 million on Twitter and 6.8 milion on TikTok and 6.64 million subscribers on YouTube.

Pokimane Net worth 2023

Pokimane's reported net worth as of 2023 is around $25 million US dollars. The streamer and TikToker has had a successful career in the entertainment industry for a long time. She earns money from various sources, including YouTube and Twitch. Pokimane makes an impressive income of more than $4 million USD just from her Twitch account. She makes a substantial yearly income of $5 million USD just from her main YouTube channel.

Brand endorsement

Pokimane has bagged many brand deals from Postmates, NZXT, and CashApp. She also makes money through her social media posts. The highly active Twitch streamer also generates revenue through donations, ads, sponsored deals, and sponsored streams.

Pokimane’s Assets (2023)

Real Estate

Pokimane has 2 properties to her name.

Car Collection

Pokimane owns 4 cars

• Mercedes-Benz G-Class worth $370K
• Audi Q2s valued at $80K
• Jaguar I-Pace worth $150K
• Porsche Cayenne that costs around $260K.

Watch collection

Pokimane loves treating herself to luxury watches. Some of the watches she owns are:

• Louis Vuitton watch that costs around $90K
• Breitling watch valued at $45K
• Bremont watch worth $19K
• Tiffany & Co. watch worth $15K

Business Venture

Offline TV - The online social entertainment group of content creators was founded by William "Scarra" Li and Pokimane was incharge of managing it. She graduated from the organization in May 2023.

Pokimane X Winky Lux Collab - The famed streamer has her own makeup line with Winky Lux. An episode of Amazon’s docu-series explored how Pokimane is trying to expand her brand. Pokimane explained, “I’m taking a really big step with my brand and my community in terms of doing something that a Twitch streamer has never done before, which is have an actual makeup collaboration with a big brand.”

Meta Threads collab - Pokimane has an online store where she sells clothes for men and women at reasonable prices in collaboration with Meta Threads.

Dating life

Pokimane's immense popularity has led to various controversies and rumors surrounding her. Among her devoted fans, one topic that frequently stirs speculation is her romantic life. Pokimane keeps her personal life private, but as per reports, she is currently not in a relationship.

• In 2022, during a livestream, Pokimane gave a glimpse of a man sitting beside her, who purposely stayed out of the camera's view. Although she didn't reveal his identity, fans began speculating that it could be Kevin Kim, a friend who had often appeared in her streams and was rumored to be her boyfriend at the time. When questioned about their relationship status, both Pokimane and Kevin seemed uncomfortable with the intrusion into their private lives by anonymous individuals. Instead of confirming or denying the rumors, they expressed their discomfort with ongoing speculation. The rumors once again surfaced in early 2023, but neither of they confirmed or denied their dating rumors
• In 2020, there were rumors that Pokimane was in a relationship with Fedmyster, an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. However, Pokimane addressed these rumors by accusing Fedmyster of sexual harassment, which he denied. This situation drew significant attention and discussion among her followers and the online community
• The same year, numerous memes circulated around the rumors that Hasan Abi, another Twitch streamer, was dating Twitch queen, however, denied the rumor, calling it ‘gross’
• In 2019, rumors about Twitch queen dating Cameron McKay, widely recognized as Fitz or GoodGuyFitz, spread like a wildfire. Fitz, a Twitch streamer and YouTuber from New Zealand, is renowned for his humorous gameplay videos. In response to speculation about their relationship, Fitz made a joking comment on Twitter, which triggered further discussions and comments speculating about him indeed being in a relationship with the prominent TikToker

Controversies

• Sexual assault allegations - In a conversation with Valorant broadcaster Connor (PROD) in December 2022, Pokimane mentioned that things change after one enters broadcasting industry. She expressed her feelings about the recent debates concerning sexual assault claims, describing them as "tainted." She mentioned that it's become unsettling to express admiration for someone, as the person at the other end of the conversation may mistake the appreciation for something else, leading to troubles
• Hate Spam Incident - Another incident occurred when fellow Twitch streamer and YouTuber JiDion criticized Pokimane. It began with JiDion's fans spamming "L + Ratio" in Pokimane's chat room early in 2022. This led to Pokimane ending her stream. Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins and his wife threatened to sue Pokimane for slander, continuing the drama. Ninja offered to help JiDion by talking to Twitch to reduce his ban. This led to Pokimane criticizing Ninja for supporting JiDion
• Overusing AAVE Language - In August 2021, Twitter users were upset about the titles of Pokimane's Twitch Video on Demand (VOD) videos, where she used language from African American Vernacular English (AAVE), a dialect spoken by people of color in the USA. People criticized her for using this slang in her VOD titles. Pokimane removed the titles and later expressed regret, clarifying that she didn't intend to mock or misuse AAVE language
• Misogynistic Joke - In 2021, a short video of Pokimane jokingly saying "women belong in the kitchen" gained attention. Even though she meant it as a joke, it sparked criticism and accusations of sexism. She later clarified and apologized, explaining that the video was taken out of context and clips were intentionally cut online, making it look intentional

Clout Chasing- In 2020, Pokimane's decision to enter the VTuber (virtual YouTuber) space led to disagreements. Many of her supporters didn't react positively to this move. After a break, following a controversy involving LeafyIsHere, she mentioned that she would start live streamings as a VTuber. Some Twitter users slammed her, suggesting she was trying to cash in on the VTuber trend or attempting to hide her physical appearance