Pokimane

Background

Imane Anys, popularly known as Pokimane, has been on Twitch for a long time and has established herself as one of the platform’s most prolific streamers. Pokimane has managed to form a long-lasting community around her because of her skill, witty humor, and charming stories she tells. Pokimane was born on May 14, 1996, in Morocco. Her zodiac sign is Taurus, and she is Moroccan. When she was four, her family moved to Quebec, Canada. Before she became a streamer, Pokimane was already an avid player of “League of Legends” and reached Platinum rank in the game, which convinced her to start, buying her first-ever P.C and creating an account on Twitch in 2013. The following year, Pokimane created a self-titled YouTube channel to share gaming stories and other content. During this time, she also attended McMaster University, pursuing a degree in chemical engineering, but dropped out to dedicate herself to streaming full-time.

Over the years, Pokimane continued to game and gain followers, but her big breakthrough came after years of gaming. In 2017, she gained 450,000 followers, becoming one of the 100 most followed accounts on the platform. The Shorty Awards named her the ‘Best Twitch Streamer of the Year,’ crediting her “League of Legends” gameplay and commentary for her popularity.

As part of a sponsorship, Pokimane began streaming “Fortnite,” and she soon became well-known for playing it as well. She participated in a pro-am event hosted by the “Fortnite” creators at the 2018 E3 trade show, where professional gamers were matched with well-known celebrities to play. Pokimane also began to dabble more on YouTube about this period. She had already established one primary channel a year after she began streaming, offering amusing anecdotes and gaming-related content, but she decided to expand, and over the next several years, she established ‘Pokimane Too,’ ‘Pokimane VODS,’ ‘Poki ASMR,’ and ‘imane.’

She officially partnered with Twitch — the platform recognized her as one of the most popular streamers, and also selected her as one of 15 ambassadors for their 2018 TwitchCon event. The platform also made her part of the “Twitch Creator Camp,” a series of broadcasts and articles on how to become a successful Twitch streamer. In 2020, Pokimane signed a multi-year exclusivity with Twitch and became the platform’s ninth-most followed channel. That same year, she and other famous streamers collaborated with U.S. representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar for an Among Us game as part of the voting initiative for the 2020 Presidential election.

Pokimane and other streamers established Offline T.V. in 2021 as an online social entertainment collective that produces material for a YouTube channel with the same name. She had her film debut that year in “Free Guy,” co-starring with several well-known streamers, and she was also featured on the “Forbes” 30 under 30 lists in the Games category, where it was noted that she was the largest female streamer on Twitch.