Two people, one headband

Rachel Accurso is a 43-year-old mother of two. Ms. Rachel is a trusted face to 20 million subscribers. The gap between them is where her whole story lives.

The empire she built

A Netflix deal, a Sesame Street collaboration, toys at Target and Walmart, book tie-ins, and a debut album, I'm So Happy, out Sept. 25.

It started as homework

She launched Songs for Littles in 2019 with her husband Aron, a Broadway composer who worked on Billy Elliot and Aladdin. Videos run 30 minutes to two hours on topics like hide and seek.

Silly songs, real science

Her master's in early-childhood education shows. "The Mama Song" uses exaggerated mouth movements so babies mimic them. "Hop Little Bunnies" teaches kids to follow stop, jump, and skip.

A son who couldn't speak

After Thomas was diagnosed with a severe speech delay at one, therapy cost $175 per 45-minute session. She noticed he learned more from watching lessons on video.

The birthday present

She asked Aron to film his own mouth saying "cheese" and "baby" because she felt self-conscious about her teeth. That request became the first Ms. Rachel video.

“I want your mouth on a video camera to say cheese or baby.”

Books as a tripod

Early videos were stacked books holding a camera, a static underwater background, and a brassy voice with no real microphone. Sometimes the mic wasn't plugged in and she cried.

“I didn't care if it was crooked.”

The pandemic made her

With toddler classes and mommy-and-me events shut down, parents had nowhere to turn. The channel hit a million subscribers while families were locked in their homes.

Invisible in the park

Preschoolers walk right past her. Without the headband, only grown-ups clock her, usually by voice or by her Mister Rogers socks and Sesame Street shirts.

“None of them seem to know I'm Ms. Rachel, which is totally great.”

Pain she can feel

She describes an overdeveloped sense of empathy and says she feels physical pain when others hurt. It is the trait that organizes everything else about her.

The rainbow onesie

In late 2023 she saw Palestinian kids watching her show in refugee camps. Then a starving baby in Gaza wearing a onesie like her daughter's. She gave the outfit away.

“With Gaza, I couldn't not speak out.”

She was never apolitical

She shared Antiracist Baby in 2020, celebrated Pride in 2024, attacked Eric Adams over childcare cuts, and fundraised for Sudan and Ukraine. Gaza was the post that broke things open.

Named an antisemite

StopAntisemitism nominated her for "Anti-Semite of the Year" and asked the DOJ to investigate whether Hamas funded her. She says she only shared UN figures.

“I have to realize that people who believe the U.N. is fake, that's not people I can engage with.”

The accidental like

In January she liked a comment reading "Free America From the Jews," then apologized in a tearful video, saying she meant to delete it and hit the wrong button.

“I'm a human who makes mistakes.”

Doors closed to a child

She filmed "Hop Little Bunnies" with Rahaf, a three-year-old who lost both legs in an Israeli airstrike. Multiple businesses refused to rent her a playroom, citing threats.

“I finally found a place that would let us come. She had the best time.”

Don't do anything predictable

Death threats brought security guards and a rule against routine. Her husband Aron copes by filing the rest under noise while staying proud of the work.

“You're gonna lose this partnership. You're gonna lose views. That doesn't faze me because the kids gave me the platform.”

Peers who stood with her

Raffi, of "Baby Beluga" fame, calls her courage exemplary and says embracing Palestinian kids is exactly what Fred Rogers, her self-declared hero, would have done.

“Her embrace of Palestinian kids is what Fred Rogers would have done.”

The wattage turned down

Weeks later at the studio she is smiling but drawn, running on no sleep after posting about a UN inquiry. She is taking nine days off, her first real break since her daughter was born.

“How can you go to sleep at night knowing you didn't say anything?”

Forty musicians for toddlers

Aron spent over a year recording I'm So Happy in New York and Nashville with live players, conducting strings himself on "I Love a Rainbow." No shortcuts, no recycled YouTube mixes.

“Kids deserve detailed, rich music.”

I hurt, too

In second grade, Madeline gave her real stomach pain and a trip to the hospital. Doctors said it was in her head. She has spent her life assuming everyone else feels it too.

“But it hurts. I hurt, too.”