Four years ago, Jeddah-based AlJuhara Sajer launched a channel on YouTube called Jay’s Cherry. She did not expect a huge following, but wanted to offer women practical advice that she felt was hard to come by in her part of Saudi Arabia. A budding entrepreneur, she also wanted to build a platform through which she could one day launch a business.
Over the next three years, 25-year-old Sajer produced about 100 videos — a mix of product reviews, recipes and beauty tips — and built up a following of more than 200,000 subscribers. By 2015, the videos on her channel, now called JaySajer, had had 30 million views.
Yet nobody knew who she was. Like all women in conservative Saudi Arabia, Sajer faced restrictions on her words and actions and opted to keep her identity secret until she had established her channel and garnered a loyal following.
Her father persuaded her to reveal her identity last year. Sajer announced the planned date of her appearance on the channel and started a countdown to create a buzz.
