Ms. Rachel Answers The Web's Most Searched Questions

Hi, I'm Ms. Rachel,

and this is the Wired Autocomplete Interview.

[bright music]

So excited!

So what do I do?

[bright music]

Was Ms. Rachel a teacher? Yes!

I have worked with kids since I was 18

in different settings.

I have known since I was a kid

that I wanted to work with kids.

I would tell my mom that I wanted to help kids

when I was a kid, and she'd be like, You're a kid,

and I'd be like, Yes. I wanna help kids.

My teachers used to be like,

Rachel loves helping other kids.

She befriends kids that maybe other kids won't play with.

And I used to look out the window on car drives

'cause we didn't have any stimulation back then

and we had to just think about things

and I would imagine myself helping kids,

which is really sweet that, I feel like it's a calling.

When I was at NYU and I was getting masters in music,

we all went around and said what age we wanted to work with

and they skipped me and I was like, I didn't get a turn,

and they were like, You're gonna work with little kids.

I was like, Okay, I guess I just have that vibe.

[Rachel laughs]

Might've been the full musical I created

to teach a concept to kids.

Might have been the puppets. [laughs]

Was Ms. Rachel a singer?

I've always sung.

When I was little, I was Annie in Annie

and that was a dream come true.

♪ The sun will come out tomorrow ♪

I love to sing.

When I was little,

I loved making up songs in my backyard, like

♪ Look at that bird ♪

So I always thought everyone made up songs all the time

in their head.

Then when I was a teenager,

I got really interested in songwriting.

I didn't like performing as a singer-songwriter.

I really liked the creative process,

but not being onstage as a singer-songwriter

and I think sometimes women are like,

Oh, I love to sing, I, in my generation,

maybe I'm supposed to be onstage and that, like,

we didn't see ourselves behind the scenes much

as composers and things like that, so

it took me a while to realize

I wanted to be kind of behind the scenes writing songs

and then actually, I love performing kids songs

on stage with kids because

I think I'm more meant to do that,

so I do love doing that,

and so all my friends are like,

Rachel, you've always loved children's media so much

and talked about Mr. Rogers all the time

and, like, wore Sesame Street clothes.

This makes so much sense

that you went into children's media.

And I was like, Oh. Yeah.

So that's good. Okay.

Was Ms. Rachel nominated for an Emmy?

So, we were nominated for Best Show

and Sesame Street won, and we love Sesame Street.

It is the best show, so...

We were happy as clams in the audience for Sesame Street.

We were just honored to be nominated,

especially as an independent YouTube show,

to be nominated with Sesame Street

and all these really, really awesome shows

that have so much beautiful research behind them.

We were like, Wow, this is amazing.

Also, we don't do it for awards

because honestly, that doesn't matter to us.

We do it because we wanna help kids and 'cause we love it.

And I think we were nominated for Best Writing

for the potty episode, and that meant so much to us

because we took so long to research

about how to best help parents with potty training.

So it meant a lot and I'm really proud

of Aaron's song, I Listen To My Body

'cause it's a banger.

♪ I listen to my body, mm-mm-mm ♪

My best moment with the show

was getting an email from a nurse that said

there's some kids that have such serious conditions

that they need to live in the hospital

and some don't have families,

and that the show was comforting to those kids.

I put that email on my desktop.

She said that they have OT, they have speech,

they play with the nurses,

but they can't engage them all day everyday

and that they saw kids learning skills

and being like, Did you teach her that?

And being like, Oh, it was Ms. Rachel that helped.

And I thought that was, like, I couldn't believe that,

so that was like the best award.

♪ I'm emotional ♪ Okay.

Was Ms. Rachel Woman of the Year?

Yeah, I was!

I was really surprised, but I was

and that was so cool.

I do want to say that I think the Women of the Year

are women in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti,

the Democratic Republic of the Congo

who are so wonderful and we should all put our focus there.

Sorry to be, sorry to be that person but,

you know, that's who we should be focusing on.

Okay. [board thuds]

[Rachel laughs]

It's really fun throwing things, I have to say.

Why did Ms. Rachel start making videos?

My wonderful little guy had a speech delay

and I was looking for something for him

that was slow-paced and just said words slowly

that he needed to know, like stroller and milk,

and when I couldn't find it, I thought,

Maybe we could create what we're looking for.

But I never thought it would turn into this

and I feel so lucky.

I started wearing different color shirts and headbands

and I just got the feeling that I wanted to do pink.

It is my favorite color.

The headbands were about postpartum mom

crazy, can't take a shower because I'm too tired

and so much going on and my hair's greasy

and also, like, little baby hairs that came in

after I had Thomas, so I was like,

I need to solve this with a headband,

and overalls just are super fun. They have pockets.

Pockets are great.

But my husband and I just,

we feel like we're playing.

We're just having fun.

And then our team had beautiful, wonderful ideas

and it's really fun being independent

and working with people who really care about children

to make something that serves children around the world.

It's the best feeling.

Why do babies love Ms. Rachel?

That's so sweet. I think because I love them so much.

And I hope that they feel the genuine care

'cause it's very genuine.

I can't see a baby on the subway

without being like, Oh my goodness!

Just my heart is so happy when I see babies.

I do think they like my naturally high voice

and that's been something I've had my whole life.

We do have tapes of me singing at, like, age five

and I'm like

♪ The sun will come out tomorrow ♪

Like, so high.

And then when I was a teenager, I'd be like, Hello?

And people would be like, Is your mommy there?

And I'd be like, I'm 14.

So I've always had a high voice.

I used to get made fun of for it. It was heartbreaking.

In high school, I got bullied for my voice and my enthusiasm

and now, my voice and my enthusiasm

are superpowers that help Ms. Rachel

so it's a crazy full-circle moment for me to be like,

what I was bullied for actually helps children,

and now I love my voice.

Why is Ms. Rachel so addicting?

You'd have to ask Mr. Aaron.

[crew members laugh] [Rachel laughs]

Why did Ms. Rachel start her channel?

I was teaching music in the Bronx,

which I could not believe that that was my job.

It was so joyful.

I would come in everyday and kids would come up to me

and be like, I love music. I love singing with you,

and I was like, How am I lucky enough to have this job?

There's a job where you sing and play with kids?

And then I had my son and I decided to stay home with him

and that was wonderful and hard and awesome,

and when he had the speech delay,

we started thinking about the show.

[board thuds]

[Rachel laughs]

Thank you.

Is Ms. Rachel good for babies?

Hmm. [Rachel laughs]

That's something Ms. Rachel would do.

The best thing for your baby is interaction

with a loving caregiver.

I think that balance is really good for babies,

going outside if you can,

reading to your baby everyday is wonderful,

as much as you can,

talking to your baby.

I think realistically, a lot of us need a little time.

I think that our show is very well researched

and I think that if you need screen-time as a tool,

Ms. Rachel is that.

My kid watches it. [Rachel laughs]

Is Ms. Rachel a nice person?

Aww.

What do you guys think?

[Crew Members] Yes!

Okay.

I would say I'm very genuinely nice.

My mom taught me the golden rule,

treat others as you wanna be treated.

I think it feels good to be kind.

I know it feels good to be kind.

I think we're meant to be loving.

I don't think we're meant to attack people

and be hateful because it's not right

and it doesn't feel good.

I actually try to be peaceful in my thoughts,

my actions, my words.

I sometimes only make it 'til 4 PM being loving

and then I get hangry and cranky,

but it's a good goal.

I wear a ring that says, How would love respond?

And so I really try and always respond with love

and the ring helps me remember.

Is Ms. Rachel fast-paced?

No.

It's pretty slow-paced.

It's not super fast-paced and it's very interactive

because we know that interactive screen-time

is more beneficial than passive screen-time.

I'll say like, Have you ever been to the playground?

Wow! I like playgrounds.

You know. And so we're being interactive,

we're asking questions, we're talking to kids about

things that they could do at home,

such as make dinosaur cardboard box shoes, you know.

We hope to inspire kids

to take what they learn and do it later,

and what's really beautiful is we see parents

having a great time and bonding with their kids

doing the songs

and using the strategies away from the screen so much

and we hear that so much, and that's so great

because I remember not knowing some of the things

that we do in our show to do with Thomas even as a teacher

and so I think it's really cool.

[board thuds] [Rachel laughs]

Who are Ms. Rachel's helpers?

It's so wonderful to be a helper, just like Mr. Rogers said.

And I have to give a shout-out to my husband

who is my biggest helper in everything,

my co-creator on the show and the best dad.

And then we have a small team

and they're absolutely incredible

and they're often in my kitchen

and they're just fantastic.

The other helpers are parents and caregivers

and little ones around the world

because they inspire us everyday

to try and make the world a better place

and make helpful content for kiddos.

Who did Ms. Rachel

invite on her show?

We've been so lucky to have

so many wonderful people on the show.

Elmo. Amazing. Love Elmo.

Actually, we invite a lot of our friends

and their kids to be on our show,

like my friend, Alexa, who is a mom friend

and we're in book club.

Kaitlin from Blippi, who's also a dear friend.

Kevin from the Pentatonix.

My husband is a big acapella nerd.

I hope he doesn't mind that. [Rachel laughs]

It was incredible to have Raja from Gaza on the show

and sing and dance with her and be joyful with her.

The Palestine Children's Relief Fund

let me know that there was a little girl

who had lost both of her legs

and she enjoyed the Ms. Rachel show

and I was so touched and I saw a video of her

dancing along to the show

and looking so happy watching it

and they asked if I'd wanna meet her

and I was like, Definitely. It would be an honor.

I'd love to meet her.

And then I thought it would be beautiful

if she wanted to be on the show,

and she really wanted to be on it

and actually, we just played together

and that was what was on the show. Nothing was scripted.

Who is Mr. Aaron to Ms. Rachel?

Mr. Aaron is my incredible husband.

10 years, this year, married. 16 together.

As in love as ever and more.

He's my everything.

He's the most wonderful dad and he's my co-creator

in everything and the show.

We do everything together

and it's really fun to be married to your best friend.

Aaron and I met at the Unitarian church

and somebody said,

Hey, do you wanna meet the best musician in the world?

And I was like, Yes. The best musician in the world

is here at Coffee Hour?

And then Aaron and I talked

and he was like, I'll walk you out,

and I was like, Wow. Okay, I like that.

And then he walked me out and we took a walk in Central Park

and we've been together ever since.

When we did our vows,

we talked about supporting each other's dreams

and he does that so much

and I try to do that for him so much too,

and it's really nice when you have a partner

that you fall madly in love with them

but you also fall in love with who you are with them

because they inspire you,

and I'm so lucky to have that with Aaron.

[Rachel smooches]

Say, Toss, and I'll toss the board.

Toss! [board thuds]

♪ Uh-oh, I dropped the board ♪

♪ This is the Uh-oh Song, uh-oh! ♪

[Rachel laughs]

What was Ms. Rachel's

first video?

Our first videos, I have to tell you this,

we actually used a big stack of books

to hold the camera because we didn't have a tripod.

So whatever dream you have, just start going for it

even if you don't have a tripod

and you have just a lot of books from your shelf.

The first video was really a video where

I said to Aaron, Aaron, let's make a video

where we do these simple words like 'milk'

and then we show your mouth really big

so kids who are struggling with speech

can see how the mouth makes the word,

so I just said, Cat, And Aaron would say, Cat,

and also, Aaron came on with Herbie and things like that

and it was just in our living room with that stack of books,

so whatever you wanna do, just start it

and you might help a lot of people

and be really happy with it, so yay!

What songs has Ms. Rachel written?

Aw, that's so nice. I love writing songs.

So Aaron and I wrote ♪ I'm so happy ♪

We write a lot of songs together

and he writes a lot of songs alone.

We wrote ♪ This is up and this is down ♪

You know, Aaron and I, before the show,

would just sing around the house

and make up songs for our toddler like you might do.

We'd just be like

♪ Hey, it's time to go to bed ♪

Like, we'd just make up song and it was really fun

and Aaron even jumps on the piano when I'm singing

and just can start playing along with me

because he is a musical genius, if you were wondering,

and we just have puppets out with our kids.

Aaron and I wrote the Phonics Song together

and this one kind of shows how,

what we each focus on can come together really nicely.

Like I thought of motions for each sound the letter makes

that actually kind of mimic the mouth,

so there was a lot of thought and research

going into like, A, alligator, ah,

because your mouth is going Ah,

and the hand's also going, Ah.

And then I went to bed and in the morning,

I woke up with a track that was like

♪ Phonics, phonics ♪

And I was like,

Aaron, you stayed up and did that last night?

What is Ms. Rachel's favorite animal?

I love animals.

I am a person who loves pigeons.

I don't understand why people don't like them.

They are beautiful.

I love giraffes.

I fed a giraffe once. It was so fun.

I think animals are great, and yeah,

I love every creature on this earth.

What's next for Ms. Rachel?

We are so excited to share that we're coming out

with our first album!

We have been excited for this for so long.

Aaron made new arrangements of some of the songs

and added different instruments

and a lot of live instruments

and really fun arrangements.

I love the idea of families

having dance parties to the music, away from the screen,

and listening in the car.

We're so excited to bring you the music. We can't wait.

I think we're most excited about this of anything

and we just, yay!

We even have a record.

Will we go on tour? I would love to.

I don't like leaving my apartment,

but I would love to meet as many families as I can

because I do love meeting families.

I love meeting little ones. It's so fun.

I love breaking out into song with them.

I can't stress enough how beautiful it is

to connect with kids.

Yay!

Okay.

How does

Ms. Rachel

know sign language? Oh, wow.

My son's speech delay was severe

and we did sign language.

And he learned sign language

and he communicated with sign language,

and sign language is an amazing language

and I've learned a lot from the deaf community over time.

It's not something we should just teach

and be like, Babies can do this.

We should learn the language lifelong.

I also learned that it's really important

to have deaf teachers teach.

That was something that I learned from the deaf community

and so we now have Erin, who's deaf, on our show,

teaching sign language.

And we really need to uplift deaf teachers

and the deaf community.

Ms. Rachel and Mamdani.

I've talked with Mayor Mamdani

about free childcare from birth to pre-K.

I think it's wonderful.

I think we should spend our tax dollars

on helping our neighbors

and I learned so much from our audience

and parents are really struggling with affordable childcare.

It's something that we can all agree

that kids should have high-quality childcare

that's affordable or free.

I think it will make the world a better place

if we all take the best care we can of little ones

and I think our policies should center kids.

Does Ms. Rachel

actually sing?

I love to sing.

I like to sing in the shower.

I lost my voice the other day

and I was like, Why have I been so sad?

And I was like, It's 'cause I can't constantly sing.

Yeah, I love breaking out into song.

I will say, and I've heard others singers say this,

sometimes my kids are like, No, Mommy.

Stop. [Rachel laughs]

But yeah, I do love to sing.

Does Ms. Rachel have tattoos?

I am afraid of shots, needles, anything sharp.

I'm a wimp and I don't because I'm too wimpy.

Ms. Rachel

favorite songs.

I have to say, any song that makes a kid light up,

I'm gonna enjoy it.

People are like, Are you tired of singing

'Wheels on the Bus', 'Hop Little Bunnies',

and 'Icky Sticky'?

And I'm like, No. I will do them right now.

I would love to, because it's like the first time

when you see a kid light up when you're like,

Can you get out a pretend piece of bubblegum?

I also wanna give my husband a shout-out.

I love his songs. They're super from the heart.

He is so caring and he wrote this caterpillar song

that actually my kids can't listen to

'cause they cry at it.

It's just so heartfelt and beautiful

and I love the rainbow song he wrote.

People were like, You can tell Ms. Rachel

loves singing the rainbow song.

And I'm like, I do.

♪ Red, orange ♪

♪ Yellow ♪

♪ Green, blue ♪

♪ Indigo ♪

♪ Violet ♪

♪ I love a rainbow ♪

♪ I love a rainbow ♪

♪ I love a rainbow ♪

♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪

I got the harmony that time.

Good job. Thank you.

Friends, it was so fun peeling things off with Wired today!

I loved it.

And let's sing Bye Bye, Friends.

♪ Bye bye, friends ♪

♪ Bye bye, friends ♪

♪ Bye bye, friends ♪

♪ We'll see you again real soon ♪

Did you want me to harmonize?

No, that was perfect.

Okay. Yeah.

[bright music]