Aaliyah Williams is a producer and creative strategist who lives to bridge the gap between the digital and TV landscapes. Crafting innovative short form scripted and unscripted formats that engage audiences is her specialty; when she tells you a 5 minute story, she’ll have you hooked within 30 seconds flat.
After producing the award-winning short film The Young and Evil (a 2009 Sundance Official Selection), Aaliyah developed and produced Buppies, a dramedy web series that was purchased by BET, garnered a CoverGirl Queen Collection sponsorship, thrilled over 2 million viewers, and was a Webby Honoree.
Aaliyah has created branded content for Fox Digital Studio and AOL. Most recently, Ms. Williams ran the content division of Russell Simmons’ YouTube channel, All Def Digital. While there she conceived and produced comedy, music, and pop-culture series that amassed over 54 million views and sustained 280,000 subscribers.
After living, breathing, and nimbly navigating the YouTube landscape for the better part of two years, Aaliyah founded Just A Rebel, Inc., a digital production company and creative strategy company. Just A Rebel advises clients on how to leverage the power of YouTube and emerging multi-platform distribution channels to reach audiences, and works on behalf of clients to produce compelling content experiences. Current projects include crafting and executing the social media for the documentary on YouTube sensation, Lilly Singh aka iiSuperwomanii’s 2015 world tour – A TRIP TO UNICORN ISLAND; and producing premium web shows for multicultural media startup, MACRO.
Aaliyah is a member of the International Academy of Web Television, a Sundance Creative Producers Fellow, and a Film Independent Project:Involve alum. She attended Harvard (had a fabulous time), was raised in Arkansas and Oklahoma, and is living proof that these states do indeed exist outside of John Steinbeck novels. Running fuels her creative zen, so if you catch her while she is marathon training in Santa Monica or powering up and down various stairs in the greater Los Angeles area, do stop and say hello; she’ll probably have some ideas about your digital presence to share.
