Pokimane

Lore & Background

Anys was born in Morocco on 14 May 1996. Her mother has Berber ancestry. Her parents, two academics, immigrated to Quebec, Canada, when she was four years old. She grew up in Ontario, Canada. She speaks English, French, and Moroccan Arabic. She studied chemical engineering at the University of Toronto (she also briefly attended McMaster University) but later dropped out to pursue her streaming career full-time. She created her Twitch account in June 2013 and began streaming in 2014. The name Pokimane is a portmanteau of Pokémon and her name, Imane. She gained 450,000 followers on Twitch in 2017, earning her account a place within the 100 most followed on the platform. The Shorty Awards named her as the Best Twitch Streamer of the year. She has streamed Fortnite and Valorant, and has partnered with Twitch. In December 2021, Social Blade listed Anys as the 9th-most-followed user on Twitch, with over 8.5 million followers. She was named a featured honoree in the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 under the category of 'Games'. On 30 January 2024, Anys announced that she would stop streaming exclusively on Twitch, but she has continued to stream on other platforms (e.g., YouTube). She also has multiple YouTube channels: Pokimane, Pokimane Too, Pokimane VODS, Poki ASMR, and imane. She was a member of OfflineTV; on 19 May 2023, OfflineTV announced her departure from the group via a 'graduation' video, though she stayed affiliated with the group after. Outside of streaming, she has a large following across several social media platforms. In October 2018, fellow YouTubers Markiplier and Jacksepticeye launched the clothing line Cloak; Anys joined Cloak as a partner and creative director in 2020. In October 2021, she helped launch a talent management and brand consulting firm called RTS, where she served as Chief Creative Officer; she later quietly departed RTS. On 13 November 2023, she launched Myna, a company that sells 'healthy snack alternative' cookies. On 12 December 2023, she launched her first podcast called Don't Tell Anyone, which ended in June 2024. On 13 September 2024, she uploaded episode 1 of her new podcast, Sweet n Sour with Lilypichu. On 17 January 2024, she made a special guest appearance at Samsung's biannual Galaxy Unpacked event. On 5 June 2025, she participated in the launch of the Creator Economy Caucus.

In Their Own Story

The studio lights hummed with a familiar warmth as Imane adjusted her headset, the glow of multiple monitors reflecting in her eyes. It wasn't the roar of an arena crowd or the tension of a final round; it was the steady rhythm of connection. On screen, thousands of names scrolled by, a digital town square where the 100 Thieves community gathered. She smiled, knowing that this nightly ritual had helped build the foundation of an empire, proving that in the world of modern gaming, the streamer's voice could be as powerful as any champion's victory.

Reader's Guide

Pokimane is best known for her Twitch streams of Valorant and Fortnite, as well as her commentary and interaction with her audience. She also podcasts and streams miscellaneous real-world moments. Her YouTube channels feature edited gaming clips, vlogs, and ASMR (though she stopped doing ASMR in 2021). She co-founded OfflineTV, a content creator group. She has partnered with Twitch and signed a multi-year exclusivity with Twitch in March 2020, and re-signed in February 2022. She has been involved in political get-out-the-vote streams, including with U.S. representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar in October 2020, and with U.S. senator Bernie Sanders in October 2024.

Did You Know?

• Pokimane is the most-followed female streamer on Twitch, with over 9.46 million followers.
• She is a founding member of OfflineTV, an online social entertainment group of content creators.
• Her name is a portmanteau of Pokémon and her name, Imane.
• She studied chemical engineering at the University of Toronto before dropping out to stream full-time.
• She launched a cookie company called Myna in November 2023.