Jessica Bravura, better known online as Aphmau, has built a thriving Minecraft empire on YouTube.
Bravura, 34, has 21 million subscribers on YouTube and is known for his role-playing videos on Minecraft servers.
Creators like Bravura use Minecraft to tell stories that exist in fantasy worlds. Bravura creates scripted and sometimes animated videos. She and her team develop their own characters and stories, which appear in several YouTube series, including “My Street” and “Diaries Reborn.” She voices some of the characters and also hires voice actors and other creators.
Bravura was no overnight success: She started her YouTube channel more than 11 years ago. The oldest video on her main channel shows her playing Minecraft, and it has been viewed 1.4 million times.
Talent management company Knight signed with Bravura in 2021 to manage and grow her business.
Aphmau's installation at VidCon. VidCon, Amanda Perrelli/Business Insider
Aphmau drew huge crowds at VidCon 2024
Bravura was by far the biggest star at this year's VidCon, the creative industry's biggest annual conference, where she spoke on several panels that drew large crowds of young fans and met with viewers at networking events.
She also showed off one of the most striking installations at the event: Her display featured several purple cat-themed carnival games, including skeeball, cotton candy, a giant gumball machine, and booths selling merch.
Bravura's videos often feature cats, and the protagonist of her video series is a cat named Sprinkles.
She runs an in-house production company called CatFace.
Bravura has about 80 in-house employees and contractors, including YouTube producers, production managers and video editors, who are employed through her Austin-based production company, CatFace.
Her company makes and sells branded products.
Aside from YouTube videos, CatFace also runs his own merchandise line, “MeeMeows.”
MeeMeows sells Aphmau-branded merchandise, including plush toys of her signature cat-like characters, as well as apparel and other accessories.
Fans at VidCon and YouTube Gaming's Minecraft install. VidCon, Amanda Perrelli/Business Insider
Bravura is part of a growing trend of Minecraft streamers on YouTube
Bravura was recently nominated for a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award in the “Favorite Gamer” category.
Bravura's incredible and consistent success on YouTube over the years, like other Minecraft streamers including the hugely popular Dream, is proof that even though the game has been around for 15 years, creators who stream themselves playing the game aren't going anywhere.
