Safiya Nygaard

Safiya Jaffer Nygaard is an American digital content creator and internet personality who initially rose to prominence through her work with the digital media company BuzzFeed. She later established an independent online presence, gaining widespread recognition for her individual video production, beauty experiments, and fashion explorations.

Born on July 16, 1992, in Santa Clara, California, Nygaard is the daughter of a Danish university mathematics professor and an Indian mother. Raised in Chicago, she attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School until graduating in 2010. She subsequently earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama and English from Stanford University.

Nygaard began her professional media career in April 2015 when she joined BuzzFeed as a video producer, working primarily on the project LadyLike. She departed the organization in January 2017 and publicly detailed her transition in a viral self-published video that accrued millions of views within months of posting.

Following her exit from BuzzFeed, Nygaard developed solo video projects that popularized major internet trends. She became widely recognized for her "Bad Makeup Science" series, in which she combines extensive quantities of single cosmetic categories—such as foundations, lipsticks, and eye shadows—to create customized "Franken" items. Her content portfolio also includes experiments wearing unconventional fashion pieces and historical clothing investigations, including a project made alongside Colonial Williamsburg.

Over the course of her career, Nygaard has secured major brand partnerships and industry representation. She released a dedicated lipstick line with ColourPop in October 2019 and signed with the management agency Night in 2022, a year in which Cosmetify identified her as the top-earning beauty influencer. In 2023, she launched a limited-edition nail polish set in partnership with the Holo Taco brand.

Nygaard is married to video collaborator Tyler Williams, whom she wed in late 2019. The couple previously lived in Los Angeles, where they purchased and later sold a Studio City residence, before residing briefly in Philadelphia and permanently moving to Raleigh, North Carolina in February 2021.