Meet Ebi Atawodi, the PM Director for YouTube Studio

Ebi Atawodi has never been “just one thing.” From attending design school to creating Africa’s most prestigious literary prize to leading product teams at some of the world’s top tech companies, the Nigeria born multi-hyphenate has made a point of following each unique opportunity and interest. Today, Ebi leads a cross-functional team responsible for helping creators express themselves how and to who they want. We sat down with Ebi to talk about the power of storytelling, globally accessible technology and the exciting new features being released today in YouTube Studio.

You’ve held many creative roles — from your time at design school to creating the Etisalat Prize for Literature. How have you incorporated your love of the arts and storytelling into each stage of your career?

I like to talk about my career like a trifecta. I started off studying engineering because I’d always wanted to know how things were built. But then, while working as a technical lead, I got really curious about the design files I was given. How did they come up with these concepts? Why were certain things picked over others? So, I went to design school at Parsons New York and learned how to communicate through pixels. I started my own design agency back home in Nigeria.

Then, my career converged again in an interesting way that I didn’t see coming. The agency was doing well and we wanted to give a gift to our clients, something special that we made ourselves. We were all obsessed with cameras and came up with this idea to create a book that told the story of the burgeoning industry of photography. It ended up taking us four years because as I started meeting photographers, I found that no one had told these stories. There were no coffee table books showing the vastness of Nigerian photography. So, what was intended to be a trivial gift ended up becoming the first-ever book on Nigerian photography in the world and created this whole parallel world for me as a creative and artist. Someone gave the book to curators and next thing I knew one of the photographers was being featured by Tate Modern London and another in the Smithsonian.

I really fundamentally believe that you just have to put your heart into things. It’s like sowing seeds. You don’t know when you water them if they’re going to turn into trees, if they’ll bear fruit or if they’ll just wither away. You just have to water the plant, right? This plant that I watered became this tree that kept giving, because then somebody gifted that book to the CEO of Etisalat Nigeria, one of the biggest telecommunications companies in Nigeria and from that came a completely new role that didn’t exist shaping the brand story. We did everything from regulations to campaigns to sponsorships, and we even created some things, like the first literary prize from the brand!

It’s like sowing seeds. You don’t know when you water them if they’re going to turn into trees, if they’ll bear fruit or if they’ll just wither away. You just have to water the plant, right?”

What made you want to get into tech?

After doing that for a couple years, I decided I wanted to get an MBA and go back to tech. I’d been working so closely with apps and social media and I felt there was so much that could be done at a place like Google. I took a year off to prepare my admissions application, but am pleased to say that I never did do that MBA and still ended up at Googler. Instead, I walked into this conference, completely serendipitously ran into a representative from Uber. He convinced me to apply for the general manager position for West Africa and that led to what has now been my ten year journey in tech. I followed each user problem and opportunity as it came. When payments weren’t working, I led the launch of cash in West Africa. When a position opened to lead a new team focused on global payments, I moved to Amsterdam to be their head of product. When I wanted to focus more on storytelling, I left to work at Netflix. And, when an opportunity came to combine my love of stories and interest in the gig economy, I followed it here to YouTube.

What a winding path! How do you balance having so many interests?

I would love to be able to say that I balance it all. I think what’s really beautiful about my job now is that for the first time my creative side and work side fuse in this very natural way. If you follow me on YouTube, I’m constantly shooting videos. I don’t have a lot of followers (so like and subscribe!) but I enjoy creating. I think when you create there’s an element of vulnerability. You’re putting a bit of your heart into the world. It’s a constant game of trying to figure out your core principles and what you want to be known for.

So, what do you want to be known for?

Three things. I want people to say that I was able to harness the power of storytelling in different ways. Whether it’s in my job day to day or in interviews like this one, I want to tell a story and help other people harness their voices to do the same.

The second thing is access. I’m a Nigerian girl, born and raised, who’s now leading a global team that builds products for creators in so many languages, and I’ve been on the receiving end of feeling like products weren’t built for me. Once upon a time, we didn’t have credit cards and so many products weren’t accessible. We build for the world. Technology should be accessible to everyone.

And finally, I really just care. I put my heart into things. And even in the worst case scenario, I can look back knowing that I put my heart into a project, it gave me joy and it was never just a job.

I’m a Nigerian girl, born and raised, who’s now leading a global team that builds products for creators in so many languages, and I’ve been on the receiving end of feeling like products weren’t built for me.”

You’ve said before that you want YouTube Studio to be a creative partner. What does that mean to you?

When you come in as a new leader, you don't have the answers and I think thinking you do is the biggest mistake. What you do have is a fresh pair of eyes, so when I joined I had a bunch of conversations. Something that came up as a question was, what is YouTube Studio? Is it a platform? Is it a product? How are we going to build towards something we don’t understand?

My partners and I got in a room and wrote out what we thought we were. All the words we came up with described someone who’s right there with you, going through the ups and downs of your channel’s journey.

We ended up deciding on creative partner, because when an artist goes in the studio, being able to spar is such an important part of creation. Whether you’re whiteboarding, mind mapping or collecting a mood board, a partner is ready to support you. They don’t tell you what to do. They’re not the exact same for 40 million people. They’re unique to you and share your vision.

How have you seen AI empowering and assisting creatives on YouTube so far?

One of the things we try to do is really understand the key elements of the creative process. Everyone is different, but typically there’s ideation, pre-production, production, post and distribution. We find ways to help by being that partner who understands the ecosystem and also your individual channel. Instead of giving 100 general ideas, we give ideas based on what your audience is watching and searching. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide if you want to use them. We also want to be a partner you can come to with your own ideas and ask for thumbnail concepts or titles suggestions.

What product are you most excited for that we’re announcing at Made On this year?

Oh, I'm definitely excited about the latest version of the inspiration tab! We launched an early version of the inspiration tab at Made On last year and the next evolution of it just went live. It's really taking that inspiration to the next level where it's not just an outline of a video. We actually want to partner with you to help with all the different pieces and create that canvas of your next project. And, it’s tailored to your channel so you’re able to start with more than a blank screen. We help suggest ideas and sparks of creativity and then, of course, you can pick them, riff off them, change and modify.