December 30, 2024
When, in late 2016, a virtual YouTuber named Kizuna AI coined the term VTuber, she had no idea how popular the term would become. Soon, the popularity of VTubers began to rise, with Kizuna AI reaching more than two million subscribers in the following ten months. Kizuna AI’s popularity inspired a VTuber trend, with one of them being Ironmouse, who started her career in 2017, making her a true veteran of the industry.
The first quarter of 2024 marked 403,21 million hours watched by Vtubers, showing just how popular the genre has become. However, one VTuber stands out not only for her professional achievements but for her charity work and raising awareness.
Who is Ironmouse?
Ironmouse is an American VTuber from Puerto Rico. She began her career as a VTuber in 2017 and is still active, with over 2.19 million subscribers. She originally wanted to become an opera singer but was diagnosed with an immune disorder that forced her to become isolated. Inspired by Kizuna AI and the rising popularity of VTubers, Ironmouse decided to stream using a digital avatar to conceal her identity and rise above the limitations that her immune disorder set for her. This decision quickly started paying off, and in 2024, Ironmouse became the most-subscribed Twitch streamer, shortly surpassing Kai Cenat in September.
Professional achievements
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ironmouse began to stream more due to her compromised immunity, garnering a huge following. This rise in popularity helped her afford higher-quality healthcare. Higher quality healthcare helped Ironmouse improve her condition, enabling her to stream more often and for extended periods. In November 2020, Ironmouse joined VShojo, an American VTuber talent agency, where she joined other prominent English-speaking VTubers such as Projekt Melody and Filian.
Ironmouse has won a variety of awards for her work. In December 2023, she won the Content Creator of the Year award at the Game Awards 2023. She was the first ever VTuber to win the award. That same year, Ironmouse took home a few awards from The VTuber awards, including VTuber of the Year, Miss VTuber, and Best Streamed event of 2023 for her subathon event. In 2024, she won the award for best VTuber and was nominated for Streamer of the Year at the Streamer Awards. Accompanying her numerous awards, Ironmouse achieved another incredible feat. In February 2022, she was the eighth-most watched streamer on Twitch, making her the first-ever VTuber to reach Twitch’s monthly top ten.
Another of her famous feats was the February 2022 subathon event, which ran for 31 days. During the subathon, Ironmouse kept the stream going even when she was asleep, during which various content was featured. The content included appearances by other guests and various videos. During this time, Ironmouse became the most subscribed female Twitch streamer with most active subscribers of all Twitch channels. During this subathon, she gained nearly 172,000 new subscribers.
Raising awareness for CVID and immune disorders
What makes Ironmouse’s story truly inspirational is her charity work and raising awareness. She has openly spoken about her immune disorder called common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) and mycobacterium avium complex. While these disorders forced her to stay isolated from others, Ironmouse found a new way to connect with her audience. She has continuously used her platform to educate her audience on immune disorders, raising awareness about CVID and urging her subscribers to donate plasma.
In June 2023, Ironmouse hosted another subathon event. The second subathon was a charity event focused on raising money for the Immune Deficiency Foundation. The Immune Deficiency Foundation focuses on helping people suffering from primary immunodeficiency through research and education. During the subathon, she gained more than 205,000 new subscribers. With this, she broke her record, which she set in her first 2022 subathon event.
A few months later, in December 2022, she was listed as one of the heroes on the Plasma Hero website. This was due to her valuable contribution to raising awareness about CVID and plasma donation, often overshadowed by blood donation.
Takeaway
Even though, in the beginning, Ironmouse was hesitant to speak about her illness, she has built an enormous platform. This enabled her to educate people and raise awareness. This has helped fund further research and provide help for people with primary immunodeficiency. Her achievements have inspired other streamers to follow in her footsteps. Her fellow streamer, CDawg, raised over $300,000 for the cause during one of his cycleathons. She has used her platform to raise awareness, stating that many of her supporters started donating plasma regularly. Ironmouse is an example of overcoming your difficulties and using your big platform to help and educate others.