Sophia Smith Galer | |
|---|---|
 Smith Galer in 2022 | |
| Born | 1 June 1994 |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2019–present |
TikTok information | |
| Page | |
| Followers | 555.6K |
| Likes | 17.7M |
Last updated: 9 February 2025 | |
| Website | Official website |
Sophia Smith Galer FRSA (born 1 June 1994) is a British digital journalist, author, and TikTok influencer. In 2022, she was named as one of Forbes 30 Under 30 for Marketing and Media in Europe, and short-listed on British Vogue's list of Top 25 Most Influential Women in the UK.
Smith Galer was born to an English father and a mother of Italian origin. [1] She grew up singing in St Peter's Italian Church in Clerkenwell. She attended St Albans High School for Girls, a selective private day school. [2] She went to St Mary's College at Durham University, from where she graduated with a degree in Spanish and Arabic in 2016, before studying for a Master's in Broadcast Journalism at City, University of London. [3]
Smith Galer began her journalism career in May 2017 as a social media producer for BBC.com, and later became a visual journalist covering faith and ethics at BBC World Service. [4]
In 2019, she started posting to short-form video-sharing app TikTok , becoming one of the first BBC journalists to do so, despite her employers not agreeing with her posting journalism content. [5] She uses the platform to take part in trends, receive and gather news, and post explainer content, covering gender, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and digital culture. [6] [7]
In March 2021, Smith Galer posted an informative original sea shanty explaining how a container ship obstructed the Suez Canal, which went viral, amassing one million views in over eight hours. [8]
In June 2021, it was announced that she was leaving the BBC. [9] Three months later, she joined VICE World News as a Senior News Reporter. [10] She stayed in the role for two years until her departure in September 2023, becoming a freelance journalist. [11]
Chris Stokel-Walker of The Observer named her as one "of the biggest ex-BBC names" on TikTok. [12] Matthew Leake from The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism described her as "an authority on how journalists and news organisations can use TikTok to research stories, reach younger audiences and build relationships." [13] Academic research identified Smith Galer's work exhibits intellectual virtues such as autonomy, carefulness, curiosity and thoroughness, and adapts journalistic information to TikTok to appeal to younger generations. [14] [15]
In February 2023, Smith Galer joined Brown University's Information Futures Lab as one of their inaugural fellows to address information disorders and digital literacy. [16] In 2024, she co-hosted the BBC World Service podcast Where To Be A Woman with Scaachi Koul, [17] which interrogated "what it really means for women to live their best lives around the world."
In 2024, Smith Galer won the Georgina Henry Award for digital innovation [18] from Women in Journalism for an AI-enabled tool that helped journalists script video content. At the Media Freedom Awards, the judges called it "an exciting innovation in an important new journalistic field. Not only does it explore the commercial benefits of AI, this eponymous innovation is also dedicated to combating disinformation." [19] In June 2025, the tool launched as an iOS app called Sophiana with script-writing and teleprompter functions following development as part of the International Centre For Journalists' Disarming Disinformation Solutions Challenge [20] . Joshua Benton at Nieman Lab wrote [21] that a script he trialled with the app was "pretty solid work" and Alan Rusbridger said on Prospect's Media Confidential podcast that the app "couldn't be simpler".
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Christmas University Challenge | Contestant | Heat: "Warwick v. Durham" | [22] [23] |
| 2025 | Semi-Finalist | Semi-Final: "Durham v. Worcester College, Oxford" | [24] | |
| Series 14 Winner [a] | Final: "Durham v. Queens' College, Cambridge" | [25] |
