Reminiscing on her Filipino ancestry, 28-year-old Ysabelle Cuevas sang the lyrics of the 2025 RootsTech theme song that read: “I’ll pull back away from the clouds as I push back this doubt in my mind, find the light to awake me, let no one mistake me, I’m here in the place where I found who I am.”
Since 2016, Cuevas — a singer, songwriter, YouTube content creator and a pediatric nurse — has gained 2.83 million subscribers on her YouTube channel. On Wednesday, March 5, Cuevas was a keynote speaker at this year’s RootsTech family history conference.
In her message, delivered virtually, she shared how her parents, ancestry and religion helped her become the person she is now and achieve what she has achieved.
Cuevas was born in Lucena, Philippines. Her mother, also a nurse, was working to support their family as they waited to receive visas to enter the United States. With small wages and a growing family, her mother left the Philippines to work in the Middle East to help provide for the family. Once a year, she saved money and came back to visit her family in the Philippines.
“Our faith is the glue that kept us going in the years that my parents were struggling with being separated from each other. There’s so much love that sustains us even in those times,” Cuevas said.
In those years of separation, Cuevas began her YouTube channel.
At first, it started as a way to keep in touch with her mother. “I made my YouTube channel so my mom could see my little brothers growing up and I would send her home videos,” she explained. As time went on, she began sending videos of herself singing and playing her guitar.
Her mother loved the videos and encouraged her to continue making them.
Cuevas began releasing videos of songs in Tagalog, a language of the Philippines; in English; in the style of K-pop; and even in vlogs. Her family soon received visas and moved to the United States.
Cuevas went to school and became a nurse, while pursuing her passion for songwriting and singing at the same time. As her YouTube channel became more popular, Filipino music labels began to reach out to her.
This began her rise to stardom.
Cuevas’ work has earned over 700 million streams. In 2018, she released her first original song, “Daunted,” through Warner Music Philippines. As the years went on, she performed in various places with several groups.
“I think creation has always been one of my favorite parts about music, but I also love the connection part, being able to meet new people,” she said. “I didn’t expect to ever go back to the Philippines with the Tabernacle Choir, much less perform in the biggest arena in the Philippines.”
This year, Cuevas was invited to record an additional version to the 2025 RootsTech theme song “Who I Am.”
“The first time I heard this year’s RootsTech theme song I was going to a songwriting session that day, and it was taking me back to a memory of my parents,” said Cuevas. “Taking me back to where they had been and what they went through and what they sacrificed so that I can be who I am.”
Cuevas explained how her experiences in her childhood and youth and how her family’s sacrifices — specifically her mother working in the Middle East — shaped her into the person she is today.
“I like to believe that everything I need to become is already here.” she said, gesturing to her heart. “Home has never really been about the physical place for me, it’s always been about the people I’m with. It’s here [Utah] with my brother and sister. It’s in California with my mom and dad, and it’s in the Philippines.”
