Former Disney Ambassador Creates YouTube Channel, Shares Mormon Beliefs

Jolie Hales is a former Disney ambassador who is unfolding misconceptions of the LDS Church on her new YouTube channel, “What Mormons Believe.”

Hales discusses controversial issues like polygamy, temple garments, the Priesthood, and life after death. She discusses questions and topics at her viewers’ request and tries to explain Mormon beliefs as objectively as possible.

“I don’t run from the difficult questions and topics,” Hales told KSL News. “I try to understand them as best I can so that I can answer them in the most accurate way and not get emotional about the answers.”

Hales holds a masters degree in filmmaking and used her skills she learned while working as a Disney ambassador to get her start in creating the series. The channel didn’t receive much publicity until her brother posted a viral video, coming out as a gay Mormon, and linked to her YouTube channel. Since then, her channel has received approximately 800,000 views and has over 4,000 subscribers.

“There’s not a lot of gay Mormons who were faithful to the church at that time in the public eye,” Hales told KSL News. “In his video, he linked to my channel and that helped people look at it.”

While Hales does not aim to convert, she has received word that her videos have led some to be baptized:

[pull_quote_center]I’ve had a lot of people say it helped lead them into the waters of baptism, and that’s awesome for me. I believe in this stuff, but I don’t do it just to convert people, I want people to understand that we’re normal people.[/pull_quote_center]