Bernadette Plazola

Bernadette Plazola is a music teacher from El Centro, California. She has a master’s degree in education and a bachelor’s degree in music. Plazola has taught ukulele students online through her YouTube channel since its launch in 2015, after leaving her teaching job in Okinawa, Japan for something “less secure and more adventurous,” she said. Plazola has amassed over 389,000 subscribers and more than 37 million channel views on her YouTube channel, Bernadette Teaches Music as well as followings in the thousands on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

While living and working at Joy Kogawa House in late May 2024, Plazola was writing an ebook on learning to play the ukulele. She also presented the Strum in the True North intensive to members of the Kogawa Strumming Circle and other Vancouver ukulele players.