With over 12 million subscribers, Indian-Canadian comedy vlogger Lilly Singh wrapped up 2016
as the richest female YouTuber on the planet, having made $7.5 million from her channel
and various other ventures.
Singh has come a long way from her first upload, but she remembers the trials and tribulations
of those early days very clearly.
From her humble beginnings to her imminent mainstream breakthrough, this is the untold
truth of Lilly Singh.
YouTube 101
On the cusp of graduating from York University with a bachelor's in psychology, Singh's parents
insisted that she go for her masters.
But Singh had an epiphany while reluctantly filling out application forms.
She told The Hindu,
"I walked up to my parents and was like, 'Hey, I've decided that I am not going to do my
masters, and instead I am going to make YouTube videos.'"
While her parents weren't into her decision initially, thanks in part to her Superwoman
persona, her family eventually came around.
She told Flare,
"My mom really believes my message.
My dad has watched all my videos...They understand what I'm trying to do and that's really special
to me."
"Right Dad?"
"Right."
"You don't even know what I'm talking about, but you support me, I appreciate that."
Not tryna be famous
When Singh launched her channel in October 2010, the relatively new YouTube platform
didn't equal fame and fortune.
She told The National,
"I became Superwoman in 2010 when I uploaded my first video…
That's when I discovered YouTube and I thought, 'what the heck is this?'"
But the main reason she decided to become a YouTuber was to help cope with mental health
issues.
She told Cat Greenleaf on Talk Stoop,
"When I started making YouTube videos I was actually recovering from depression, and so
why I started making YouTube videos was literally because I thought if I could make other people
laugh, maybe I can make myself laugh and be a happier person."
Finding her identity
Singh originally showcased her South Asian roots in her content, and while she never
wanted her race to define her comedy, that's exactly what happened.
She told The Hindu,
"When I first started, all the media I ever got was 'Hey!
There's this Indian girl, and even though she is Indian she gets views and stuff.'"
She realized that if she was ever going to shake that label, she would have to make her
content more universal.
She told AOL,
"I would call my videos things like 'My Indian Parents Do This' or 'Indian Girls This' and
very quickly I realized that I didn't have to do that.
All girls are pretty much the same and all parents are pretty much the same, so...I stopped
cornering myself into a niche that I thought I had to be in."
Moving to LA
She might be a proud Canadian, but every serious content creator knows LA is the unofficial
capital of YouTube, so in 2015, Singh moved to the City of Angels.
But being raised in a traditional Indian family meant Singh was seriously unprepared for living
alone.
She told Chelsea Handler,
"We're only allowed to move out when you're married, so what I'm doing right now is a
huge exception."
And up until that point, her parents had done everything for her.
"I was so clueless of what to do, I got to my apartment and I had no toilet paper, no
nothing.
I used Chipotle napkins for like, a really long time."
Since then, she's figured out the toilet paper, and upgraded her digs.
Celeb collabs
Singh has teamed up with Seth Rogen and James Franco, as well as Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell,
and Mila Kunis, but her biggest celebrity collab to date has been with her childhood
hero, Dwayne Johnson.
Singh told Jimmy Fallon,
"It was the first video on his channel and he collaborated for a video on my channel,
and so it was like, this cool, like, 'let me teach you how to be YouTube star,' but
really I'm just hitting on him the whole time."
But her celebrity connections aren't just purely professional.
Singh and actress Charlize Theron wound up becoming besties after they met at a charity
event.
Singh revealed to Handler that they even plan to go on an African safari with a bunch of
Theron's friends, Handler included.
Going mainstream
Despite her ever-growing pool of A-list buds, Singh has still found it tough to break into
mainstream Hollywood.
She told the BBC,
"In the digital space people consider me a star, but then I go into auditions and they'll
be like 'Sorry, what was your name again?'
I feel like I'm living this split life, trying to climb two different ladders and I'm on
very different rungs on each ladder."
Breaking in
If there's one trait that Singh has in abundance, it's persistence — and it's paying off for
her on the big screen.
She lent her voice to the unicorns in 2016's Ice Age: Collision Course and also won a small
role in Bad Moms that same year.
But recently she's devoted time to writing and promoting her book, How to Be a Bawse.
She explained the "bawse" life to the BBC Asia Network, saying,
"So whereas a boss is like workplace, you answer to them, they are in charge, a 'bawse'
is someone who conquers all of their life."
The book became a New York Times number one bestseller in 2017.
Goodwill ambassador
In 2016 Singh teamed up with social enterprise "ME to WE" to launch the Girl Love bracelet,
with proceeds supporting the education of Kenyan girls.
The following year, UNICEF honored Singh by making her a Goodwill Ambassador.
UNICEF's representative in India, Yasmin Haque, said,
"We look forward to the role she will play in generating greater discussion — and greater
action — around the value of girls in India and everywhere."
"Well, thank you for coming to meet me.
I think you did a very good job.
Keep up the good work, okay?"
"Byyyyeeee!"
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