Meet the “Bawse” behind the “SuperWoman”- Lilly Singh

Lilly Singh is the SuperWoman of YouTube. Her story of battling depression and rising against all odds truly makes her one! 

Lilly Singh, the infamous Canadian Youtuber and Social Media Influencer is a regular name on YouTube and Instagram. With over 2 billion views on her videos, she is probably one of the most powerful content creators on Social media. Her YouTube channels- SuperWoman and SuperWomanVlogs are extremely versatile. From Comedy sketches, Motivational/Observational Monologues, and Behind-the-scenes Vlogs to Singing, Rapping, and Dancing, she entertains in all genres. Given her popularity, it isn’t surprising that Seth Rogan, James Franco, Chelsea Handler, Nick Jonas, Dwayne Johnson, and the likes are repetitive collaborators for her videos. Her massive fan base primarily consists of pre-teen and teen South-Asian girls residing in western countries. For most of us, she is living a dream life. All she does is make funny videos, and earns billions of dollars, right? After all, her net worth, as I write stands at $16 Million!!  

In her own words, she says-

I had to take stairs to success, not an escalator like many people think.

Lilly started her YouTube channel SuperWoman back in 2010 when Social Media Influencer was still an undiscovered term, let alone a Career option. Her parents, Malwinder and Sukhwinder migrated to Canada when Lilly was young. As a child, she was an extrovert. One can totally imagine her being the life of the party she’d attend. She enrolled in The New York University to pursue Psychology as per her parent’s wishes. However, the lack of interest in this career path soon escalated to depression. Lilly is said to have battled depression for over 2 years. It was only as a means to add some humour to her, and her friend’s lives did she start recording and uploading comic videos on YouTube. Unlike any magical overnight success, it only garnered 70 views. But Lilly caught the interest and gradually started doing more videos. Besides, she noticed that there was a dearth of South Asian women creators on YouTube; and that she could bring a fresh perspective to the culture. Slowly her following increased. By the time she finished her graduation, she wanted to take a leap of faith to try her luck as an Independent Content Creator on YouTube. She asked her parents just one year’s time to test herself and her choice of making a living out of YouTube. She started her channel- SuperWoman and hustled relentlessly year after year to make it through. As her popularity grew, she began to creatively experiment with various characters, costume, and make-up ideas. One of her most loved characters is in-fact her own parents, played by her. Among her most popular videos are “How Girls Get Ready”, “Sh*t Punjabi Mothers Say” and “The Difference Between Brown and White Girls.”  

Lilly loved every moment of her struggle. Though it isn’t any La La Land story. Vogue quoted her saying-

When I was younger, I had this fairy tale (belief) that you can have eight hours of sleep and be a healthy, balanced, person and still achieve your goals. That hasn’t always been the case. On an average day, I will spend 90% of my waking moments working on Superwoman. I’m a huge workaholic. My hobby is Superwoman.

Apart from being the Superwoman, Lilly is also a smart Businesswoman. She realized the potential in the platform early on and did not limit herself to just creating videos. She stepped up further by creating a strong personal brand earning her brand partnership deals from Coca Cola, Pantene, Calvin Klein, and other big names. Celebrities were a regular on her channel. She appeared on major TV shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and The Today Show. In 2017, she donned the cap of the author and launched her Newyork Times Bestseller book “How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life.”

In an interview with Marie Claire magazine, she exclaims

Baswe is like a boss, but so epic I had to change the spelling. It’s someone who exudes confidence, turns heads, gets hurt efficiently, communicates effectively and hustles relentlessly.

One can easily vouch for the same in Lilly’s personality. She has also made her Hollywood debut by lending her voice to the unicorns- Misty and Bubbles in Ice Age: Collision Course; has made a cameo appearance in Bad Moms alongside Mila Kunis and Jada Pinkett Smith; been cast as Raven, a tabloid blogger, in HBO’s forthcoming adaptation of Fahrenheit 451; and featured in one of the record-breaking videos of Maroon 5, Girls Like You.  

What’s remarkable is that Lilly has used her influence and position to make a positive difference in society. Through her content, she takes a comical but thoughtful approach thrashing the gender and ethnic stereotyping, encouraging women empowerment, supporting the LGBTQ community, and questioning the rigid existing norms of the world. Outside of YouTube, she is a UNICEF’s Global Goodwill Ambassador. Her #GirlLove initiative meant to end the hatred between women, and encourage women to support other women, is applauded by the former First Lady of The United States, Michelle Obama.  

Lilly is a role-model for many social media influencers, especially Asian girls, who want to follow her path. Her story is an inspiration to all of us, especially the ones suffering from depression and other sensitive mental problems, to not give up hope, and try our best to keep ourselves happy. We are our best hope. I know, it is easier said than done. However, Lilly proves that what starts with a random video with hardly 70 views can end up becoming a SuperWoman making and breaking several records.