By Soyra Gune
28-year-old Lilly Singh says she made her first YouTube video in 2010 to deal with her depression. She started her channel in October 2010. Today Singh aka Superwoman is the highest paid female Youtuber for the year 2016 and has 1.5 billion views on her channel and 10 million subscribers. She is the third highest Youtuber over all behind Pewdiepie and Roman Atwood and hangs out with the likes of James Franco and Michelle Obama.
Singh’s videos have found a resonance with young women and she speaks about topics such as periods with no reservation. Videos titled Why bras are horrible and If boys got their periods are some of the most viewed on the hilarious woman’s channel. The Canadian comedian is often inspired by her Punjabi heritage. And even if you hate YouTube you are likely to have been charmed by her affectionate, spot-on video Shit Punjabi Mothers Say. *You haven’t? Death stare*
Singh has talked about her ethnicity from a business perspective as well. “And from a business point of view, when I discovered YouTube, I saw that there were no South Asian females doing it, so I thought it was a great opportunity in a business sense to create a niche- I market [and target that audience],” she told Buzzfeed in an interview last year.
Singh made $7.5 million this year making her the third highest earning Youtuber. As one would imagine, it requires some business aptitude or ‘hustling’ as Singh likes to call it. Earlier this year, she made a deal with the cosmetic company, Smashbox to release her own line of lipsticks called Bawse. Singh will also release her book How to Be A Bawse :A Guide To Conquering Life in which she tells her readers how to become a bawse (her def: a person who exudes confidence, hurts efficiently and smiles genuinely because he or she has fought it through and made it to the other side) next year in March.
Could it possibly have been all fun and games for Singh? Let’s take a guess. This week Pewdiepie, the world’s richest Youtuber, a Swedish dude who watches video games on camera and provides random commentary has threatened to delete his channel because he thinks Youtube is racist to white people. He said in a video, “They want someone else on top….Someone really extremely cancerous, like Lilly Singh. I’m white. Can I make that comment? But I do think that’s a problem.”
To mark this milestone for Singh, we have collected together some of our favourite videos of the star.
1. How To Make a Sandwich
In this video, Lily responds to a sexist comment left on one of her videos telling her to go to make a sandwich.
2. Get You A Girl Who Can Do Both
In this video, Lily pairs up with Jane The Virgin star Gina Rodriguez. Two women try to juggle a business meeting and a bachelorette party at the same time. Hilarity ensues.
3. Girls On Their Periods.
Singh makes it as real as it gets and doesn’t hold back words when she talks about women on their periods. Our favourite line: (referring to pads) Just like children in an Indian family, if they’re not straight they cause problems.
4. Indian Parents Explain How Babies Are Born
Singh dressed as her parents answers the awkward question every child ask their parents – Where do babies come from? According to Lily’s comedic parents, Paramjeet and Manjeet, if parents exchange a ring it is a sign of permission that they can have babies together. Other such amusing tales on how babies are born are explained by the visibly awkward Indian parents in the video.
5. Three Girls, One Elevator
Part of her campaign GirlLove to reduce girl-on-girl hate, Lily collaborated with actress, Zendaya and model, Winnie Harlow to show us how first impression can prevent us from knowing someone better.