From battling depression to being the highest paid female YouTuber, Lilly Singh is indeed a Superwoman. YouTube sensation Lilly Singh aka “Superwoman” is now one of the YouTube’s highest-paid stars in the World and her story will certainly inspire all of us.
Born to Sukhwinder Singh and Malwinder in 1988 in Toronto, she was raised in the Sikh tradition. Being the youngest one in the family, she was given a little extra love and was a tomboy as a child.
Graduating from Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute, she acquired a degree in Psychology from York University in 2010. In her final years of college, Lilly’s grandfather, with whom she had a strong bond, passed away. Unable to withstand the emptiness, she went through a severe depression.
After passing degree, she took a year-long break not knowing what to do with her life. She shared her feelings saying “ I remember writing the applications for my Masters and then going ‘Oh my god! I don’t even want to do these applications, how am I going to do this for four years? It was during that time, between sending applications, that I decided on doing YouTube videos seriously and I already had a few videos out at that time. At that moment, 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.”
She also expressed how she felt like a Bollywood star saying: “I was on a vacation in Mexico with my family and going for a walk, it was so like Bollywood, sat at the beach and had a talk with myself. I think for the first time I asked myself – ‘What makes you happy? What do you want to do?’ And the answer was: ‘Entertaining people makes me really happy.’ ‘What am I doing right now that involves that? I am making YouTube videos. So let’s put all my effort into that and see where it goes.’ The second I flew back home, I started making YouTube videos.”
She is fondly known as “Superwoman” and this terrible idea came from her childhood that she had an invisible ‘S’ on her chest, which made her believe that she can do anything she wanted to.
Her video mainly emphasizes on the typical Punjabi and Indian cultures and are satirical on how things are going in the desi world. Her video “How girls get ready” is the most popular videos till date. She also makes documentaries on her meet with elite celebrities like Michelle Obama, Priyanka Chopra, Shah Rukh Khan, Dwayne Johnson among many others.
Lilly was ranked third by Forbes for being the highest paid YouTube stars earning a reported $7.5 million in 2016. Her channel accumulated around 11 million subscribers within few months when her channel went live.
Her channel Superwoman is currently in the top 100 most subscribed on YouTube. This month, she is all set to release her first book “How To Be A Bawse: A Guide To Conquering Life.”
Lilly has her own freedom of expression: “No matter what I put out, somebody will be offended. I made a video on 10 reasons to smile, and it has dislikes. That should be an indication that there will be some who get offended not matter what you do. The best you can do as an entertainer or as someone who performs is to follow what you believe in.
You can’t really do anything else. If you say ‘I don’t want to offend anyone’ then don’t get on stage. Just ask yourself ‘Do I think it is right? Do I think it is offensive? And do I think that everyone is okay to hear this? If I truly believe this then I should go and do this.”
Well, do you have any other stories to get inspired from? Do share them in the comments box.
