“✅Female
✅Coloured
✅Bisexual
Throughout my life these have proved to be obstacles from time to time. But now I’m fully embracing them as my superpowers.
No matter how many boxes you check, I encourage you to do the same. X”
This is the post that Lilly Singh wrote when she came out on Twitter. She then revealed on her own Late Show “Little Late With Lilly Singh” that coming out, especially as a YouTube celebrity of Indian origins, wasn’t easy: “coming out was try one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. Not to mention, coming to terms with being queer and being Indian. There’s a lot of homophobia in the Indian community. In fact, when I came out, people told me that I’d lose all my popularity, all of my fans, and all of my business in India. But then, I didn’t. Turns out, in a place with 1.3. billion people, a lot of them don’t give an F about who I give an F”.
Lilly Singh is the first YouTube comedian of South Asian origins, which is one of the reasons that actually inspired her to open her channel. Many of her viewers are South Asian immigrants living in the US, Canada, UK and Australia, and the majority of them follow her since 2010, when she uploaded her first video titled “How to Tie a Side Turla Bhangra Pagh (Turban)”, back when she used the nickname “Superwoman”. On her channel, Lilly speaks openly about periods and depression, does make-up tutorials while she stresses how important it could be put make- up just for yourself, or she sits on the couch with her family and interviews them to share their traditions. Lilly recently declared that she identifies more with a storyteller rather than a comedian, since she’s incorporating more serious themes in her videos and speeches.
With a fresh and ironic tone, she brings to the spotlight issues such as the underrepresentation of People of Color. She is proud of what she has achieved for reasons that go beyond her talent: seeing finally a queer Indian woman hosting her own show can be a wake-up call to the heads of the media industry, and for her viewer as well. Of course, her talent must also be recognized, and at just 31 years old she has been listed by Forbes as one of the most influential Youtubers.
But there’s more: Lilly Singh also took part to significant projects, becoming UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador and advocating for access to education for young girls. She travelled to South Africa and the rural areas of India to support young girls that struggle with child marriages, bullying and sexual assaults.
We are so inspired by Lilly Singh’s philanthropy and her way of doing comedy!
Written by WAVE Intern: Fabiola Adamo
Sources:
CNN entertainment: www.edition.cnn.com
FLARE: www.flare.com
UNICEF: www.unicef.org
YouTube: www.youtube.com
