In my life I've gone through a lot of really hard times. I went through depression and had so many challenges that I overcame. And I overcame because I just decided to be happy.
Lilly Singh
Life is designed to knock you down. It will knock you down time and time again, but it doesn't matter how many times you fall - it matters how many times you get back up.
Love who you are, embrace who you are. Love yourself. When you love yourself, people can kind of pick up on that: they can see confidence, they can see self-esteem, and naturally, people gravitate towards you.
You need a really solid foundation of friends and family to keep you where you need to be.
I am not looking for a relationship right now. I have no interest in putting my time or effort into another person, nor do I need another person to put energy into me, OK? Because that's what granola bars are for.
Honestly, I just wear what makes me feel good. So many people come up to me, and they're like, 'Did you know you're a tomboy? You should try wearing dresses.'
There's no escalators - there's only staircases to success. There is no substitute for hard work.
A big part of depression is feeling really lonely, even if you're in a room full of a million people.
Happiness is the only thing worth fighting for in your life.
After a long day at work, I want someone to come home, turn on my video and think, 'Oh my God, how girls get ready? This is hilarious. I love this; I'm forgetting about all my problems.'
My creative process is a bit manic at times, to be honest. I wake up Monday and Thursday stressed because I don't have a video. I usually - with the exception of maybe a handful of videos - wake up, write the video, shoot the video, edit the video, release the video all in the same day.
The sad reality is that girl-on-girl hate is such a big issue in schools, at work, or online, and it never made any sense to me because, as women, we know how awesome other women can be.
I'm by no means an expert at giving advice on depression, but I would say that a lot of my show is about making the decision to be happy. We all think that happiness is something that just falls into our lap. But it's something you have to really work on.
When I used to live in Toronto, I would always be the busiest person out of all my friends... no one could relate to what I was doing. When I'm in L.A., I constantly feel like I'm keeping up with people, and I love that.
It's everyone's responsibility to build up other women rather than tear them down. Be self-aware and proactive. It's not wrong to have those thoughts, but you can change how you respond to those feelings. Take a mental step back, and think about why you're feeling that way.
Everyone's voice should be heard when it comes to racial barriers.
Sometimes I'm having conversations with my friends, and I feel like they can't relate to me anymore. I'm like, 'Oh, my God, let me tell you about my experience on 'Fallon'!' And they'll be like, 'Oh, my God, let me tell you about my trip to the mall!' It sometimes feels lonely.
My inspiration comes from my real life experiences.
Growing up, I was always creatively inclined, and when YouTube came about, it was like getting the perfect platform to showcase what I wanted. Personally, I was going through a dark phase in my life, and I decided to make videos and basically go by the adage, 'If you want to cheer up yourself, go cheer up someone else.'
Superwoman is more of a performer, which Lilly isn't. Having said that, I guess both of them are completely over the top, dramatic and full of energy.
I'm a Beyonce fan, and when I'm looking at her, I'll think 'Oh my God, her life is so awesome, and she made it.'
I always say that when I first started, my videos were very veered towards Indian people.
I'm my own boss, my own editor, my own shooter, my own writer, everything. This is all stuff I learned through trial and error... failing at a lot of things has taught me how to succeed at them eventually... you roll with the punches.
I'm actually not making fun of my real parents. I've taken stereotypical traits of my real parents, my aunts, my uncles and parents of every race and put them into these two characters, who are just over-the-top ridiculous and super-alpha parents about everything.
I was the first South Asian female to do comedy videos on YouTube. But at the same time, all races face their barriers, and I've learned through YouTube, if it's not race, it will be sexism, if it's not sexism, it will be homophobia. It will always be something, and all voices should be heard.
Everyone can relate to the story of fighting for happiness.
The good thing about me is, I only do deals with people that I love to begin with.
I think what people like about my channel is that I am not perfect. I always point to my pimple, my bad hair day... people relate to that. They are watching somebody who is exactly like them and talking about things that they experience as well.
I've discovered home is not a place anymore. It's the people around you.
I am pretty weird - as weird as in my videos. The only difference is Lilly is not a performer, and Superwoman is. So Superwoman is very fearless. You'll never see her nervous. You'll never see her sad. But Lilly is a human. She is the person behind Superwoman, who gets sad and tired sometimes.
I don't know who came up with this idea that it's cool to hate on other girls, 'cause it's not.
I think why my content does so well with so many different types of people is because it speaks to everyone. I'll make a Soca music reference, I'll use a Tamil word, I'll do a Jamaican Patois accent. I know about all these people, and I'm not afraid to indulge in their culture.
The platform got me out of a very dark period of my life, so I love YouTube genuinely.
Everything I do with my day is related to Superwoman. I'm either doing conference calls or writing a script or reading a script, editing a video, shooting a video.
If you want to make YouTube your career, you have to accept that it is also a business. I know everyone's like, 'It's my passion, it's my hobby.' And that's fine; I support that. But if you want to make it your career, it does have a business side.
I know the video platform so, so, so well. I know the perfect mixture of how comedic a piece has to be, what the video has to be like, what the song has to sound like, to make it successful.
When I was coming out of depression, I made one random video. It wasn't funny or anything, but just the idea that people I didn't know were watching it made me feel less alone than I'd felt in a long time.
Competition gives birth to a lot of success, and if no one ever challenged you, you wouldn't go anywhere. It makes sense to compete with others for a promotion at work. But so many women take it a step further and won't even support other women. They end up competing over things that don't make sense - like how we look.
I got into psychology simply because that's what my sister did, and I grew up in a family that was very, like, 'Follow your sister's footsteps.' I went to the same school she went to, did the same degree she did... really had no interest in it, to be honest.
I want my channel to be a place people go even if they don't care about Lilly. I don't want them to have to know about Lilly or care about me as a person to enjoy my content.
On an average day, I will spend 90 percent of my waking moments working on 'Superwoman.' I'm a huge workaholic. My hobby is 'Superwoman.'
I don't say no as much as I should. I'm an extreme workaholic. So I can be sick, and I still say yes to anything. When you are the CEO of your own company, editor of your own videos, your own writer ,and you do every role yourself, you have a hard time saying no to opportunities.
I swear Kim Kardashian's first marriage lasted longer than some of my iPhone chargers.
I'm like, 'I think I'm just going to wear what makes me happy,' so I'm just really big on wearing things that reflect my personality, like colorful hats and weird shoes and things that I just think are fun.
You are not any different. You can do anything you want. So many times, I've been asked what I think of women stand-ups. If you actually look around, there are so many female comedians starring in the biggest TV shows.
On my Superwoman channel, I am more of a performer, I am aiming to make you guys laugh. With vlogs, it's just me and my day, boring or fun.
Sometimes I'll be sitting on Facebook at home and see all these people getting married, having kids, having that life that I was told I should have. And sometimes I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Am I the stupid one here? Am I not doing what I'm supposed to do? And that's also equally as stressful.
I really have this desire to make it known that the Internet exists and YouTubers are important. And not only are YouTubers important, our followings are incredible.
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.'
'Unicorn Island' is the synonym for my happy place. It's a really beautiful message: that happiness is one of the hardest things you'll ever fight for, but it's the only thing worth fighting for.
