MY HERO – LILLY SINGH

Canadian-American comedian and YouTuber Lilly “Superwoman” Singh took Twitter by storm when she, on her 27th birthday, formed an Twitter army when she established the #GirlLoveChallenge. The hashtag was a huge success, involving women to share some love to other women to “end girl-on-girl hate.” Superwoman took the internet by storm again with her trip to Kenya to help send girls in Kenya to school by selling Rafiki’s, bracelets popular in Africa, hand-made by African moms whom she has met. She sold them to employ women for a fair wage, and to help build schools in Africa for young girls. She ended up selling over 30,000 bracelets. According to Google Trends, Google searches for “GirlLove” spiked when she released “The Most Important Video You’ll Watch Today,” on YouTube promoting a reboot of the Rafiki bracelets on her 29th birthday. Lilly was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada to Indian parents.

She spent thousands of dollars on tuition to get a master’s degree in psychology. Around the time when she was 21, she started combating severe depression. To try to take her mind off of that, in about October 2010, she started a YouTube channel under the nickname “IISuperwomanII,” which she has stated came from her childhood, where she imagined that there was an invisible “S” on her chest, giving her courage and strength. Posting new videos every Monday and Thursday, her YouTube channel boasts 13+ million subscribers and 2.4+ billion total views. Lilly also teamed up with Smashbox Cosmetics to make a matte liquid lipstick called Bawse, wrote her own book called “How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life,” starred in her own YouTube Red feature film, “A Trip to Unicorn Island,” along with a world tour, in which she met over 600,000 fans. Lilly, in her videos, usually tries to make a joke out of everything, and typically uses an alter ego called “Zoomed-In Lilly”, where she steps closer to the camera and has a mini conversation with herself.

Normally, she is really bubbly, and she tries to empower young girls. She has also a tradition called “12 Collabs of Xmas,” where for twelve days she does twelve collaborations, which she has done with celebs such as Will Smith, Chelsea Handler, Shane Dawson, and Dwayne Johnson.“If Talk Shows Were Honest,” with Chelsea Handler“How To Speak Internet 101,” with Will Smith“When Your BF Acts Different Around His Friends,” with Dwayne Johnson“Really Offensive Video,” with Shane DawsonLilly helped so many women and girls get jobs and go to school. She sold 300,000+ Rafiki’s and helped over 700 girls gain access to education. She helped a handful of African moms get jobs for a fair wage. She formed a Twitter movement to help spread #GirlLove, which many celebrities took part in. Because of the massive support, Lilly reflected on Instagram, “Have you accepted The #GirlLove Challenge yet? […] But remember, The #GirlLove Challenge isn’t just for actresses, models, singers or women in the public eye, it’s for all our mothers, sisters, best friends, classmates and co-workers. #GirlLove starts with you and affects us all! So watch the video (link in bio), accept the challenge and spread the word! We’re in this together. ” She was also in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and was named Forbes’ Top Influencer.

I chose Lilly as my hero because she is one of my favorite YouTubers, she always makes the best of everything and chooses to stay positive, and she helped so many young girls gain access to education. She inspires me to help other charities by doing something I love.