As Superwoman Lilly Singh heads to the man's world of late night TV, Trevor Noah shares a special welcome message
Late night TV has been a man’s world for far too long, and we all know who is breaking the glass ceiling of that world soon – “It’s your girl, Superwoman.” Lilly Singh, who started her career as a YouTuber, will soon be the first queer woman of color to ever host a network late-night show, with ‘A Little Late With Lilly Singh.’
That is already a lot of firsts, but as her OG fans know, Lilly’s journey – which began with a small YouTube video shared on her channel under the pseudonym IISuperwomanII in October 2010 - has been far from easy or unplanned. The Indian-Canadian YouTuber has spoken at length about her mental health problems and how she turned to the social media platform while she was depressed. In 2017, though, she was ranked 10th on Forbes’ list of best paid YouTube stars, earning a reported $10.5 million.
The videos that were meant to be a distraction for her soon became the source of happiness to many around the world, and she currently has over 14 million subscribers and 3 billion views. From portraying caricatures of her parents Paramjeet and Manjeet to creating quality and unique content on current social media trends, Lilly has managed to stay on top of the YouTube game for almost two decades and one can’t help but be impressed by it.
During this long, inspiring and certainly tedious journey, she has collaborated with not just fellow YouTubers, but also a bunch of celebrities including Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez, Seth Rogen, James Franco, Kunal Nayyar, Noah Schnapp, Priyanka Chopra, Shay Mitchell, and Amber Rose. Beyond this, renowned Bollywood stars like Madhuri Dixit, Varun Dhawan, and Kareena Kapoor have also featured on her videos.
She has gone on a world tour ‘A Trip to Unicorn Island’ covering India, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom and the United States in 2015 and recreated the format of her YouTube content on stage for her fans. She also wrote her first book ‘How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life,’ on March 28, 2017.
As a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, to advocate for children's rights, she has also been a role model in more ways than one for all her fans. In 2017 she led a campaign called "GirlLove", promoting girls to end girl-on-girl hate, which included the sale of "GirlLove" rafiki bracelet, the sales of which helped around a thousand of girls to gain an education. She also traveled to South Africa as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2018 to meet the students of elementary schools who spoke against bullying and classroom violence.
Her stardom is untouchable and her journey is impressive. Despite all the firsts she would be making, this is what makes Lilly the perfect host for NBC newly opened time slot. She is going to be the captain steers the network to the future – a future that will undeniable be dominated by streaming; who better to do it that the woman that conquered one of the first and biggest streaming platforms?
It’s official. Ya girl is getting her own @nbc late night show... A Little Late with Lilly Singh. Thank you so much for being here. I am truly so grateful. ❤️
— Lilly Singh (@IISuperwomanII) March 15, 2019
Thank you @jimmyfallon @sethmeyers pic.twitter.com/h44HoPRtel
Even the boys of late night TV realize that it’s the dawn of something new at NBC, and that was evident from how Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers welcomed Lilly into their “family.” Fellow talk show host of color, Trevor Noah, also had only optimistic words for Lilly and shared this welcome message for the new host ahead of the premiere of ‘A Little Late with Lilly’ exclusively through MEA WorldWide (MEAWW):
Hey Lilly, I’m so excited that you are getting your own show because you are such an amazing talent. Hosting a late night show is a lot of fun but when times get tough, all you have to do is remember how you felt when you first heard that you were getting your own late night show and that will push you through. Either that or read the comments section. All the best.