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.
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.'
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.
The good thing about me is, I only do deals with people that I love to begin with.
Everyone's voice should be heard when it comes to racial barriers.
A majority of my YouTube friends I've made because I made a trip down to California and literally tweeted them saying, 'Hey! Come over - let's shoot something!' And then two strangers will just meet up, talk, and shoot something.
I want to do everything I can possibly do to step outside the box.
I've had fans do some pretty awesome things... I once had a fan do a mock proposal for me in Mumbai, inside a McDonalds... and I've had fans give me some precious things. I had one fan give me her mother's ring; I've gotten some pretty intense stuff. And I always get drawings and scrapbooks from fans, which is also pretty cool.
The majority of people call or message me because they need something or they want something. You never know what people's intentions are.
I'm an extreme workaholic.
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.
I just love what I do so much.
When I was younger, I always wanted to be someone in the entertainment industry.
I like to describe my stuff as observational comedy.
The parent characters that I portray are Indian because I grew up in an Indian household. Having said that, I feel like people of all cultures would relate to those parents.
When I started out the videos, I was dealing with depression, and I wanted to make inspiring videos for others, which would end up inspiring me in turn. I wanted to show the world that it was possible to make a positive switch in life and start over.
Independent content these days can be more successful than previously because of the power of social media. However, there are still systems in place to make sure independent artists don't get as far as signed ones.
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.
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 no matter what you do. The best you can do as an entertainer or as someone who performs is to follow what you believe in.
