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Lilly Singh launches HYPHEN8 for South Asian digital creators
HYPHEN8 aims to empower South Asian YouTube creators with better monetization, brand partnerships, and authentic storytelling.
Lilly Singh / Instagram
Indian-origin media personality and entrepreneur Lilly Singh has launched HYPHEN8, a media network that aims to uplift and empower South Asian YouTube creators.
Co-founded in partnership with Skara Ventures—a family office recognized for supporting underrepresented founders—HYPHEN8 is set to address the gaps Singh encountered during her early days as a content creator. The network will focus on direct advertising sales, enhanced monetization opportunities, and brand-creator collaborations.
According to Entrepreneur, Singh emphasized the platform’s mission by saying, "Advice is great, but you know what's even better? It's me being able to say, 'I'm going to bring you business.'"
Singh, who began her content creation journey on YouTube in 2010, said the lack of resources and representation for South Asian creators was a major motivator behind this new initiative.
"When I began posting on YouTube in 2010, there weren't many resources to create content, especially for someone that looks like me," she recalled in the Entrepreneur interview. "Mentors were hard to come by, monetizing was a challenge, brands seemed uninterested in reaching a South Asian audience, and there were few South Asian-owned brands to partner with."
Despite those initial hurdles, Singh gained immense popularity, amassing over 14 million subscribers on YouTube and later transitioning to mainstream media. She made history as the first woman of Indian descent to host a late-night talk show in the United States with NBC’s A Little Late with Lilly Singh, which aired from 2019 to 2021.
Following her late-night television career, Singh launched Unicorn Island, a production company and foundation dedicated to telling untold stories and spotlighting underrepresented voices. She also wrote, produced, and starred in her debut feature film, Doin' It, which is set to release later this year.
With HYPHEN8, Singh is now turning her focus toward building a comprehensive support system for the new wave of South Asian digital creators.
"Today, the media landscape is much stronger for South Asian creators," she said.
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