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STORIES WITH POWER: How Lilly Singh is Changing the Narrative
© Courtesy of Unicorn Island
STORIES WITH POWER: How Lilly Singh is Changing the Narrative
BY RAYE MOCIOIU
Lilly Singh is no stranger to storytelling. The award-winning actress, writer, producer, New York Times bestselling author and advocate has long understood that a good story is a superpower—and even more importantly, a tool for sharing knowledge and shifting perspectives.
“Most of what we know is from a story,” she said. “Culture is a story that has been passed down. Every expectation we have is a story we’ve been told. What you believe you can or can not do or be, is a story.”
From her trailblazing start as a digital creator to her pioneering work in TV and film, Singh realized early on that stories were a force for good—and that a platform like hers was exactly the opportunity she needed to spotlight the stories and voices that are often overlooked.
“Stories have the power to transform the way we see, value, and invest in girls and women,” Singh explained. “But storytelling is not often leveraged with intention to challenge negative gender attitudes and beliefs. It’s a commodity we don’t focus on enough.”
Between sharing stories with her worldwide audience, founding a non-profit, and leading her production company, Singh has made it her mission to change that— and her methods come from the very place that stories come to be: her imagination.
TACKLING SHAME FOR GENDER EQUALITY
Whimsical and creative, Unicorn Island was born from Singh’s imagination, but its name is deceptively simple. In 2014, she described Unicorn Island as her happy place—a place of limitless opportunities, where no dream is too grand and no ambition goes unrealized.
In 2018, Singh decided that instead of leaving this place in her dreams, she would bring it to life. Creativity and playfulness are crucial tools in Singh’s quest to challenge societal norms, dismantle shame, and empower girls and women worldwide. If you can change the stories, you can change the culture and, ultimately, the world.
For Singh, shame is a central issue in the fight for gender equality.
“For far too many girls and women around the world, our stories start with shame,” she explained. “We are taught that it is shameful to be anything beyond our assigned role in the family, the culture, the community in which we exist.”
When the building blocks in a girl’s development are rooted in shame, the structure of her future pays the price.
“Shame is weaponized in ways that stunt women’s aspirations—sidelining our talents and preventing our contributions when the global community clearly needs us,” Singh continued. “And the thing about shame is that it gets its power by encouraging us to never talk about it! We’re ashamed to talk about shame. But it is a critical conversation that we need to be having because it’s the key to addressing gender inequity. Shame and equality are mutually exclusive, they simply cannot coexist.”
Unicorn Island is Singh’s way of making sure that these conversations happen—and not just in the background or in quiet corners, but in places where they are noticed and heard. The initiative is made up of two parts: Unicorn Island Productions creates content that reflects the real world, putting a spotlight on underrepresented voices and challenging harmful stereotypes. Meanwhile, Unicorn Island Fund—the charitable arm—addresses the often-taboo topic of shame through storytelling, working to change the cultural narratives that limit girls and women.
“I have come to understand that we will never be able to eradicate gender inequality in this world unless we first address the pervasive shame that supports and promotes it,” she said. “We are exploring proven interventions to address shame, as well as which specific social norms we need to target through our storytelling to loosen the grip of shame that is stunting the potential and spirit of girls.”
STORIES THAT SHAPE CULTURE
Naturally, Singh is a firm believer in the transformative power of stories. Having built a career bringing stories to life in a visual medium, she’s poised to lead the charge when it comes to shifting perspectives through crucial conversations.
“Too often, people believe the only way to help a cause or address an issue is through money,” she noted. “While money is critical for a variety of reasons, tackling culture is essential, and storytelling is key.”
By changing the stories we tell, Singh argues, we can change the culture around how girls and women are treated. Unicorn Island Fund focuses on understanding the social norms perpetuated through stories and finding ways to challenge those norms.
“Unicorn Island Fund sees storytelling as both a tool to raise awareness about gender equality as well as a critical intervention to challenge discriminatory norms that limit girls' and women’s educational and financial opportunities,” she explained. “In order to effectively shape narratives that address these norms, we need to better understand them. We are focused on understanding what negative social norms are learned and perpetuated in storytelling and how they are communicated so that we can better understand what stories to tell, how to tell them and who should be telling them to change attitudes and perceptions.”
There are countless stories to be told and even more ways to tell them. Where to begin?
“Here’s the harsh reality,” Singh answered. “Nearly half of all women are denied the power and agency to make choices about their body. Choices about women’s bodies are largely made by men, for men, or in fear of men. And shame is used as a weapon to ensure girls and women ‘stay in their place.’”
As part of Unicorn Island’s mission to de-weaponize shame, Singh’s latest project, the film Doin' It, takes on the taboo topic of sex and pleasure. The candid comedy aims to open up conversations that many women have never had the opportunity to engage in.
“Many women don’t even know their own bodies—how to care for them, how to advocate for them, how to celebrate them— because they were never taught it mattered or never felt their body was their own. How can you have agency if you don’t know what your body is worth?” Singh asked. “Doin' It is the movie I wish I had growing up. It’s honest. It’s frank. And it is funny!”
EQUALITY ON A GLOBAL SCALE
As Singh explained, shame is not confined to a certain culture or area of the world— it’s everywhere.
“There is no place on earth where women are treated equally to men,” she shared. “Being assigned female at birth should not be a disappointment or disadvantage. Yet billions of women are condemned to lesser lives based solely on their sex at birth. We are prevented from realizing our full potential by social norms that define us as less capable, less valuable and less worthy of effort and investment. And that attitude against women is stagnating, not improving. This must change.”
Outside of production wins, one of the fund’s major successes is its work in India, where it has helped more than 30,000 girls stay in school, avoid early marriage, and learn essential life skills. “We are flipping the script on shame, and we are just getting started,” Singh said.
As one of the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocates—leaders appointed to help accelerate progress of the 17 goals for a better future for all—Singh has a particular focus on Goal 5: achieving gender equality.
“Gender equality underpins the success
of all the SDGs,” she explained. “It is hard to overstate its importance. Girls and women are half of the world's population and hold half of the world's human potential. When we invest in girls and women, the whole world benefits.”
Despite progress, Singh acknowledges that achieving Goal 5 is off track. As part of her work with the UN, she is calling for greater collaboration, funding, and action to prioritize gender equality, warning that failure to do so will jeopardize the entire 2030 Agenda.
“Vitally important as well are the voices of young people, especially girls, who are directly facing the challenges that the SDGs aim to address,” she said. “Yet they are absent from the very rooms and conversations where decisions are being made about their futures. I see my role as a critical convener of conversation and translator of sorts between young people and decision-makers. Everyone should have a seat at the table when it comes to solving the world’s most pressing problems.”
Importantly, Singh recognizes that a cultural shift like this must start from the ground—as it stands, many people are unaware of the SDGs or how they can contribute to achieving them.
“Most people don’t know what an SDG is or who or where the UNGA is,” she said. “In order to make sustainable, inclusive change, the masses need to be involved. Yet there is a knowledge gap between most of us and the people in rooms working on these issues.
It’s not because one group is smarter than the other. It is because many of these issues and conversations are wrapped in acronyms and inaccessibility. We need to uncomplicate things so we know how to help. Everyone has a part to play.”
This is another significant area where storytelling can be used as a pivotal tool. For her part, Singh aims to bridge the knowledge gap and have more people participate in the global conversation, whether online or in person.
“Before we can inspire people to support the SDGs, they have to understand them and what’s at stake. We have to make them care. We have to invite them in,” she said. “We need to normalize not knowing everything so we can normalize learning. This starts with a safe space to ask questions, have honest conversations, and engage with compelling, accessible storytelling.”
Through Unicorn Island, Singh hopes to inspire others to harness storytelling's democratizing power. She emphasizes that stories are a potent and universally accessible resource, often more powerful than money or expertise when it comes to supporting causes. By courageously sharing our own stories, we have the power to reshape that narrative and drive meaningful change.
“Every single person has a story,” she said. “Tell your story. Your story is really, really powerful.”
Let’s change the world by changing the narrative. Visit unicornisland.com/fund to get involved.
