I first came across American-Indian comedian Lilly Singh's You Tube videos about five years ago.
I remember finding one of her videos on my social media feed. It was satirising a traditional South Asian upbringing with the more liberal parenting of the average Anglo girl. I remember screaming with laughter in my bed and then sharing it with everyone I knew.
She was a fast-talking, larger-than-life performer with a keen eye for impersonation and satire, using her eclectic mix of Bollywood and pop culture knowledge, her life as an Indian-American diaspora kid and her mix of self-love and mental health messages to build a huge and loyal fan base. She started her channel, "Superwoman" in 2010 - and today her follower count has blown out to over 14 million.
In any other world, she would have had a fast track in TV. Earlier this year, nearly a decade since she launched her Youtube channel, Singh was snapped up by NBC and is now the first woman of colour to front a late-night show on the US network.
Similarly, 34-year-old American-Indian comedian Hassan Minhaj's rise involved detours he recounts in his 2017 Netflix special Homecoming King including encountering racism and seeking work in advertisements before landing his big break on Comedy Central's The Daily Show and finding a home for his 2019 show Patriot Act on Netflix.
For both of them, like many people of colour (POC), mainstream recognition and inclusion was late coming and fuelled by their internet popularity.
Diversity Arts Australia's shows the depressing whiteness of Australia's culture, media and art industries at leadership level. It surveyed 200 of Australia’s leading arts and culture organisations. It found that while culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people form 39 per cent of society, over half of the organisations surveyed had no CALD leadership representation. Like Nil. Nada. Zero.
Why does this matter? Leadership (as opposed to front-line, low level or on-air talent) choose what's good, and what they think is good is often filtered by their perspectives, preferences and biases. I'm not sure a middle-aged white boss at NBC would be watching Lilly on YouTube in his bed like I was. But, like a brick through a window, he cannot fail to notice her huge numbers.
The news is no surprise to many people of colour. Many of my contemporaries privately share heartbreaking stories of working in these cultural silos of whiteness. The lack of development and promotion - and the exclusion - makes creating a sustainable career, let alone one with leadership ambitions, impossible in these industries.
For many like Singh, the goal is no longer mainstream inclusion but to take advantage of the vast power of the internet to create self-generated social media followings such as blogs, YouTube channels and podcasts.
This can come at a cost, and requires a level of entrepreneurial hustle, dedication and self-funding many can't and shouldn't have to be able to afford. It's the kind of development our industries should be investing money in today.
If not it will continue to cost our creative industries - not only in terms of the breadth of stories that become a part of our cultural narrative, but increasingly in untapped revenue and relevance.
It's a lesson that in Australia, we are learning too late.
