As we greet the Muslim community a blessed feast of sacrifice! Few days ago, Philippines most respected journalist of GMA-7, our Asia journalist of all times Jessica Soho through her show Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (One at Heart, Jessica Soho) currently the top-rating primetime News and Public Affairs program featuring socio-cultural stories, current issues, food features, lifestyle trends and special events worldwide, interviewed Nuseir Yassin (Arabic: نصير ياسين, Hebrew: נוסייר יאסין born February 9,1992, 29 years old) an Arab Israeli video blogger and graduated in Harvard University known as Nas Daily is one of the most successful content creators in the world.
The Israeli-Palestinian vlogger, who famously chronicled his journey around the world for 1,000 days, has more than 20 million followers on Facebook and over 3 million subscribers on YouTube.
However, Nuseir did not achieve his success overnight, and he certainly did not do it alone.
In an exclusive digital interview with “Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho,” Nas opened up about his struggles growing up as a “brown” person and how he still had to make a bigger change showing the bright side if the world.
Started with his life and career
Before he was “Nas Daily,” Nuseir was born in Arraba, Israel, to an Arab Muslim family of Palestinian descent. As a Palestinian Arab with Israeli citizenship, Yassin describes himself as a “Palestinian Israeli”. He is the second of four children; his mother is a teacher and his father is a psychologist. Yassin’s native language is Palestinian Arabic; he also speaks English and non-fluent Hebrew. Although he was raised as a Muslim, he has since largely stopped practicing Islam and has declared himself as a “non-religious Muslim”.
Yassin applied to Harvard University in the United States at the age of 19, seeking a degree in aerospace engineering, and received a scholarship.His application essay detailed his struggle to achieve his dreams as an ethnic Arab born in Israel.He graduated with a degree in economics in 2014 and a minor in computer science. While earning his degree, Yassin co-founded a pay-it-forward registration service, and a social media search engine.
In September 2014, he started working as a software developer for Venmo, a mobile payment service owned by PayPal, in New York.But he felt the need to make his life more meaningful so he decided to travel the world and made immersive videos about his adventures.
“I wanted to do something with the internet, something with social media. And so that’s why videos was the most powerful way to tell a message,” Nuseir told Jessica Soho.
“So I left my job and I started making videos every single day for a thousand days.”
Nas Daily Facebook Page
In 2016, Yassin quit his job at Venmo and decided to explore the world, with the intention of documenting his travels and experiences on as Nas Daily (Arabic: الناس, romanized: Al-Nās, lit.’People’), where he would create and release a one-minute-long video daily video. This resulted in his creating of a Facebook page known for 1,000 days. After meeting Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in early 2018, Nas Daily was upgraded to “show” status and by September 2018, his page had amassed over 8 million followers.By November of the same year, this number had risen to over 10 million.
All of Yassin’s one-minute daily videos are posted to Facebook. Yassin stated in 2017 that he does not post the videos to YouTube for a multitude of reasons, including his friends not being present on the platform.
Nas Daily Official YouTube Channel
In 2019, he started to upload old videos of his on his official YouTube channel Nas Daily Official. The videos are shot using an SLR camera with an attached microphone, and are then edited before being released the next day.On average, each video takes around six hours to shoot and three hours to edit. In the beginning, the topics for Yassin’s video were suggestions provided by his Facebook followers.Each video ended with the tagline: “That’s one minute, see you tomorrow!”
Yassin’s collaborators include his girlfriend Alyne Tamir, an American Israeli video-maker of Mormon and Jewish background and Agon Hare, a video blogger and musician from Poland.
Due to the popularity of the videos with non-English speaking audiences, subtitles are provided in various languages, such as Hindi, Chinese and Arabic.
After Nas Daily
Yassin finished the 1000 daily video journey on 5 January 2019, ending the last video with the tagline: “That’s one minute, see you soon.” On 1 February 2019, he started making one video per week, for a planned 100 weeks until the beginning of 2021.
He previously lived in Singapore, but currently resides in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.His memoir, Around the World in 60 Seconds: The Nas Daily Journey, was released on 5 November 2019.
In 2020, Yassin created Nas Academy, a school for video creators and Nas Studios, a video-production studio. He also released a series of podcasts.
‘Secret sauce’
Nas Daily’s Facebook page is currently followed by 20 million users, and he continues to update his followers with fresh content every chance he gets.
When asked what he thought the “secret sauce” to his online success, Nuseir stressed that you don’t need looks to get a message across.
“I think it’s because I scream. The way you talk dictates who listens. The voice, the volume, the pacing. It’s not even the looks,” he said.
“What comes out of your mouth is a lot more important than how you look in today’s world and that’s why Nas Daily succeeded.”
Why he loves the Philippines
Nas Daily first said Mabuhay to the Philippines about five years ago.
In all his travels, Nuseir said Filipinos were among the hospitable people he has ever met.
In fact, he said about 10% of his staff is Filipino, including some of his best editors.
“A lot of my followers are Filipinos so it made sense to start this company in the Philippines and empower the creators there,” he said.
Nuseir was referring to Nas Academy, an online platform where creators, learners and business owners can learn from various “teachers” who have made their mark on their respective fields.
Making a change; ‘Be angry’
Despite being loud and lively on-camera, Nuseir opened up about experiencing his own share of struggles for being a minority.
Instead of letting negativity take over, Nuseir found a positive outlet where he can also educate people in the process.
According to Nuseir, making a chance is one of Nas Daily’s main goals.
“It’s not about the fame. It’s not about the selfies and all that stuff. It’s about showing the world that a Filipino can be successful. An Arab can be successful. You can have a voice if you’re black, if you’re white,” he told Jessica Soho.
“And so that’s why it matters to us. Media is all about, you know, telling stories. And it’s about time we hear stories from Filipinos, by Filipinos, from Arabs, by Arabs,” he added.
Apart from seeing the world’s most beautiful sights, the vlogger is famous for shedding light on some serious socio-political issues in the countries he visits.
“You know, I think a lot of people should be more angry, especially in the Philippines,” Nuseir said.
“Maybe there’s not enough running water in the province, for example. You should be angry if there is poverty.”
Nas also gave a message to his Filipino fans: “Be angry.”
“I think you should get angry to fix things. There’s a lot of things that need to be fixed, so be more angry. Just screams and—scream and unite,” he said.
Jessica Soho is one of Filipino creators tapped by Nas Daily to share knowledge on ‘Nas Academy’
Nas also shared why he thinks so many people watch his videos, and how the Philippines and the Filipino people became so close to his heart.
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