While we’ve been busy getting used to the new normal during this ongoing pandemic, Nuseir Yassin has been focussing on creating content to uplift the spirit and mood of people during this difficult time.
For the 28-year-old Israeli-Arab travel vlogger, better known to millennials and social media users as Nas Daily, the journey has been nothing short of extraordinary. He gained global fame through his fun 1000 daily one-minute videos—most of them documenting his travels across the world, where he would take his audience to both – a homeless village in Hawaii and a luxury resort in Phuket.
In an exclusive interview with Outlook’s Eshita Bhargava, Nuseir Yassin tells us about his journey, how videos are the language of the future, and much more.
You started NAS Daily in 2016 and today you have more than 30 million followers on across platforms. What has the journey been like for you?
Nas Daily was started as an excuse to meet more people, and now I am thankful to have met 30 million people. In the future, we would love to meet 100 million people and share our message with them. We are 30% of the way there!
What influenced you to make videos?
It is very important to distinguish that we are not just another video production company. We are a storytelling company and we specialise in narrating stories, and videos happen to be the medium for it.
We strongly believe that the best way to tell stories and share messages is not through texts, but videos.
How do you think, these videos are impacting youth?
We view this as more than just video making. We take this mission very seriously – In our videos, we focus on positivity as we share stories of people, companies, organisations who are doing their part to make the world a better place. We hope to inspire the youth with these videos, and encourage them to make a change the world so badly needs.
What’s your motivation?
Our motivation at Nas Daily as a company — is to leave a net positive mark on the world no matter how small or big we are.
What are your expansion plans in India and globally?
We don't have specific plans for expansion in India yet, but we have 10 teammates that are based there. While we wouldn't call it an office, I'd say we are very much in India already, remotely. 1/7th of the world is in India so we definitely have to be there!
We have recently expanded to Dubai. For the time being, we feel that Dubai has what it takes to tackle the future and we are excited to be a part of this journey for years to come. Our headquarters remain in Singapore, but the operations in Dubai and India will be an extension for Nas Studios and Nas Academy. On Nas Studios' front, we will continue providing media services for clients; and on Nas Academy's front, we will continue training individuals as well as companies to be better at content creation in the Middle East region.
At the end of the day, Nas Daily means People Daily, and people come from more than 195 countries around the world. We would like our content to be viewed in every single country in the world, and have a much larger presence in different regions moving forward. Currently, we are 2 out of many (Singapore & UAE), and we are en route to expanding more in the future.
Most people would think that travelling all over the world and uploading Facebook videos is the most fun job in the world. What are some of the challenges you face every day?
Most people want to have fun, but they are not willing to work to earn it. If people knew how hard it is to take this off, they may not want this life after all, because the fun may not be worth all the effort behind-the-scenes. But for us, it certainly is.
Tell us something about your vision for Nas Studios and probable partnerships with tourism boards and companies in India?
We are in touch with many big companies in India to help tell their stories. Our goal is to tell more stories of people, companies and more in India. So far, we've done it in collaboration with Facebook and OYO, and we are looking forward to work with other brands like BYJU and more!
We think the future for India is bright, along with our presence in India.
And about your academy (NAS Academy) and how it is empowering youth to become content creators? Are you planning to launch an India Specific course?
At Nas Academy, we plan to fill the gap the exists in the world right now, where universities do not teach these skills because it's so new, and online videos don't tell you enough about it. With us, we hope to hold their hands and guide them on how to navigate this world of social media and digital storytelling. So far, we've graduated 1000 students, and we hope to do a million more!
So far, we do have plans to launch an India-specific course yet.
If you had just one tip to give to aspiring video creators, what would it be?
Join Nas Academy! Today's world is video, but making videos is hard. It took me 270 videos to finally get it. I had to start from scratch and learn everything myself. This stuff isn't easy or straightforward, that's why we started Nas Academy to help everyone who wants to be a part of this content creation journey. We want to teach what we have learned along the way, to help give aspiring creators a much-needed push!
