Kareem Rahma

Kareem Rahma
Kareem Rahma in Chinatown in 2023.
Born
Kareem Ahmed

Cairo, Egypt
Alma materUniversity of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Kareem Rahma is an Egyptian-American comedian, artist, and media entrepreneur. He is one of the founders of Nameless Network, a media company started by a group of former Vice employees.[1][2] Rahma is a senior advisor to XTR, a community of documentary filmmakers.[3] Previously, he worked at The New York Times, where his title was Growth Editor.[4]

He has been nominated for three Webby awards including Best Individual Performance[5] alongside Sam Morril and Trevor Noah, Best Longform Comedy,[6] and Best Short Form Comedy[7] alongside Trevor Noah and Ted Lasso.

Early life and education

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Rahma was born in Cairo and raised in Mendota Heights, Minnesota.[1][8] He received his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and attended the master of business communication program at the University of St. Thomas.

Entertainment and art works

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Rahma is known for his comic and creative works. He has served as producer and executive producer for several films, including "Miracle Fishing: Kidnapped Abroad," and "Ferguson Rises," both of which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival.[9][10][11]

In 2020, he published a collection of poetry called "We Were Promised Flying Cars," a book of haiku about the future.[12] The book, which has been described as dystopian, was promoted through a series of Cameo appearances by celebrities.[1][13]

In 2020, he developed and produced "The Revolution Will be Televised," a video installation piece about police violence in the wake of George Floyd's murder. The video piece was projected onto the side of the Mill City Museum for several nights in June 2020.[14][8]

Since 2022, Rahma has run a popular TikTok series, Keep the Meter Running.[15][16][8] In the series, Rahma enters a cab in New York City, asks the driver to take him to their favorite spot in the city, and keep the meter running. The most viral video of the series has almost 8 million views on the app.

Also in 2022, Rahma starred in Nicolas Heller's short film Out of Order, which debuted at the 2022 Tribeca Festival.[17][18][19][8]

Rahma began an Instagram series, Subway Takes, in 2023.[20] In it, Rahma wears a 'big suit' and interviews people in the New York City subway, using a microphone clipped to a MetroCard.

Media career

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In 2021, Rahma and Andrew Kuo co-founded the podcast company SomeFriends, which is focused on elevating BIPOC stories and talent, with the mission of entertaining everybody.[21]

As Growth Editor at the New York Times, Rahma produced the outlet's first vertical video, a profile of Ryder Ripps that was available through Snapchat.[22] After leaving the Times, Rahma (along with Alexandra Serio and Max Nelson) started a Kickstarter project called NYC.TV to bring public access TV online.[23] This project brought short documentary films to The New York Times website in a project called Made With Kickstarter.[24] The effort eventually led to the Nameless Network. Prior to working at the New York Times he was the Director of Marketing at VICE.

Rahma created "Museum of Pizza," a pop-up immersive art exhibition focused on pizza.[25][8]

In 2010, he launched SheWearsYourTee.com, a marketing effort wherein Tanaya Henry became a walking billboard.[26]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Egyptian-American artist Kareem Rahma's hard-hitting haiku". Arab News. 2019-09-23. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
  2. ^ "This Made-for-Instagram Pizza Museum Actually Has Great Art". www.vice.com. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  3. ^ "About | XTR – BASED ON A TRUE STORY". XTR. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  4. ^ "Preorder Kareem Rahma's Modern Poetry Collection, We Were Promised Flying Cars". The Knockturnal. 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  5. ^ "NEW Webby Gallery + Index". NEW Webby Gallery + Index. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  6. ^ "NEW Webby Gallery + Index". NEW Webby Gallery + Index. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  7. ^ "Vote for the best of the Internet". vote.webbyawards.com. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  8. ^ a b c d e Tribune, Neal Justin Star. "Minnesota-raised comic Kareem Rahma is taking the internet by storm". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  9. ^ "Miracle Fishing: Kidnapped Abroad | 2021 Tribeca Festival". Tribeca. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  10. ^ "Ferguson Rises | 2021 Tribeca Festival". Tribeca. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  11. ^ "Kareem Rahma". IMDb. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  12. ^ Rahma, Kareem (2019). We were promised flying cars : 100 haiku from the future. Brooklyn, NY. ISBN 978-1-945711-11-4. OCLC 1120694874.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ "In latest book, Kareem Rahma captures what we're all scared of". sports.yahoo.com. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
  14. ^ Martin, Liv (2020-06-12). "Artist Kareem Rahma projects names and images of black people killed by police onto the side of the Gold Medal building". Sahan Journal. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
  15. ^ "The TikTok Travelogues That Remind Everyone of Anthony Bourdain". Vanity Fair. 2022-12-22. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  16. ^ "Taxi drivers reveal NYC's best food and more in TikTok series". 2022-11-07. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  17. ^ "Watch the trailer for 'Out of Order,' New York Nico's directorial debut". Brooklyn Magazine. 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  18. ^ "New York Nico Finds The Humor In NYC's Bathroom Shortage". Nylon. 2022-06-10. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  19. ^ Mier, Tomás (2022-06-11). "New York Nico's Directorial Debut Is Exactly What You'd Picture: Funny Ass Chaos". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  20. ^ "How a Subway Talk Show Won Over the Internet (and Olivia Wilde)". GQ. 2023-09-20. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
  21. ^ White, Peter (2021-05-18). "Andrew Kuo & Kareem Rahma Launch Podcast Company SomeFriends To Promote Diversity In Audio Space, Preps Debut Slate". Deadline. Retrieved 2022-08-15.
  22. ^ Ryder Ripps: Snapchat Tour of "Alone Together" (Produced by Kareem Rahma for The New York Times), retrieved 2021-05-14
  23. ^ Willett-Wei, Megan. "Former employees from 3 media juggernauts have launched a Kickstarter to bring public access TV online". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  24. ^ "Made With Kickstarter – The New York Times". The New York Times. 10 March 2015. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
  25. ^ Passy, Charles (2018-09-24). "Pizza Museum Aims to Be Upper Crust of Pop-Up Exhibitions". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
  26. ^ "SheWearsYourTee.com is part of her body of work". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2021-05-12.
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