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 A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

employees. Rahma is a senior advisor to XTR, a community of documentary filmmakers. Previously, he worked at

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, where his title was Growth Editor. He has been nominated for three Webby awards including Best Individual Performance alongside Sam Morril and Trevor Noah, Best Longform Comedy, and Best Short Form Comedy alongside Trevor Noah and Ted Lasso.

Early life and education

Rahma was born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

and raised in

Mendota Heights, Minnesota Mendota Heights is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. It is a first ring southern suburb of the Twin Cities. The population was 11,744 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a tot ...

. 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 St. Thomas University or University of St. Thomas may refer to: *Saint Thomas Aquinas University, Colombia *Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North, Tucumán province, Argentina *St. Thomas University (Canada), Fredericton, New Brunswick *St. ...

Entertainment and art works

Rahma is known for his comic and creative works. He has served as producer and executive producer for several films, including "

Miracle Fishing A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

: Kidnapped Abroad," and "Ferguson Rises," both of which premiered at

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

. In 2020, he published a collection of poetry called "We Were Promised Flying Cars," a book of

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

about the future. The book, which has been described as dystopian, was promoted through a series of Cameo appearances by celebrities. In 2020, he developed and produced "The Revolution Will be Televised," a video installation piece about police violence in the wake of

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twe ...

's murder. The video piece was projected onto the side of the

Mill City Museum Mill City Museum is a Minnesota Historical Society museum in Minneapolis. It opened in 2003 built in the ruins of the Washburn "A" Mill next to Mill Ruins Park on the banks of the Mississippi River. The museum focuses on the founding and growth o ...

for several nights in June 2020. Since 2022, Rahma has run a popular TikTok series
Keep the Meter Running
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 Nicolas "Nico" Heller, better known as "New York Nico", is an American documentary film director, and social media personality known for his Instagram account @newyorknico. Nicknamed the "Unofficial Talent Scout of New York", Heller uses his platf ...

's short film Out of Order, which debuted at the 2022 Tribeca Festival. Rahma began an Instagram series
Subway Takes
in 2023. 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

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. 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 Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before the ...

. After leaving the Times, Rahma (along with Alexandra Serio and Max Nelson) started a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

project called NYC.TV to bring public access TV online. This project brought short documentary films to

website in a project called Made With Kickstarter. The effort eventually led to the Nameless Network. Prior to working at the New York Times he was the Director of Marketing at

VICE A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

. Rahma created "

Museum of Pizza The Museum of Pizza was a pop-up exhibition, or "selfie museum", of pizza-themed art that took place in Brooklyn, New York, from October 13 to November 16, 2018. The Museum of Pizza, otherwise known as MoPi, hosted over 25,000 people in its six-wee ...

," a pop-up immersive art exhibition focused on pizza. In 2010, he launched SheWearsYourTee.com, a marketing effort wherein

Tanaya Henry Tanaya Henry is an American jewelry designer and model from Minnesota. Career She graduated from Prior Lake Senior High in 2006. Shortly after moving to New York, Henry signed with Wilhelmina Models. Henry gained attention when she became a hum ...

became a walking billboard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rahma, Kareem Living people 1986 births American humorists 21st-century American comedians American film producers People from Minnesota