This week, we took one of Muslamic Makers members and put him under our spotlight.
Brothers & sisters, meet Mustafa Rashid.
Digital Marketing & Content Creator
In retrospect some would call it falling upwards, others would call it hard earned, being melodramatic I'd call it destiny. I took to using a computer like a fish to water when I was about 8 years old and by the time I was ready to pick my GCSE's I was proficient at ICT and ahead of the class in HTML (thanks to myspace & piczo).
At the same time, I was exploring different aspects of digital media from photography, photoshop, video editing etc all within my living room. I didn't formally take media studies in my GCSE's, instead I used to volunteer to help my friends who were working on their coursework including acting, camera, editing etc. This led to picking up media studies, IT & Computing at college and then at university and it was a natural path.
After graduation, I found myself a little lost. Instead of going into a 9-5, I decided to migrate to my family business and build an online platform, which formed a gateway into digital marketing. I then decided to join the ranks of 9-5 and now I’m starting my 5th year in a digital agency, working with global brands such as BBC, ITV & NHS.
Alhumdulilah, I found myself quite lucky to be working in a majority muslim workspace. Prayers are offered in Jamaat, Ramadan has reduced time and they understand that we don't know what date Eid will be and happily accommodate. Some employees who partake in 40 days Jamaat get the time off
I start work at 8am and finish by 4pm (as opposed to 10-6 when in the office). Ideally once i finish at 4 I will take a break and then work on my ecommerce site & other side projects but i just nap for a few hours, pray, eat and watch a movie or an Islamic lecture. Weekends are spent doing household maintenance & trying to take a break from what use to be a very outgoing and busy lifestyle before the lockdown.
Last year I spent a lot of time focusing on my 9-5 and it took a lot out of me, resulting in burnout. I've spent about 6 months now recovering and i can feel a comeback approaching. I’ve refreshed my main eCommerce business during the quarantine and I'm planning a return to my passionate project, Movie & TV reviews. I've experimented with a few new things and I feel that very soon I'll be able to bring something very special to light. But only when I'm ready - remember, you are more important than your content.
Faith is a compass and everyone has their own internal compass. We all have our own morals and values and what might be right for some may not be right for you. My top tip is to pray for guidance and then follow through with it.
There was a project that I worked on for a year and gave it everything I had & i learnt a lot about myself through it. More recently, I got over 1.5 million impressions on an Instagram filter I made.
I'd like YouTube because of the diversity of the topics.
“In life, much like in Bruce Springsteen songs, you can either stay and rot, or you can escape and burn.”
I really enjoy talking about film and media from different prospectives, for example right now my thing is Muslim and south asian representation in sci-fi movies.
If you would like to get in touch with Mustafa, here are his details: