Singapore— In a recent interview, Nuseir Yassin—more popularly known as Nas from the extremely popular Nas Daily videos, spoke enthusiastically about his life in Singapore at present.
A self-described Palestinian-Israeli who was educated at Harvard University, Nas gained popularity online over the last three years as he posted short, upbeat videos from his travels.
Nas moved to Singapore in April, where he now lives and operates his business.
The travel vlogger was interviewed by TODAY Online, and he gave his impressions of life in Singapore four months into his stay here.
According to Nas, life here has been “easy,” because “you know what you have to do, you know what you can do, you know what you can’t do.”
He added, “There’s nothing that stresses you out, and I really like that.”
However, one of the negatives that he mentioned in the interview was the amount of official processes he needs to wade through in establishing his office here, as well as with hiring people on his staff.
Moreover, he made special mention of the need for a printer, mentioning the copious amount of paperwork that he has been subjected to in these processes.
He told TODAY, “If there is one thing I’ve learnt about Singapore, is that you need a printer. There are so many (expletive) forms that you need to print, stamp, mail. Parts of Singapore are like the 1950s, and the other part is like 2060.”
TODAY mentioned Nas’ plans to set up “Nas University” here, which will focus on how to tell a really good story, as well as how to get likes on social media.
Nas University has a double meaning—it will carry his own name and brand, and will also mean “People’s University.” As it says in his Facebook page, Nas “menas people in Arabic.”
He said, “Being able to tell a story is just as important as being able to talk to computers,” and mentioned that setting up the university will be done “step-by-step.”
The travel vlogger said that the company he runs will most likely begin with courses for teaching people how to create content that is compelling.
He also called Singapore “the best place in the world to test out things” because of its small population making it the best test bed for trying out new concepts.
“The minute something is a hit in Singapore, it’s almost guaranteed to be a hit in nearby countries,” he added.
Nas is scheduled to start mentoring sessions on content creation in September, alongside Stireys, a local ground-up-initiative that is supported by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), specifically for those who use video as a medium for drawing attention to social issues.
In the following month Nas will be speaking on content creation at the Masters of the Century seminar, on October 23 and 24 at the Suntec Convention Centre.
In the interview with TODAY, Nas mentioned that he misses his fellow Israelis, who are much more outgoing than Singaporeans. Israelis, he said, are full of ‘chutzpah.’
“The definition of it is ‘supreme self-confidence’. I miss the unreservedness of Israel. You know how I’m loud in my videos? Yeah, everybody is like that in Israel. But Singaporeans are more polite, and they are not as loud as Israelis, and I miss that.”/ TISG
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