About Me — Diyana Rahim
A Vegan Muslim Digital Nomad learning about crypto & climate so she can be a part of creating a Regenerative Solarpunk future.
For years, I had felt lost.
“What am I supposed to do with my life? What one thing do I like to do? How do I choose which path to tread?”
Like Emma Gannon, I’m a multi-passionate multi-hyphenate being.
A Jane of all trades.
I used to chastise myself for not being able to “specialize” or “niche down”. “How is it that other people can do it but I can’t?” I kept asking myself.
But I’ve realized that my broad interests and skills are my superpowers. They have led me to incredible opportunities and shaped me to become who I am today — someone I’m proud to be.
1 — Muslim
Even though I was “born” Muslim, it took 20+ years for me to truly understand and embrace it. Spirituality is such a deep and long journey. But at this point in my life, I’m glad to say that I feel content with my relationship with God.
I believe that this beautiful world is not created by chance or randomly. There’s an intelligent being behind all of this just as there is an intelligent group of developers behind the iPhone. Recognizing the intelligence and welcoming Divine Love into my life, I’ve completely surrendered to and I’m trusting the will of God.
This may sound woo-woo to some, but Islam has helped me through thick and thin.
Islam is my guiding principle in life and the choices I make.
2 — Vegan Advocate
I love that both Islam and Veganism emphasize ethics as an important value to uphold. This, together with the fact that animal abuse is rife and the environment suffers as a result of animal agriculture, drew me to the vegan lifestyle.
I’d argue that it’s a 21st-century responsibility as a Muslim to be vegan. As such, I’ve made it my life mission to spread the message of empathy and the knowledge of veganism, especially to the Muslim community.
3 — Content Writer
“But what’s your real job?” you might ask.
Well, I get my income from copywriting and content writing.
Technically, I’ve been writing all my life — I was that precocious child who loved reading books and journaling every day.
However, I didn’t do my degree in English Literature or Creative Writing. Instead, I earned a bachelor’s degree in Natural Sciences.
Following that, I worked at an environmental consultancy as an analyst for a year and then pivoted to copywriting at a digital marketing agency. I worked at a couple of agencies in 2 years before calling it quits and starting my freelance journey in late 2019.
Through freelancing, I discovered the world of fintech and crypto. I didn’t expect to get into this industry at all because my interests laid elsewhere.
But as a young 20-something, finance became an important subject.
Fun fact: I used to dislike the notion of money upon learning about the whole corrupt monetary system. However, I’ve come to understand the importance of money and that a just financial system is possible.
Long story short, what was initially me dipping my toes in crypto became a whole swimming experience.
Becoming a crypto writer
I started writing for fintech companies quite early on in my freelance journey. It was thanks to Instagram that I found and approached my first recurring client in the fintech industry. After working with them for nearly a year as well as taking on other short-term projects and optimizing my LinkedIn bio, I was approached by the co-founder of CoinGecko to write beginner-friendly crypto articles. They also became a recurring client.
Thanks to CoinGecko, my interest in crypto grew — slowly but surely.
I also took on a few other short projects in the crypto industry on the side. Here are some of the articles I wrote:
- amalan fintech: 5 Things You Need to Settle Your Debt
- Silverbird: How to Open a Business Bank Account in Estonia
- Finimize: 4 DeFi Investment Strategies To Help Grow Your Crypto Portfolio
- CoinGecko: How Playing Axie Infinity NFT Game Helps Filipinos Earn Income
Now
I’ve dropped all of my freelance clients (*gasp*) to focus on my role as Content Editor with MRHB DeFi. As a company that is building a decentralized Islamic finance ecosystem, I found that I share their values of ethics and inclusion and I wanted to play a part in realizing their vision.
4 — Digital Nomad
Ever since the start of my freelance journey, I had dreamt of living the digital nomad life.
After much patience and saving up, I turned that dream into a reality.
In January 2022, I hopped off the plane at LAX — with a dream and a cardigan (plus a 46 L backpack).
I’m not the typical digital nomad with a business generating passive income, working only 4 hours a week. I’m still working on that, though.
But throughout 7 months of my travels, I was freelancing all the way.
It was a challenge that I relished.
Right now, I’m in Southeast Asia — my home turf. I plan to stay put for a bit to explore this region and so that I can put out more content like this:
5 — Student of Life
Ultimately, as cliche as it is, I’m a lifelong learner. A student of life. I’m a curious human being and I genuinely love learning. I’m interested in so many topics and it would take me a lifetime to learn them. But that’s okay. As long as I learn something new each day, life is good.
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