Meet Nadja Sayej

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nadja Sayej. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Nadja, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I have parents that come from the UK. The UK work ethic, especially for UK citizens who moved abroad and are immigrants, is diehard. “If you’re not working, what’s the matter?” was the philosophy at home. During my school years, I always had 3 part-time jobs. Once I graduated from university, I kept working in all the ways I could. Now, I’m lucky enough to run my own business, so I’m still working, in essence, all the time. A famous entrepreneur quote is: “Being self-employed is great, you get to work any 12 hours of the day you want.” But still, at the end of the day, it’s all up to you. And you are accountable for everything.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Hi, I am Nadja and I have been a culture journalist for 15 years, writing for The Guardian, VICE, The Economist, NYTimes, Vanity Fair UK, etc. I interview celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld, Yoko Ono, Susan Sarandon, etc. I love nothing more than interviewing a celebrity, people think I’m nuts, that’s fine, it’s my thing, not theirs. I love to ask their advice to young artists because if they are “rich and famous” like everyone says they are, what can they share about their climb to the top? Some wisdom to help inspire us all to follow our own dreams.
I have also released 8 books (self-published) based upon my experience interviewing celebs, like “Paparazzi Bitch” which are my photos of celebs up close and personal, and “The Glitzerati” and “Red Carpet Ho,” which explains life as a red carpet photographer/interviewer.
I write about fashion for Forbes.com and I have restarted my YouTube channel ArtStars as a podcast show (ArtStars Podcast) and in 2025, I interviewed Selling Sunset’s Emma Hernan, Zeus Network Baddies’ Natalie Nunn, comedian Tiffany Haddish, actor David Duchovny and more.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were the most impactful in my journey include Motivation; staying inspired and motivated to keep going and never give up (this includes listneing to postive and business orientated podcasts and youtube shows and books), Organization; because if I wasn’t organized, I would not be where I am today (staying organized is key to completing your daily tasks and goals) and Entrepeneurship knowledge; really understanding how exactly someone builds a business from nothing (how to structure your business, from sales to marketing to operations) is key. Strategy is so important.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

I would say you always need to have mentors in your life, be it real or people who you soak up wisdom from, online. I am a huge fan of Les Brown, the motivational speaker, who basically gives life advice. His advice is based upon his own experience, but it is retold in a way that everyone can learn from it. I would also say John Waters, the Baltimore film director, has been a huge inspiration as well because he started making films on no budget, but managed to do enough self-promotion that the world now knows who he is, and his books, and he recently had a retrospective exhibition at the Academy Awards museum in Los Angeles. I also think Hunter S. Thompson, the famed gonzo journalist who wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, brought a sense of adventure to reporting.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nadjasayej.com/
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/nadjasayej
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/artstarstv

Image Credits

Portrait of Nadja Sayej by Michael Ostuni