Meet Rashidah Mahmoud

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rashidah Mahmoud. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rashidah below.

Rashidah , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Honestly my purpose was always in me. As a child i’ve always told myself that I am going to be something.. I’ve always said people are going to know my name. I would say that i began my modeling journey in 2022, doing small projects and photo shoots with different photographers. I took off a year last year because I was very discouraged and felt like no one was really interested in working with me because working as a dark skin model is hard sometimes. This year i’ve been blessed to work with a few photographers and Jaiiden (focuszudios) had opened up my creative process and has been helping me grow a lot with my pro-folio, and helping me become more confident in myself as well. Modeling has always been something i’ve had a passion for and i can only hope for it to continue to grow.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

My name is Rashidah, but most people know me as Samiiya, which is my artist name and my brand. I am a singer and also a Model. Working in between careers can be a little challenging for me because I feel like I have the need to balance the two out.. I honestly want both of them to work out for me. I have a lot of upcoming projects with both. Beginning of 2025 I do plan to drop an EP , not sure of the name yet but i pray that everyone tunes in and supports the vision! As far as my modeling goes I have lots of shoots that are coming up, and i hope to work with few new photographers next year to create a bigger image for myself! A lot of people may not know but i will also be starting my clothing brand next year .. so stay tuned and I hope that one day people will know who samiiya! The goal is to be on a huge billboard some day.

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?

I would say three most important skills is having etiquette, knowing how to respond to hate, and also doing a lot of research. I say these are the main three because in this industry you have to know how to respond to certain things without getting bad backlash for it .. yes i know when you in careers like these it comes with a lot of hate .. even some that you can’t control but you have to know that something’s don’t require your action but you also have to be ready and know how to respond and handle certain things. I say to do your research because when you want to do something or even wanting to have a career you have to know exactly what your getting yourself into, rather if it’s positive or negative.. you must know both outcomes.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

Yes, I am definitely looking to partner and collaborate with a lot of new photographers and artists as well. I also want to get more into podcasts.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @xoxosamiiya
• Youtube: @xoxosamiiya
• Soundcloud: @xoxosamiiya

Image Credits

@focusztudios