This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rahan Alemi, a 19-year-old content creator with 200,000 Instagram followers and 385,000 TikTok followers. It has been edited for length and clarity. Insider verified Alemi’s earnings with documentation she provided.
I started modeling when I was about 16 years old in Orange County, California. I had seen my older sister model when she started high school, and I wanted to be like her. She was my inspiration for getting into fashion.
I started going with her to photo shoots and then started doing runway shows. My family is Muslim, so I really liked doing anything with South Asian or Middle Eastern vibes.
I started getting a lot of attention from my modeling, so that’s when I started posting a lot on social media.
I’ve had Instagram since middle school, and I love fashion, so I would just style myself and take photos. I also posted photos from my runway shows and shoots with Revolve and Lulu’s.
My first TikTok wasn’t until 2019. It started off as fun, like a kind of private story time where I would do live interviews on Rodeo Drive where I would ask people random questions like “curly hair or straight hair?” Those videos would blow up — some of them had 5 million views. Then, it turned to fashion when I found that’s the type of content my followers really wanted.
Everything changed when I put on the hijab. My content became more about modest fashion, my audience was more diverse, and my collaborations were about how to style clothes with the hijab.
I’ve made around $15,300 since 2022 started, with 385,000 followers on TikTok and 200,000 followers on Instagram. I’m still modeling too, and studying for my Bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Irvine. Ever since I became a hijabi, I feel more at peace with myself and with what I’m creating online.
I’d never thought about wearing the hijab until I was in high school. Even though my family is Muslim, no one in my immediate family wore one.
TikTok helped me make that decision. I saw so many other Muslim women on social media talking about their journey, and I got a lot of support from the online community I had built. I decided to go for it on August 13, 2021, when I was 18, and it’s now been a year since I started wearing it.
In the beginning, I was worried about how it would impact my social media career, especially because I had to archive all Instagram posts and videos on TikTok before I started wearing the hijab. I had around 400 posts on Instagram without the hijab, so those can’t be seen anymore. I had to switch all of my videos on TikTok to private.
The wonderful thing about being a hijabi and posting content is that so many of my followers feel seen. My following really grew from last year, and more people who identify as Muslim started following me. I also started earning money through the TikTok creator fund.
Since January, I’ve made $693 through the TikTok Creator Fund and $507 through Instagram’s affiliate marketing program. Most of my income this year has been from paid partnerships, where fashion brands, restaurants, and even Muslim dating apps like Salams pay me to post content.
Right after I put on the hijab and started posting content, a lot of brands reached out to me and shared that they wanted to be a part of my journey and work together. Some like Truly Beauty and SexiMi Tea really wanted hijabi representation, while Muslim-facing brands like Veiled Collection and Nominal wanted to add me to their roster. Some of the companies I worked with before I wore the hijab also wanted to continue their partnership.
From what I’ve seen, there aren’t many hijabis who focus on fashion when creating content. People love to see the outfits I put together wearing the hijab, so it’s safe to say that making this decision has brought me even more opportunities.
Once I switched to hijab facing content, I did get a lot of hate online. Before August 2021, most of my followers didn’t know I was Muslim because I didn’t talk about it, and my photos and videos focused on fashion. Now, it’s pretty obvious what my faith is and how I use it to style my looks.
It took me a while to realize that there are always going to be people who don’t approve of what you’re doing. The way I think about it now is: If you don’t have haters, you’re not doing something right. They’re actually my biggest fans, because they watch everything and comment, so it helps engagement. It’s all part of the creator fund on TikTok, and also has some followers coming to my defense, so the comments section is always interesting.
The criticism helps me. It also allows me to look at specific parts of my content that could maybe be a bit better, and improve it. I remain positive and let the hate be motivation to do better and prove them wrong.
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