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We, at The Modern East, love to appreciate our UAE-based talent, and for today’s feature, we are celebrating someone who does the same! Ali Mortada is a 20-year-old, Egyptian, Economics major at the American University of Sharjah with a massive interest in podcasts. So much so, that he started his own to showcase talents and influential figures that are making a difference in the region! In today’s article, we commemorate Ali’s dedication to the medium and congratulate him on his celebratory special of one year of Up Next. Have you listened to it yet?
Credits: Instagram (@the3ali)
Growing up in the age of technology, student and podcast host, Ali Mortada, always turned to different mediums of knowledge accumulation other than just books and reading resources. As an auditory and visual learner, he would usually turn to infographics and documentaries on YouTube for both leisure and knowledge, and eventually came to the realization that he just hated reading! “Fun fact, I actually never finished a book in my entire life that was not related to school. I genuinely hate it, like I can’t sit still long enough to read a book!” he tells us.
Come some years later and Ali was introduced to the concept of podcasts and his interest in the medium slowly started to arise. Through trial and error of different mediums, Ali ultimately decided to create a podcast and have it focused on the talent in the region and the impact of human stories. After discussing the idea with family, several brainstorming sessions, and jotting down the idea, Ali finally made “Up Next” happen and has since amassed over a thousand followers on Instagram.
Ultimately, Up Next is a platform for the youth by the youth in which Ali brings on young and upcoming artists, entrepreneurs, athletes, designers, and others in many fields, and have genuine conversations about the work that they do, how and why they started, the challenges they faced, mistakes that they made, and have them share their advice with others from the youth community that is interested in pursuing a similar path.
From being invited to speak on a panel about podcasting for the first time to even greater achievements like ranking 27th on the UAE Apple Podcast charts for all categories and ranking number 4 in the education category, Ali has had quite an eventful year, and it is clear that Ali is making a name for himself in the podcast world, as well as bringing the region’s society together on the whole. It is only fair, that the podcast host had to have some sort of celebration, right?
Credits: Instagram (@the3ali)
Come the end of the first year of his journey, Ali decided upon a unique way to celebrate. Sure, the balloons and mock bubbly were essential to the occasion, but the real kicker was his continuous tenacity to deliver a podcast episode to celebrate – but, this time, with a twist!
For Ali’s 1 year special of Up Next, the host himself decided to be the interviewee for the day and answer questions that his previous guests on the show wanted to ask him! Now, we don’t want to give away too many spoilers, but the episode is definitely one to tune into to learn a little bit more about Ali, his journey into the world of podcasting, and some of his greatest achievements and honorable moments over the past year and in starting Up Next. Give it a listen here now!
Credits: Instagram (@the3ali)
Ali, one day, hopes to be the number 1 podcast in the UAE, but for the time being, he hopes that he can have his own studio in the near future when the pandemic ends. Most importantly, Ali hopes to keep adding value to listeners and continue to establish this platform as one that helps the youth community and provides some form of inspiration to people with the value that “positive impact is the only thing that matters.”
“If I could say one thing to my listeners, I think I would tell them to add value and spread love and positivity everywhere and in every aspect of life,” Ali says, “Adding value could be as simple as putting a smile on someone’s face or by turning their lives around, and in my humble opinion it is why we were put on this planet. No one cares if you are the best investment banker or engineer, be the best HUMAN that you can be and do that by being kind to others.”
Up Next episodes drop every week on Wednesday at 5 pm on all of the major platforms; apple podcasts, Spotify, google podcasts, and stitcher. Follow Ali on Instagram to stay updated with all the latest episodes now.
