FEATURED ALUMNI

MOHD NASRUL FAIZ BIN ABU AZAL

MC110 | Graduated in 2009 | Social Media Influencer | IG: @faizdickievp

1. What always brings a smile to your face?

I am the happiest when I managed to make other people happy thus seeing the smile on their faces bring happiness to me.

2. What is the most memorable experience that you had when you were in UiTM?

Academically wise, the most memorable experience as a student was when I was among the students who managed to get 4 flat during my 2^nd Semester. I also managed to get the highest CGPA of 3.88 when I was in my first semester. However, I can still remember every little details that happened when I was in UiTM Lendu.

3. What were you like as a student in UiTM?

I was a bit mischievous as a student but I always put my education first. As I mentioned in my answer in the question number 2, I was doing great academically. But to top that, I was also doing great in my extra-curricular as I was appointed as the president of masscommers during my batch.

4. What are some of your long term goals that you wish to achieve in your career?

I don’t have any goals in life because I prefer to live and enjoy the moment and I try to follow the flow because I believe that expectation is the root of failure. Wherever the wind brings me, that is where I will be but of course I’m not the type who does not prioritize my future. That’s why even though I am a social media influencer, I have my own business which I hope can help me someday in the future if one day social media fails me. As long as I’m happy, then I’m good.

5. How do you use your platform to create awareness and talk about the current issues?

It is my responsibility to talk about the current issues and to create awareness. For me, I have quite a big number of followers on my social media, so whatever that I post might influence people. I use my social media to create awareness and talk about current issue by giving out my opinion on the issue. I try to deliver in it an entertaining way, such as parody videos because I believe people don’t like to be lectured, they prefer to hear and view it in a more entertaining way. And that’s what I do. I hope that they will be entertained and get the message from every video or any content that I posted.

6. What was your biggest stepping stone in your career that made you well known in your platform?

For me it started off as something that I did just for fun. I did not intentionally plan to get famous or be a social media influencer as I did what I did just to entertain my friends. But the thing that make me famous is when the local celebrities, Diana Danielle and Yana Samsudin reposted my art work on their social media platforms and all of the sudden so many people are interested in my work and I gained many followers on my platform. However, this whole process takes time and it took me about 2-3 years to gain my momentum and become sustainable. I’ve been doing this for the past 6 years and it is very hard and time consuming to reach where I am today.

7. How did being a masscommer in UiTM prepare you for your career?

I used to be a reporter for about 3 years and write for Kosmo as a crime journalist, I also used to be a mass communication lecturer at SeGI college. And currently, I’m a social media influencer. I would say that being a masscommer in UiTM has been a great platform for me to gain experiences and prepared me for my future. During my time in UiTM, I had to learn how to handle events, make conversation with people in a proper way and learn how to encounter with someone who is more influential than me. All the things that I’ve learned when I was still a student has become a huge help for me when I finally got into the working world. For instance, when I was a reporter and had to deal with certain people, I’ve already had the required foundation as I’ve been exposed about the matter when I was a masscommer.

8. What is your biggest inspiration?

Question from: Miera Syafira Razemi. Semester 2, Diploma Communication and Media, UiTM Alor Gajah, Melaka

Everyone is my inspiration. I believe that I get inspiration just by looking at people and their behaviour. I do not have one particular person that I put up as an inspiration because I find my inspiration through everything. You should go somewhere and focus on people and their behaviour as it helps you to sharpen your mind and it is weirdly an interesting to do.

9. What are the meanings behind your characters and the #villagepeople?

Question from: Muhammad Arsyad bin Muhammad Dimyati, Semester 2, Diploma Communication and Media, UiTM Alor Gajah Melaka

The characters that I created are all based on people around me. For instance, Kak Leha Bunting is a character who is very loud and outspoken but is also kind hearted while Sarabanun is a character who is shy and timid. These are some of the attributes or characteristics of people that I actually know in real life hence I take all of these personalities, combine it together and create a character for it. The term #villagepeople is the hashtag that I used to call my followers as I am not really that keen on using the word followers or fans. For me #villagepeople is the hashtag used to unite us all as the hashtag. When it is directly translated in bahasa, it means orang kampung and the term is often perceived negatively by others but somehow when I changed it to #villagepeople , the hashtag is being received well by other people.

10. What is the craziest thing that you've done or create for your audience?

Question from: Nurul Hidayah binti Mohamad Alharras, Semester 2, Diploma Communication and Media Studies, UiTM Alor Gajah Melaka

The craziest thing that I’ve done in character was when I attended Dato’ Aliff Syukri’s birthday party while dressed up as Kak Leha in front of 2000-3000 attendees. The theme of the event was to dress up as your own superhero and for me, it was surely a crazy but also a brave thing to do to went there as the character that I created while other people dressed up as the already famous superheroes such as Superman, pirates and etc. And it turns out that many people like it as it was their first time seeing the character Kak Leha in real life.