I’m very thankful for this huge growth in the international audience, haha! It helped me grow my content, for sure, as everyone now wants recommendations on what to watch, and I have hundreds I can recommend. I think everyone really got into K-dramas once they got on Netflix. Having an easy way to watch them created a lot of new K-drama fans, and I’m super excited to get to know them!
1. Tell us about your background and journey.
I am originally Palestinian-Canadian, but I was born and raised in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. When I was 18 years old, I moved to Toronto, Canada to do my university degree at the University of Toronto. There, I completed a specialist in Digital Enterprise Management & did a minor in English Writing for fun. During my time in university, I worked at a lot of different jobs. I did a couple of internships at film PR companies, podcast companies and even social media-focused places. In December 2019, my final semester of university, I started ‘Deemalovesdrama,’ on YouTube, Instagram & TikTok.
I got my first full-time job after graduating in June 2020, working for Canada’s biggest blog, ‘Narcity.’ My title there was ‘Social Media Editor for Sponsored Content,’ and it was super fun. My manager was a huge K-pop fan so we worked extra-well together, haha. When I moved back to Dubai towards the end of 2021, I quit my ‘Narcity’ job and began working full-time at an ad agency. I quit in the beginning of 2022 to pursue other jobs, and I did get scouted at a couple of start-up incubators and companies, but I rejected everything and decided to begin scaling ‘Deemalovesdrama.’
2. What brought you into this K-drama world and what led you to start an Instagram page about it?
When I was 11-12 years old, I watched my first K-drama, ‘Playful Kiss.’ I was enamored. I began watching every K-drama I could lay my hands on, and trust me, during that time, it was a lot of 360p and missing subtitles. But my love for them continued, and I got into K-pop and variety shows around the same time as well. As I grew up, I wanted to discuss them with people who watched them as well, but I never found those people. So, in 2016, my last year of high school, I tried to start a K-drama/K-pop YouTube channel (and I did, but it’s forever private now, haha) but I was too camera-shy and quit.
By my last semester at university, I still hadn’t found anyone that watched them either, so I decided to just go for it. If there wasn’t people in my community talking about K-dramas, I would create one. I started ‘Deemalovesdrama,’ in December 2019, and have never looked back since.
3. What challenges did you face in your journey and how did you overcome it?
In the beginning, my biggest challenge was creating the community. From December 2019 to June 2020, I had 294 subscribers on YouTube. On TikTok, I think I had 300 followers, and on Instagram, maybe 140 followers. It was heart-breaking. I thought that since there wasn’t anyone who talked about K-dramas online, and I was the first one, that everyone would be super into it and my community would be created very fast. I was very frustrated, very naïve and just all-around not-too knowledgeable about how to portray myself online to suit a public.
But I pushed through and tried my best to learn. In June, I deleted my old TikTok account and started a fresh one. I put out my first reaction video on YouTube, which did really well at the time (2000 views), and I pushed on. I read every comment, watched videos of creators’ advice & tried new things every hour.
Now, I have 100,000 followers on Instagram, 130,000 on TikTok & 12,000 on YouTube. I’m very proud of myself and what I’ve been able to achieve. It was so hard, but so rewarding.
Now, my biggest challenge is my brain. In the sense that I’m always looking too-far ahead into the future, and I always want to do things as perfectly as possible. It’s such a bad trait, and I’m trying to fix it by taking it more easy. Thankfully, I now have a community of lovely people to keep me grounded as I push through.
4. During the covid lockdown, we have witnessed a huge growth in the international audience of K-dramas. How do you view this emerging fascination towards dramaworld?
I’m very thankful for this huge growth in the international audience, haha! It helped me grow my content, for sure, as everyone now wants recommendations on what to watch, and I have hundreds I can recommend. I think everyone really got into K-dramas once they got on Netflix. Having an easy way to watch them created a lot of new K-drama fans, and I’m super excited to get to know them!
5. How do you think K-dramas help us connect with South Korea, culturally and emotionally?
K-dramas allowed us an insight into South Korea’s traditions, foods, culture & people. This, in turn, created a bond between the viewer and the dramas’ subject matter. To put it into a simple example: When everyone watched the sitcom, ‘Friends,’ they wanted to go sight-seeing in New York. K-dramas do this, but on such a large extent, because you do not only see the beauty of South Korea, but also of its amazing people, the food, the historic areas, etc. It’s a very deep bond.
6. What future plans do you have for deemalovesdrama?
I’m currently trying my hardest to make ‘Deemalovesdrama,’ my full-time job. I quit my jobs so I can scale it, and I have a lot of plans in the future to do new things, like a podcast, more livestreams, new video ideas and more.
I’m super excited, and super scared at the same time. I know myself, and I never work less than 150%, but becoming a full-time independent creator will always be frightening.
7. Tell us about your role as the K-Food Ambassador.
My role as the K-food Ambassador in the UAE requires me to basically promote Korean Food events and places within the UAE, and bring more awareness to the great cuisine of South Korea! Through being an ambassador, I’ve been able to hold K-drama screenings with my ‘Deemalovesdrama,’ community where we served Korean Food and watched a popular food-focused drama, ‘A Business Proposal,’ together. I’ve also been a cooking judge, and I’ve held multiple K-drama quizzes. It’s been super fun, and I cannot wait to promote Korean Food & South Korea in new avenues in the future!
8. What would you say sets your page different from rest of the K-drama & K-pop content creators out there?
I can’t really talk about other creators, because everyone does things their own way, but I’m extremely proud of my bond with my community. I talk to them everyday, through livestreams, Q&As, polls and comments. I love being in such a warm, cute community, and they push me to post everyday.
9. Your all time favourite K-drama recommendations:
My all-time favorite K-dramas are 18 again, 2521, Flower of Evil, Scarlet Heart Ryeo: Moon Lovers and so much more! You can find the list on my Instagram ;)
Bio:
Deema is a 24-year old content creator based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She had been watching Korean dramas, variety shows & listening to Korean music since she was 11 years old, but never had any friends that shared her love of K-everything with her. In December 2019, she started ‘Deemalovesdrama,’ to begin creating a community online so that everyone who loved the same things can fangirl/boy their hearts out.
Interviewed By - Nimisha Dutta
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