Noor Unnahar and Areeba Siddiqui

poet and illustrator duo

Compiled from 1 recorded interview. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Noor Unnahar and Areeba Siddiqui are sisters who built an online audience through blogs and Instagram and now work in writing and illustration. Noor Unnahar is a writer who self-published on Amazon and signed her first contract for Yesterday I Was the Moon. Areeba Siddiqui works as a freelance illustrator.

Early life and background

Noor Unnahar's full name is Noor-un-Nahar Siddiqui, and Areeba Siddiqui gives her own full name as Areeba Siddiqui. The sisters lived in Thatta and would travel to Karachi. They had one hour of internet access each day, and Areeba has said they had dial-up internet until eighth class, after which they got broadband. [1]

Unnahar has said that her great-grandfather wrote plays before partition and that her mother read a lot, including Urdu literature, and loved reading thrillers. The sisters' family never pressured them about what to study or what to do. [1]

Education

The sisters are in the same 2022 batch at Indus Valley. Unnahar is in the third year of her degree. She is studying fine art and is doing ceramics, and she has said she chose ceramics because she wanted to try something new after doing everything else. [1]

Areeba's major is graphic design, and her minor is animation. She is studying communication design, and she has said her third year is ending and her sixth semester is starting. [1]

Blogging and early online work

The sisters were playing Stardoll, an online dress-up game. They considered WordPress but chose the easier option, because WordPress looked very complicated and they were teenagers. Unnahar started her Blogspot blog in 2011, around eighth class, and Areeba ran her blog until 2018. Unnahar says she thinks she was the first one to make an Instagram account, because Instagram had just begun, and she started on Instagram in 2013. The sisters did not take Instagram seriously at first and used it mainly to drive traffic to their blogs. [1]

Areeba put up a notice on her blog that ad space was available and received three or four ads. Unnahar made a very basic banner for someone who paid her $5, and she says she learned from YouTube tutorials. Areeba has said that Unnahar found that blog design was paid $50 to $75. The sisters spent their PayPal earnings on eBay and Etsy purchases because withdrawing the money was harder. [1]

Unnahar says she also raised money for Areeba, and Areeba says Unnahar was the driving force behind most of the sisters' business ideas. Unnahar says their family knew they were into the work but did not know exactly what was happening. Blogspot had become far too much work for the sisters and their studies were getting harder. Unnahar stopped designing when her blog ended. [1]

The sisters' first withdrawal was about 21,000, and they used it to buy a new tablet. Unnahar's first parcel from abroad was an art print and a teddy bear from Canada. The sisters were also helping Turkish students who were applying to Canadian and European universities. [1]

Noor Unnahar's writing and books

Unnahar says she kept diaries all her life and had three to four of them. She says she wrote a lot because she had always been quiet and had become introverted. She also says that because the sisters lived between cities, the concept of home was something she would analyze. Her audience multiplied by about 200 percent when one of her poems blew up, and she says the poems she wrote then later became part of her first book. [1]

Unnahar says she self-published on Amazon and it became one of the top three best sellers in new poetry releases. She signed her first contract for Yesterday I Was the Moon. She received several publishing offers, including one from Penguin Random House, and the imprint that made her book deal was Clarkson Potter. [1]

Urban Outfitters took an exclusive pink-cover version of Unnahar's book, with extra content. Target picked up her book and wanted a different cover. Unnahar says she was working on another book and that it was coming out in October. She says the poetry-centric publisher she mentions is basically Rupi Kaur's publisher. [1]

Areeba Siddiqui's illustration work

Areeba works as a freelance illustrator and finished a project with WePresent. She was emailed and asked to work for Rookie as a content creator, and she says her posts were paid. She shot a Rookie photoshoot in her grandmother's clothes. [1]

Areeba does not consider herself a writer, and says her work has always been drawing. She says her artwork is the most important thing in her life and that she has recently put all her energy into her artwork. She says she wants to present herself as the artist who is Areeba, not simply as Areeba. She also says she loves outfits and loves Muslim fashion. [1]

Areeba says she does not prefer Pakistani clients because they do not pay well, and that she has never seen herself working an office 9 to 5 job. She wants her own studio with an all-women-led team. Her five-year goal is to become a very good illustrator and animator, and she wants to make short films. She plans a comic book as her thesis if she does not make an animation. [1]

Identity and audience

Areeba says being Muslim strongly shapes how she identifies herself and that she struggled a lot when starting to wear hijab. She says her mother is quite religious, but it is not like a family thing. Unnahar says her first identity is Muslim, and her second is South Asian, and that she identifies as a writer before anything else. [1]

Areeba says the sisters' audience was mainly US-based until about 2015. Unnahar says her top audience countries are the US, India, Canada and Pakistan, and that her Indonesian audience is large because of the hijabi community. Areeba usually goes through Pinterest for inspiration and says Pinterest brings her a smaller audience than it brings Unnahar. Unnahar says she has a Pinterest audience that she cannot track without a business account, and that Pinterest makes manifesting easier because you cannot pursue what you cannot picture. [1]

Views

Unnahar describes poetry as a door into a different world that mirrors this one. She says her top reading genres are personal essays, thrillers and poetry, and that she wants to try mixing prose and poetry. She wants to be on the New York Times best-seller list, and she says she wants to go deeper into language, because words will always be her medium. She names Ocean Vuong as the poet she admires most and says she likes isolation as an artist. [1]

Areeba says Karachi wastes a lot of time. Unnahar says it is very difficult to be a creative in Karachi and that she would like more peace, greenery and rain in her life. Areeba says a woman needs her own money to keep herself safe, and she wants Pakistani children to work from a young age and learn to save money. She says Unnahar's and her secret to success is that they Google everything. [1]

Personal life

Areeba says her mother watches her Instagram stories. [1]

Timeline

2011
Noor Unnahar started her Blogspot blog.[1]
2013
Noor Unnahar started on Instagram.[1]
2015
The sisters' audience was mainly US-based until about this year.[1]
2018
Areeba Siddiqui ran her blog until this year.[1]
2022
The sisters are in the 2022 batch at Indus Valley.[1]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2021-09-06 How two sisters in Thatta built a global audience on a one-hour dial-up Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Who is Noor Unnahar and Areeba Siddiqui?

Noor Unnahar and Areeba Siddiqui are sisters who built an online audience through blogs and Instagram. Noor Unnahar is a writer who self-published on Amazon. Areeba Siddiqui works as a freelance illustrator.[1]

What do Noor Unnahar and Areeba Siddiqui do?

Noor Unnahar identifies as a writer before anything else. Areeba Siddiqui works as a freelance illustrator and finished a project with WePresent.[1]

Where did Noor Unnahar and Areeba Siddiqui study?

Noor Unnahar and Areeba Siddiqui are in the same 2022 batch at Indus Valley. Noor Unnahar is studying fine art and is doing ceramics. Areeba Siddiqui's major is graphic design, and her minor is animation.[1]

What is Yesterday I Was the Moon by Noor Unnahar?

Yesterday I Was the Moon is the book for which Noor Unnahar signed her first contract. She received several publishing offers, including one from Penguin Random House. The imprint that made her book deal was Clarkson Potter.[1]

When did Noor Unnahar start blogging?

Noor Unnahar started her Blogspot blog in 2011, around eighth class. She started on Instagram in 2013.[1]

Where does the audience of Noor Unnahar and Areeba Siddiqui come from?

Areeba Siddiqui says the sisters' audience was mainly US-based until about 2015. Noor Unnahar says her top audience countries are the US, India, Canada and Pakistan. She adds that her Indonesian audience is large because of the hijabi community.[1]

How did Noor Unnahar and Areeba Siddiqui earn money online?

Areeba Siddiqui put up a notice on her blog that ad space was available and received three or four ads. Noor Unnahar made a very basic banner for someone who paid her $5. Areeba Siddiqui has said that Noor Unnahar found that blog design was paid $50 to $75.[1]

References

  1. How two sisters in Thatta built a global audience on a one-hour dial-up . Thought Behind Things , 2021-09-06.
Show the source passages (93 statements)
  1. Noor Unnahar's full name is Noor-un-Nahar Siddiqui. Noor-un-Nahar Siddiqui.
  2. Areeba Siddiqui says her full name is simply Areeba Siddiqui. It's just Areeba Siddiqui.
  3. Noor Unnahar is in the third year of her degree. Degree chal rahi hai, third year chal raha hai.
  4. Areeba Siddiqui says her third year is ending and her sixth semester is starting. Nahi, third year end hoga. Sixth semester shuru ho raha hai.
  5. Areeba Siddiqui and Noor Unnahar are in the same 2022 batch at Indus Valley. Hum mera aur Areeba ka batch same hai, 2022 ka, Indus Valley.
  6. Noor Unnahar is studying fine art and is doing ceramics. Mera fine art and I am doing ceramics.
  7. Noor Unnahar says she chose ceramics because she wanted to try something new after doing everything else. And since I had done everything else in the past already, I wanted to venture into something new.
  8. Areeba Siddiqui's major is graphic design, and her minor is animation. Graphic design hai, wo major hai to us mein wo un ke specific courses hain. Minor maine rakha hai animation.
  9. Areeba Siddiqui is studying communication design. Communication design.
  10. The sisters were playing Stardoll, an online dress-up game. We were playing this game, Stardoll. It was like a dress-up online game and they had their sister website called Pixoo.
  11. The sisters considered WordPress but chose the easier option, because WordPress looked very complicated and they were teenagers. Uh, WordPress bhi tha, but it looked very complicated and we were like teens. So, we were like jo easy hai woh kar lo.
  12. Noor Unnahar started her Blogspot blog in 2011, around eighth class. Blogspot, I think eighth class mein. What year was it? It was 2011.
  13. Areeba Siddiqui ran her blog until 2018. Woh maine 2018 tak chalaya. It was a long time.
  14. The sisters had one hour of internet access each day. Ek ghanta har roz. Acha, proper milta tha ki ji yeh yeh time hai.
  15. Areeba Siddiqui says they had dial-up internet until eighth class, after which they got broadband. Eighth class tak dial-up tha. Then we got that device broadband.
  16. The sisters lived in Thatta and would travel to Karachi. Hum Thatta mein bhi hote the, hum uth ke Karachi aa jate the.
  17. Noor Unnahar says she thinks she was the first one to make an Instagram account, because Instagram had just begun. I think I was the first one to make the account because Instagram had just begun this thing.
  18. Noor Unnahar started on Instagram in 2013. Yeah, I started in 2013.
  19. Areeba Siddiqui put up a notice on her blog that ad space was available and received three or four ads. Maine apne blog ke upar lagaye ki you know yeh space available hai, toh usse mujhe teen char ads mil gaye.
  20. Noor Unnahar made a very basic banner for someone who paid her $5. I made a very basic banner for her and she paid me $5.
  21. Noor Unnahar says she learned from YouTube tutorials. Tutorials, yes. YouTube.
  22. Areeba Siddiqui says Noor Unnahar found that blog design was paid $50 to $75. She found out ki people design blogs, like woh header banate hain, pura site mein unka introduction hota hai. So, it was like $50 to $75.
  23. Noor Unnahar says she also raised money for Areeba Siddiqui. I also raised some money for Areeba.
  24. Noor Unnahar was the driving force behind most of the sisters' business ideas, according to Areeba Siddiqui. Noor apparently was the mastermind behind all the business ideas.
  25. Noor Unnahar says her family knew they were into the work but did not know exactly what was happening. And our family, they have no idea exactly ki kya ho raha hai. They knew that we were into it, we were doing.
  26. The sisters spent their PayPal earnings on eBay and Etsy purchases because withdrawing the money was harder. us waqt PayPal mein aate the toh hum usually cheezein khareed lete the eBay se ya Etsy se, kyunki uh, unko withdraw karna zyada mushkil hota tha.
  27. Noor Unnahar says her great-grandfather wrote plays before partition. Hamare pardada woh likhte the, unhone plays likhe the pre-partition and all.
  28. Noor Unnahar says her mother read a lot, including Urdu literature, and loved reading thrillers. yeh Amma jaan ki wajah se tha because she used to read a lot, Urdu literature aur unko thrillers padhne ka bada shauq tha.
  29. The sisters' family never pressured them about what to study or what to do. Hamari family is mamle mein kaafi chill hai. They unhone kabhi aisa pressurize nahi kiya ki yeh padhna hai ya yeh karna hai.
  30. Noor Unnahar says she kept diaries all her life and had three to four of them. Puri zindagi maine hamesha rakhi, teen se chaar diaries meri hoti thin.
  31. Noor Unnahar says she wrote a lot because she had always been quiet and had become introverted. I was writing because I was always a very quiet person and I had become very introverted also.
  32. Noor Unnahar says that because the sisters lived between cities, the concept of home was something she would analyze. Since we lived between cities, so the concept of home had always been that thing that I would analyze into
  33. The sisters did not take Instagram seriously at first and used it mainly to drive traffic to their blogs. So, because I we didn't take Instagram seriously in a sense that we didn't put it out there. We were using it to you know, generate traffic for our blogs.
  34. Blogspot had become far too much work for the sisters and their studies were getting harder. I think it was happening at the same time when Blogspot had become way too much work and since our studies were getting harder
  35. Areeba Siddiqui says the sisters' audience was mainly US-based until about 2015. Abhi tak hamari audience global hi, matlab US-based hi chal rahi hai. Pakistan audience mein hum aaye nahi 2015 tak.
  36. Noor Unnahar says her audience multiplied by about 200 percent when one of her poems blew up. So, when that poem blew up, I think my audience multiplied by 200%.
  37. Areeba Siddiqui was emailed and asked to work for Rookie as a content creator. Uske kuch I think do teen mahine ke baad she emailed me and she's like work for Rookie, content creator ke taur pe.
  38. Areeba Siddiqui says her posts were paid. Toh jab mein koi post wagera karti thi, it was paid, obviously they used to pay me.
  39. Areeba Siddiqui shot a Rookie photoshoot in her grandmother's clothes. Mein uthi, basically ek photo shoot tha jo maine apni dadi ke kapdon ke saath kiya tha, woh Rookie ke liye tha.
  40. Noor Unnahar's first parcel from abroad was an art print and a teddy bear from Canada. Toh woh jo mera sabse pehla parcel aaya tha na, woh Canada se ek art print aaya tha aur ek teddy bear aaya tha.
  41. The sisters' first withdrawal was about 21,000, and they used it to buy a new tablet. Jo sabse pehle I think humne rakam nikali thi, it was like 21,000 humne new tablet kharidi thi usse.
  42. Noor Unnahar stopped designing when her blog ended. No, I had stopped designing at this point kyunki blog khatam ho gaya tha.
  43. Noor Unnahar says the poems she wrote then later became part of her first book. yeh woh time tha jo poems likhi gayi, jo baad mein jaake meri first book ka hissa bani thi.
  44. Noor Unnahar says she self-published on Amazon and it became one of the top three best sellers in new poetry releases. I self-published on Amazon and that ended up becoming their top three best sellers, uh new poetry releases mein.
  45. Noor Unnahar signed her first contract for Yesterday I Was the Moon. jab maine first contract sign kiya tha for Yesterday I Was the Moon, so unhone mujhe uske saath hi woh kar diya tha
  46. Noor Unnahar received several publishing offers, including one from Penguin Random House. I had multiple offers and uh jab mujhe Penguin Random House ki taraf se aaya
  47. The imprint that made Noor Unnahar's book deal was Clarkson Potter. woh jo imprint uh meri book deal kar raha tha, that was Clarkson Potter.
  48. Urban Outfitters took an exclusive pink-cover version of Noor Unnahar's book, with extra content. So, basically Urban Outfitters wanted that book. Toh unhone uska exclusive version liya tha pink cover ke saath aur usmein additional content tha.
  49. Target picked up Noor Unnahar's book and wanted a different cover. And then Target picked up the book aur unko dusra cover chahiye tha.
  50. Noor Unnahar says she was working on another book and that it was coming out in October. I was working for another book aur ab it's coming out in October.
  51. Noor Unnahar says the poetry-centric publisher she mentions is basically Rupi Kaur's publisher. And they are basically Rupi Kaur's publishers.
  52. Areeba Siddiqui works as a freelance illustrator. Yes, basically main freelance illustrator ke tor par kaam karti hoon.
  53. Areeba Siddiqui finished a project with WePresent the week before the interview. To basically ek WePresent ke saath mera abhi project bilkul abhi abhi khatam hua hai last week.
  54. Areeba Siddiqui says being Muslim strongly shapes how she identifies herself. Uh, to main apni identity mein Islam aur Muslim hona woh bahut zyada reflect karta hai.
  55. Areeba Siddiqui says she struggled a lot when starting to wear hijab. But this is something that I struggled a lot kyunki jab aap shuru shuru mein hijab karna shuru karte hain to woh bahut struggles aate hain
  56. Areeba Siddiqui says her mother is quite religious, but it is not like a family thing. Meri ammi kaafi religious hain, but it's not like a family thing.
  57. Noor Unnahar says her first identity is Muslim, and her second is South Asian. obviously, my first identity is Muslim and then I identify with being South Asian.
  58. Noor Unnahar says she identifies as a writer before anything else. So, I feel like I am a writer before I am anything else.
  59. Areeba Siddiqui says she wants to present herself as the artist who is Areeba, not simply as Areeba. I do not want to put myself out there as Ariba. I want to put myself out there as the artist who is Ariba.
  60. Areeba Siddiqui says her artwork is the most important thing in her life. kyunki mere liye jo sabse zyada important cheez hai meri zindagi mein, woh mera artwork hi hai.
  61. Areeba Siddiqui says she loves outfits and loves Muslim fashion. To, uh, mujhe hai shauk outfits ka, I, I love Muslim fashion.
  62. Areeba Siddiqui usually goes through Pinterest for inspiration. I usually go through my Pinterest because it's a very curated feed jo hai meri.
  63. Areeba Siddiqui says Pinterest brings her a smaller audience than it brings Noor Unnahar. It's not huge, at least for me, it's not huge, but aata hai. But for Noor, it's huge.
  64. Noor Unnahar says she has a Pinterest audience that she cannot track without a business account. Yeah, I think I have this Pinterest audience. I can't track them because, uh, aapko business account chahiye hota hai.
  65. Noor Unnahar says Pinterest makes manifesting easier, because you cannot pursue what you cannot picture. I think manifestation wali jo cheez hai woh Pinterest bada aapke liye aasan kar deta hai kyunki jab tak aapke paas visual nahi hoga, aap woh soch nahi payenge
  66. Noor Unnahar describes poetry as a door into a different world that mirrors this one. Main use kehti ke aap ek darwaza khol rahe hain aur ab ek doosri duniya mein ja rahe hain jo aapki duniya ka aks hai, lekin woh alag hai.
  67. Noor Unnahar says her top reading genres are personal essays, thrillers and poetry. I read a lot of personal essays. I read thrillers a lot. And then I read poetry.
  68. Noor Unnahar says she wants to try mixing prose and poetry. I wanna do like prose and poetry ko mix kar ke dekhte hain kya kahan jata hai.
  69. Noor Unnahar wants to be on the New York Times best-seller list. One thing I really want to do is to be on New York Times best selling list.
  70. Noor Unnahar says she wants to go deeper into language, because words will always be her medium. I think I would like to, uh, dive deeper into language because I feel like, since I write, so mera medium hamesha words hi rahenge.
  71. Noor Unnahar names Ocean Vuong as the poet she admires most. Like, um, the poet I admire the most, Ocean Vuong.
  72. Noor Unnahar says she likes isolation as an artist. And I think as an artist, I like isolation.
  73. Noor Unnahar feels older ghazal language has more depth than much current music. But I still feel like the older language, the ghazals, they were a lot they had a lot more depth in them.
  74. Noor Unnahar says the indie music scene has become so good that she looks forward to new releases. But now the indie scene has become so cool that I'm looking forward to new music coming out every week or every month.
  75. Areeba Siddiqui says she still listens to old music such as ghazals. I love purana music, ghazlein waghera, to main abhi tak sunti hoon.
  76. Areeba Siddiqui says Karachi wastes a lot of time. Karachi wastes wastes a lot of time.
  77. Areeba Siddiqui says she has recently put all her energy into her artwork. but I just recently started putting all of my energies into my artwork.
  78. Noor Unnahar says it is very difficult to be a creative in Karachi. So I think ke it's very difficult to be a creative in Karachi.
  79. Noor Unnahar says she would like more peace, greenery and rain in her life. but I think I would like to have an extra chunk of peace for myself and greenery and rain.
  80. Areeba Siddiqui says she does not prefer Pakistani clients because they do not pay well. I do not prefer Pakistani clients because as I mentioned ke they don't pay well.
  81. Areeba Siddiqui says she has never seen herself working an office 9 to 5 job. Yeah, I mean I I've never seen myself as somebody who would go to office 9 to 5.
  82. Areeba Siddiqui wants her own studio with an all-women-led team. But I want to have my own studio and have my own team, but it's gonna be all women led team.
  83. Areeba Siddiqui plans a comic book as her thesis if she does not make an animation. So it's a it's like a idea for thesis ke animation agar nahi karti hoon to comic book karungi because I want to make a product for my thesis.
  84. Areeba Siddiqui does not consider herself a writer, and says her work has always been drawing. main apne aap ko writer consider nahi karti. Mera kaam hamesha se drawing raha hai.
  85. Areeba Siddiqui's five-year goal is to become a very good illustrator and animator. maine 5 years socha hai ke I want to be a very good illustrator and animator.
  86. Areeba Siddiqui wants to make short films. mujhe short films karni hain.
  87. Areeba Siddiqui says a woman needs her own money to keep herself safe. ek ek ladki ko, ek aurat ko apne aap ko safe karne ke liye she needs her own money.
  88. Areeba Siddiqui wants Pakistani children to work from a young age and learn to save money. I want to see this in Pakistani bacche na ke wo bachpan se kaam karein, unko pata ho, paise save karein jaise wo bacche kar rahe the.
  89. Areeba Siddiqui says her mother watches her Instagram stories. Amma watches my Instagram stories all of them.
  90. The sisters were helping Turkish students who were applying to Canadian and European universities. So we were basically helping Turkish kids jo apply kar rahe the Canadian universities ke liye and Europe ke liye.
  91. Noor Unnahar says her top audience countries are the US, India, Canada and Pakistan. Achha, I still have US on top and then I have India and then I have Canada and then I have Pakistan.
  92. Noor Unnahar says her Indonesian audience is large because of the hijabi community. Indonesian bahut zyada hain because of the hijabi community.
  93. Areeba Siddiqui says Noor Unnahar's and her secret to success is that they Google everything. Noor ki aur meri jo I think secret hai kamyabi ka, woh yeh hai ki hum har cheez Google karte hain.