At the age of 13, Yasmeen Suleiman is amongst the youngest NFT artists and entrepreneurs in the United Arab Emirates. What led her to where she is, is the emergence of Dubai as a non-fungible token(NFT), Web3 and Metaverse hub. These Digital phenomena are the successors of the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and extended reality (XR) craze which had begun creating waves by creating a parallel universe powered by blockchain technology and letting the power of young minds run wild.
The young NFT artist and entrepreneur launched her debut project in 2021. She has catapulted herself into the growing international list of teenagers who have enjoyed success in the NFT space selling blockchain-based tokens that represent a unique asset like a piece of art or other digital media.
Gary Vaynerchuk, more popularly known as Gary Vee, a Belarusian-American serial entrepreneur, thought leader and Metaverse influencer has caught a glimmer of this young artist’s work. Not only has Gary bought some art from Yasmeen’s debut project but also spoke about her on his popular YouTube show.
Yasmeen and her family hail from Kyrgyzstan — one of the breakaway states of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). At the age of four, her father had abandoned their family, as such her mother Assel has been the proverbial rock in Yasmeen’s life.
Yasmeen, Assel says, has always been creative and mature beyond her years. “From the moment she could walk, I think she was looking for ways to create and art has always been her true passion,” the proud mother reminisces. Yasmeen, too, looks back in wonder about her formative years in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, where her creativity was born.
“I’ve always loved art and I think as soon as I could hold a pencil I was drawing. I never took any special art classes — I just used books and YouTube videos to learn new techniques and skills. I always like trying new forms of art — from painting on canvases to working with clay and recently I’ve been building small model scenes as “book nooks” for my bookshelves. Working with apps like Procreate on my iPad allows me to create using a range of brushes and effects,” she says.