This profile is part of the Wellth 30, a curated recognition of the leaders building enduring brands, communities, and culture.
Kareem Rahma, Creator, Subway Takes
Kareem Rahma sits on a New York subway, hands a stranger a microphone and asks for one take.
That simple format has produced hundreds of episodes and hundreds of millions of views. Jennifer Lopez has done one. So have cab drivers, janitors and people nobody has heard of. That equality is the format’s real invention. Everyone gets the same train car, the same question and roughly the same amount of time to make their argument.
In 2026, Subway Takes became an Emmy nominee, an unusual recognition for an independently produced YouTube series.
Rahma dislikes being called a digital creator because he thinks the label makes the work sound newer — and smaller — than it is. His argument is that this isn't “digital media.” It’s media.
The subway just happens to be the studio.
