In recent years, a handful of celebrities have kept their identities private, such as Marshmello, Sia, and the YouTuber Dream.
Calgary’s Naveed, also known as riptideqwastaken, follows in their footsteps as his social media presence grows.
Naveed’s Instagram account was born out of his passion for riding.
“That was my passion. And when I was riding, I was kind of just figuring out ways of monetizing it so I could do it full time,” said Naveed in an interview with the Calgary Journal.
When filming content, however, Naveed keeps his motorcycle helmet on to hide his identity from viewers.
Keeping the helmet on, he says, lets him experience fame differently.
“Out of that helmet, there’s no responsibility for me, right? I don’t really have to keep up with expectations because no one knows who I am. They can’t put expectations on someone they don’t know,” said Naveed.
The Calgary Journal confirmed Naveed’s identity — but agreed not to reveal the social media creator’s real name to tell this story.
However, Naveed has promised that at 100,000 followers he will do a face reveal, which he already knows will change his online interactions, especially with women.
“I feel like it’s going to get a little annoying. Even now with the helmet, it’s still pretty bad, but I think afterwards it’ll probably get a little worse,” said Naveed.
The helmet idea was simple: it was the easiest to use, and he had seen other creators use it.
His username, though, has a much longer story.
It stems from his childhood years of gaming and his need for a cool username.
He eventually landed on the name “Riptide”, but quickly learned that wasn’t an option.
“I started looking around. I was like, well, you know, that’s very common. This is an ocean current. So it’s taken everywhere. There’s even a song about it,” explained Naveed.
So he decided to add a “Q” to the end, which became the name he uses now.
Although he has created himself an online persona, Naveed says it’s not much different from who he is in person.
“I’m just a regular guy that posts stuff and got lucky,” said Naveed.
Alongside the videos themselves, Naveed created his own apparel brand, Syndicate.
The brand is specifically marketed as motorcycle apparel, with the goal of opening up the motorcycle community to more people.
“I started with the goal of…un-gatekeeping the motorcycle culture and…bringing people together because the feeling I felt riding with people that like also rode was just, it’s just an amazing feeling, and I feel like everyone should experience it,” said Naveed.
The hoodie is designed to be windproof and worn for long periods.
Naveed says the design choices were made specifically to keep riders in Calgary out longer.
“In Calgary… it’s so hot when you start riding, it’s like 10 degrees, sometimes 15 degrees. And then when the sun goes down…you’re like one to two degrees… You go out riding in like a T-shirt, light hoodie…you don’t go out in full leathers… Then by the time stuff’s going down or the vibes are really nice and you don’t want to go, you’re just freezing your ass off,” said Naveed.
Between creating content and hoodies, Naveed says his favourite part of running the account is its reach.
“I can get a lot of free stuff, which is pretty nice. People come to me for with deals and stuff and opportunities that obviously lower follower-count pages don’t get, ” said Naveed.
Having 49 thousand followers is euphoric for Naveed, but he says 100 thousand will feel even better.
“It’s like a drug,” he added.
