The Discover List: Meet the 2025 TikTok Creators to Watch

Across the globe, our creators have been redefining culture and making a positive impact on and off the platform and MENA is no different. On the The Discover List 2025, we unveiled 50 global “creators to watch” across five categories: Educators, Foodies, Icons, Innovators, and Originators. With five creators from the MENA region featured on the list, we remain committed to empowering and inspiring regional talent by equipping them with the right tools to enhance their visibility and connect with their community.
The Discover List’s featured regional creators are sparking trends and inspiring audiences around the globe — from Foodie @amrelhady_ ‘s videos that made us try want to dry delights from all over Egypt to @aqeeelstar’s adorable family moments, The Discover List honorees are shaping the future of content creation. Scroll below to see the featured creators in each category!
“At TikTok, we take every opportunity to celebrate our creators and the incredible communities they’ve built. Seeing regional talent recognized across all five categories of the Discover List 2025 is truly exciting,” said Kinda Ibrahim, Regional GM, Operations at TikTok METAP, Central and South Asia. “Every day, we witness the limitless creativity of regional creators, whether it’s educators sharing their vast knowledge or icons inviting their loyal followers into their world. We’re proud that TikTok has become a safe and inspiring space for our community, and we remain committed to fostering this environment for creators across the region and beyond.”
Want to learn more about each of the creators on this year’s list? Check out The Discover List 2025 Lookbook for creator bios, additional photos, and quotes!
Educators
From inspiring their followers, to advocating for change, these creators educate their community and entertain along the way. Whether they’re teaching languages, exploring new technology, or highlighting ancient history, educators encourage us to discover something new and to learn more about the world. This year, Saudi’s @fahadacademy earned a spot on our list for his dedication and passion in helping his audience enhance their spoken English through simple yet impactful videos.
Foodies
Foodies are taking viewers on mouthwatering adventures across the For You Feed, inspiring #FoodTok trends around the globe. They’re all adding their own creative spin on cuisine through #cooking, #baking, and more — and it’s all delicious. In MENA, Egypt’s @amrelhady_ has been scouring Cairo right and left for the best hidden gems and dishes and his content has been taking TikTok by storm, reaching almost 2 million followers over the past year!
Icons
These creators need no introduction — they embody trends and culture and make an impact every day. They’re well known on and off TikTok and are changing the game for content creators everywhere. Kuwait’s @aqeeelstar has been blessing our For You Pages with the most adorable moments with his wife and children, over the past couple of years, inviting a community of over three million people from across the region to be part of this family. Our Icons live and breathe TikTok culture and inspire others to do the same.
Innovators
With not one but two MENA creators on the list, TikTok’s Innovators put a new twist on what it means to be a content creator. As we live vicariously through @tahertravels and @ibnhattuta who have taken us all over the world as they hop from one continent to the next, our innovators are pioneers in their fields who have a unique point of view in their content, and are not afraid to experiment and try something new.
Originators
Originators are the artists who share the music we live for. They inspire the aesthetics, the movements, the anthems. Originators are the heart of TikTok — they have a finger on the pulse of culture and create the soundtracks that define the year.

We’re thrilled to highlight our Discover List honorees as we continue building a unique platform where over one billion people come to be entertained and learn something new. Whether they’re starting trends, or redefining what it means to be an Educator, Foodie, Innovator, Icon, and Originator, these creators are the true definition of authentic expression, and we can’t wait to see what they do next.

TikTok is a unique place because of our incredible global community, and the process for selecting creators for The Discover List 2025 was also community-driven. Creators were nominated by our global team, and we evaluated which creators have been making a significant impact on and off the app over the past six months. Measurement levers included (but were not limited to): video creations, views, account growth, likes, comments, interactions with followers, and content that has sparked global conversations.

Photo credit for all creator images for The Discover List 2025 is: TikTok/Angella Choe @angellachoe