Friday, October 30, 2026
While many college students are struggling to secure jobs and internships in their fields, Rida Rahim, of Elmont, is building her own business — as founder of TawakalStudio, a web design and digital branding studio based in Long Island.
Rahim, a 20-year-old third-year student at New York Institute of Technology-Long Island Campus, is using her studio to help local businesses build a strong online presence.
She has also started a second business venture, DeltaReview, a serverless, AI-powered code diff analyzer.
Rahim said that as a student at Sewanhaka High School from September 2022 to June 2024, she took a Career and Technical Education computer technician/networking course that sparked her interest in computers. She added that she also enjoys designing and animating, which led her to pursue computer science. After exploring different fields in computer science, she decided on software engineering.
Rahim said that about a year ago, while applying for internships, she built a website for the application process and fell in love with web development. That inspired her to establish TawakalStudio LLC in April, offering web development, social media branding, hosting setup, deployment, basic search engine optimization (SEO), domain assistance, content support, and professional email setup.
She added that after launching the venture, she gradually got into AI and ended up starting the DeltaReview company.
Rahim told the Herald that, so far, through TawakalStudio, she has worked with a tutoring business based in Jamaica, Queens, and on the landing page for MyDeen, a free educational mobile app for iOS and Android designed to help modern Muslims reconnect with their faith through bite-sized, 3-to-5-minute daily lessons based in Indiana near Chicago by Sami Sabeeh and Apex Academic Services USA.
“She has been very responsive, kind, and helpful. She redesigned our website that showcases what the app is about and who it's for, and she made it much better than what it was before,” Sabeeh said via text. “Right now, she's connecting us with different organizations in her community as well to increase the distribution for the app.”
Rahim described her time management as an ongoing process. She explained that she plans her week and then adjusts based on what works.
“I'm still figuring out where I want to go with my startup and company," Rahim said. "I don't think my community has influenced it that much. I guess it's just word of mouth, like you go to the mosque, and you tell them about it. It's just that, it's just word of mouth.”
She described her second startup venture, DeltaReview, as targeting smaller development companies, junior engineers and students. She views its niche as a ready-to-use analysis experience that sits between integrated code-review tools and general AI chat tools.
Her work on DeltaReview recently earned Rahim a featured founder interview on zPlatform, an independent AI tool discovery and review platform. Rahim also was quoted by MoneyWise, syndicated by Yahoo Finance, regarding a computer science student's take on AI "doom trolling."
Rahim said the main challenge is identifying and building a reputation and getting the names of her duo ventures out there. However, she is still figuring out the direction and goals for both businesses.
“I feel like the biggest challenge would be just getting my name out there," Rahim said. "I think that's been like the hardest thing because I have to put a reputation out there."
Frank Lee, Department of Computer Science chair at New York Tech, praised Rahim’s impressive business ventures.
"I am very proud of Rida Rahim and her accomplishments as a Computer Science student at New York Tech," Lee said via email. "Rida exemplifies the creativity, initiative, and perseverance that make our students exceptional. Her work on DeltaReview, TawakalStudio, and other innovative technology projects demonstrates not only her strong technical skills but also her ability to identify real-world problems and develop practical solutions."
"What impresses me most is her determination to turn her ideas into reality and her ambition to use technology to make a positive impact on others," Lee continued. "Rida is an inspiring example of how passion, hard work, and a willingness to learn can lead to meaningful innovation. I look forward to seeing her continued growth and future success."
In addition to majoring in computer science at New York Tech, Rahim is minoring in civics, future policy, justice and advocacy, because she's interested in the intersection of technology and areas such as AI ethics.
Rahim said she is using the college's startup program for guidance on building, scaling, investment, and pitching. She added that she prefers to remain solo for now and hopes both DeltaReview and TawakalStudio will gain visibility, clients, and potentially, investors over the next five to 10 years.
She expressed hope that more technologists will build startups in Elmont and Long Island but sees fear of failure as a barrier.
“I feel like as a Muslim, we have more skills to represent, specifically the Elmont community and the Valley Stream community, where we can do something more with what we have, so that was my main thing,” Rahim said.
She suggested that young entrepreneurs should take reasonable risks despite the doubt and not assume the worst-case outcome.
