For the 23-year-old from Sydney's western suburbs, a benefit of being a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter is the ability to show other women that gender shouldn't get in the way of chasing your dream.
And there is no better way to illustrate this point than her upcoming fight in the world's biggest MMA organisation - the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
She will step under the bright lights for her sixth professional fight at UFC 234 on Sunday at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena.
The contest against her US opponent Montana De La Rosa will be the biggest test of Kassem's career, and one she's been building up to since turning to MMA in 2013.
Her introduction to the sport began at the Australian Top Team gym, in the Sydney suburb of Wentworthville.
Nadia Kassem is the #3 pound-for-pound female fighter in Australia and New Zealand, and the #1 strawweight (Getty). Source: Getty
"I didn't really have a proper mindset of what MMA entailed. I just wanted to get in there and I just wanted to fight," she told SBS Arabic24.
"Once my coaches told me that I needed to have more discipline and to understand the art, that's when I started to take it more seriously.
"I started Brazilian jiu-jitsu in November 2013, as I had sparked interest into the sport after watching my brother compete in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and MMA competitions. I never really found the right sport and was drawn by the violence of MMA."
After turning professional in 2015, she amassed a record of five wins with no losses, with the last victory coming during her UFC debut in 2017 against fellow Australian fighter Alex Chambers.
Four of her wins have come by first-round knockout, and three were in 26 seconds or less.
"Fighting for the UFC has brought a different perspective to the term 'work'. Not only is it physically challenging, but it is also increasingly mentally challenging more than any office job I have encountered," she said.
"I am finally able to showcase my skillset on the world stage where I belong."
As a female of Lebanese descent, she admits that fighting is an unlikely career path to take, but believes she's an example for women that anything is possible.
Nadia Kassem fights Alex Chambers of Australia in their women's strawweight bout during the UFC Fight Night on Nov 19, 2017. Source: Getty
"My family is supportive of what I'm doing. In a way, it's pretty cool because not many females, especially from my background, participate in this sport. In a way, I hope it does help to break down stigmas for females in sport," she said.
"That does push me, and I do hope I inspire somebody else to go out there and try something they haven't tried before, to follow their heart because I believe that I do a lot of things by following my heart."
Kassem competes in the UFC's flyweight division (56kg), which requires her to diligently control her diet and training schedule to ensure she successfully weighs in the day before the fight.
"Every day in training is different as I've got a schedule, some days it is weights, a class or session and then a run. On other days I do sparring," she said.
"In preparation, there's lots of sparring, the gym is nice and hot, the mats are black and the feet are burning."
Kassem believes the home crowd will be a benefit.
Australian Robert Whittaker (right) in action at a UFC 234 card open training session on February 6. He's set to headline the event in Melbourne. Source: AAP
"It's even better to be fighting in Australia. You've got your country behind you. It won't be in Sydney but in Melbourne, but it's all the same thing with having an American opponent."
UFC 234 will be headlined by a men's middleweight fight between the division's champion, Australian Robert Whittaker, and US fighter Kelvin Gastelum.
