Social entrepreneur Shiza Shahid has taken her career in a new direction with Our Place, an Instagram approved cookware brand. Our Place celebrates home cooking and the connections made between people and cultures through food.
Shahid is most famous as the co-founder and CEO of the non-profit Malala Fund, which promotes education for girls across the world. She has been included in both Forbes’ and Times Magazine’s “30 under 30” list for global social entrepreneurs and world change-makers.
She is also behind NOW Ventures, a fund that aims to invest in ethical companies.
Shiza Shahid: invested in change
Shahid first rose to prominence through her work with Malala Yousafazi, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner. Inspired by a Youtube video in which Malala laid out her dream of educating girls and empowering women in Pakistan, Shahid reached out to her family.
When Malala was shot by the Taliban in an assassination attempt, Shahid flew to Birmingham UK to be with her in the hospital. Using the energy and media attention surrounding the incident, she set up the Malala Fund.
The Malala Fund aims to ensure 12 years of free education for every girl in the world, and currently supports 58 advocates working across Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. In June 2018, the fund helped secure $2.9 billion for girls’ education from the G7 countries and World Bank.
Shiza Shahid: activist entrepreneur
Shahid grew up in Islamabad, Pakistan. Beginning there at a young age, she turned her sights to social activism. At just 12 years old, she volunteered at a women’s prison. There she listened to women’s complaints and assisted doctors in providing medical support. ‘It was the first time I realized as a young person that I could actually make a difference, and that felt like my path in life,’ she says.
At the age of 18 Shahid won a scholarship to study at Stanford University. Upon graduation she then became an expert analyst at McKinsey & Co. From there she set up Now Ventures, a VC fund and platform. Now Ventures wants to make the world a better place by investing in start-ups that have a positive social and ecological impact on the world.
For her part, Shahid chose not to follow a conventional career path. Rather, she simply set out to do what she thought would have the most impact. In a changing and uncertain world, the ‘ability to reinvent yourself and be resilient and entrepreneurial is so much more important than a certain career path,’ she says.
Shiza Shahid: Our Place
Shahid’s appetites for activism and entrepreneurialism have now come together in Our Place, her new cookware company. At the core of the company’s ethos is cultural representation and stories from the community. For Shahid, ‘food is identity, it’s culture, it’s politics, it’s innovation, it’s science, it’s heritage. Every story we tell is from that perspective,’ she says.
With Shahid’s philosophy in mind, Our Place stays involved community work. To this end, they partner with the Los Angeles Food Policy Council on promoting access to good food. Our Place also takes care to source their food and labor responsibly and ethically.
Check out their latest products here and follow them on Instagram.
