Born and raised in Islamabad, Pakistan, Shahid began advocating for others after she spent time working with children born to women in prison and volunteered at a relief camp in the wake of a devastating earthquake in 2005. After receiving a scholarship to Stanford University, Shahid stayed closely connected to daily news about her home country, particularly the issues Pakistani women face. 

As co-founder and global ambassador of the Malala Fund, 22-year-old Shiza managed business operations for Malala Yousafzai, the youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Shiza had reached out to Malala in 2009 because she wanted to organize a camp for Pakistani girls. When Malala was targeted and shot by the Taliban in 2012 for promoting girls’ education, Shiza flew to her bedside. Inspired by Malala’s desire to continue campaigning for gender equality and education, Shiza helped Malala strategize and grow her campaign. Together, they co-founded the Malala Fund, which empowers women and girls by advocating for girls’ education and helping them gain access to education. 

In 2017, Shiza stepped down as CEO of the Malala Fund and launched NOW Ventures with venture capital platform AngelList. “Since I was 12 years old, I’ve been working in social impact: volunteering and organizing,” Shiza said. “As I’ve grown, my thinking on how best to have an impact has matured. I believe we have to harness the power of markets to make a difference.” NOW invests in mission-driven startups, furthering Shiza’s goal of leveraging philanthropy, venture capital, technology, and the media to make the world a better place. 

Shiza co-founded Our Place in 2019. Today, the Our Place team is predominantly made up of women and immigrants. The Los Angeles-based line of cookware aims to simplify home cooking, while catering to a wide range of culinary styles and traditions. Our Place’s bestselling Always Pan has become a cult favorite, a do-it-all pan designed to replace eight traditional pieces of cookware. 

Shiza was named to Time’s 30 under 30 World Changer and Forbes 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneur lists, and she has been featured in multiple publications including Fast Company, Elle, Glamour, Town and Country, and The Edit. She has also appeared on CNN, ABC, Al Jazeera, MSNBC, and others. 

As co-founder and CEO of the Malala Fund, Shiza worked to create access to safe and high-quality education for girls in Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, and Sierra Leone. Speaking to students continues to play a huge role in Shiza’s goal to make the world better: “I think speaking to students is a really impactful way to make a difference. At this juncture, students are deciding who they are, what they want to do, who they want to become, what impact they want to have.”