Shiza Shahid on Leading with Empathy, Building Impact-Driven Companies, and Sharing Culinary Traditions

Lifted

In this episode of Lifted, Tembi Locke sits down with visionary entrepreneur and changemaker Shiza Shahid – co-founder of the Malala Fund, founding partner of NOW Ventures, and CEO of Our Place – for a conversation that weaves together purpose, innovation, and heart. Shiza reflects on her journey from organizing protests in Pakistan as a teenager to becoming one of the most influential mission-driven entrepreneurs of her generation. Together, she and Tembi explore how service, storytelling, and social justice shaped Shiza’s worldview, and how she’s used each chapter of her life to uplift others. She shares the personal pivots that led her from McKinsey to the Malala Fund, and then to launching Our Place, a company that reimagines the kitchen as a place of cultural connection and community care. Shiza also speaks candidly about embracing her immigrant identity and learning that impact doesn’t always come through scale but through the values we center each day. For anyone building a life or business rooted in meaning, this episode is a powerful meditation on leading with empathy and purpose.

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