Shiza Shahid | |
---|---|
Born | Islamabad, Pakistan |
Nationality | Pakistani |
Alma mater | Stanford University |
Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, Investor, Educator |
Organization | Malala Fund |
Known for | Co-founder, Former CEO, Malala Fund |
Shiza Shahid is a Pakistani social entrepreneur, social activist, investor, and educator. She is the co-founder and former CEO of the non-profit Malala Fund, which promotes education for every girl. [1] In 2013, she was included in Time 's "30 Under 30" list of world change-makers, and in 2014, she was listed in Forbes 's "30 Under 30" list of global social entrepreneurs. [2] She is also well-known as the personal assistant of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. [3] [4]
Shiza Shahid was born and raised in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. She spent her early teen years as a volunteer worker and as an activist. At the age of 14 she started working in prisons occupied by women who were convicted of various crimes. She worked as a volunteer at a relief camp following a deadly earthquake which struck Kashmir in 2005, killing nearly 85,000 people. [5]
At the age of 18, Shahid received a scholarship to pursue higher studies at Stanford University and graduated in 2011. She returned to Pakistan in 2009 after hearing about the Taliban's ban against women's education. [6] After completing her higher studies in 2011, she pursued a career as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company's office in Dubai. In 2017, she co-founded NOW Ventures, which focuses on funding startups. [7]
Shahid has also given lectures and speeches in universities in different countries on the subjects of women's empowerment and the importance of child education. [8] [9]
While pursuing her higher studies at Stanford University, Shahid reportedly watched a YouTube video of young Malala Yousafzai, who was ambitious and keen on empowering women and child education in Pakistan. She reached out to Malala's father Ziauddin and offered to assist Malala to achieve her dreams. [4]
Shahid flew to Birmingham, where Yousafzai was hospitalized after being shot by Taliban members, to offer assistance to Yousafzai and her family to help them recover. [10] Shahid and Malala co-founded the Malala Fund in 2013 with the aim of creating access to safe and high-quality education among girls in Pakistan and the African countries of Nigeria, Kenya, and Sierra Leone. [11] [1]
Events from the year 1997 in Pakistan.
Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani female education activist, film and television producer, and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of 17. She is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history, the second Pakistani and the only Pashtun to receive a Nobel Prize. Yousafzai is a human rights advocate for the education of women and children in her native homeland, Swat, where the Pakistani Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has grown into an international movement, and according to former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, she has become Pakistan's "most prominent citizen."
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Ziauddin Yousafzai is a Pakistani educational entrepreneur and activist best known as the father of Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, who protested against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan opposition to the education rights of girls, especially for Pakistani girls.
I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban is an autobiographical book by Malala Yousafzai, co-written with Christina Lamb. It was published on 8 October 2013, by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK and Little, Brown and Company in the US.
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We Are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World is a 2019 book by Malala Yousafzai. The book was published by Little, Brown and Company in the US and Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK. The book follows Yousafzai's own experience being displaced in Pakistan and later forced to move to England, and tells stories from nine other displaced people around the world. The book received positive critical reception and reached the top 10 in The New York Times' bestseller list under the "Young Adult Hardcover" section.
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Malala Fund is an international, non-profit organization that advocates for girls' education. It was co-founded by Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and her father, Ziauddin. The stated goal of the organization is to ensure 12 years of free, safe and quality education for every girl. As of July 2020, the organization has 48 staff and supports 58 advocates working across Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.
Aware Girls is a non-governmental organization in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Established in 2002, it aims to address violence and discrimination against women and young girls in Pakistan. Their mission is to advocate for women's rights, education, and access to sexual and reproductive health resources. They state their objective as "to strengthen the leadership capacity of young women enabling them to act as agents of social change and women empowerment in their communities."
Let Her Fly: A Father's Journey and the Fight for Equality is a 2018 autobiography by Ziauddin Yousafzai, the father of the Pakistani activist for female education Malala Yousafzai. It details the oppression he saw women face in Pakistan, his family life both before and after his daughter Malala was shot by the Taliban and his attitudes to being a brother, a husband and a father.
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