Tell us a little about yourself.  

I am a high school student of Pakistani descent, two years into calling Canada home, and that move fundamentally sharpened how I view the world. Adapting to a new country at full speed — a new school system, new social codes, a new everything did not slow me down; if anything, it forced me to become a faster learner, a sharper observer, and someone deeply attuned to the gaps that existing systems leave wide open. I carry the discipline, ambition, and community-first values instilled in me growing up in Pakistan, and I layer that with the multicultural, innovation-driven environment Canada has given me access to. That combination is something I genuinely consider a strategic advantage. I take immense pride in my Pakistani heritage, whether that is wearing my traditional shalwar kameez to school, speaking Urdu with family in the hallways, or carrying the values of hospitality and collective wellbeing into every room I enter. I do not tuck my roots away to fit in; I flaunt them, because being proudly Pakistani and proudly Canadian are not in tension, rather they are both fully, unapologetically me. That identity shapes the problems I care about, the way I connect with people, and the kind of builder I want to become. I am the kind of person who questions why things are done a certain way, finds more meaning in empowering overlooked people than in any conventional definition of success, and genuinely believes that the most powerful solutions come from people who have skin in the game. I want to build things that actually matter to real people, and I have the lived experience to know exactly which problems are worth solving. 

Why are you excited to participate in Shad? What are you most looking forward to?

Honestly, what excites me most about Shad is something I have rarely experienced in a traditional classroom: being the least impressive person in the room. I genuinely cannot wait to be surrounded by peers with different perspectives who challenge my thinking, poke holes in my ideas, and push me to defend or rethink them entirely. I am someone who gets restless when conversations stay surface-level, so the idea of being in an environment where deep curiosity is the norm rather than the exception feels almost too good to be true. What I am most looking forward to is the hands-on design challenges, not because I think I will have all the answers, but because I want to experience what happens when I do not. There is something I find fascinating about the pressure of a real constraint: a tight timeline, a hard problem, a team of people who all think differently. That friction is where the most interesting ideas seem to live, and I have only ever gotten small glimpses of it. Shad feels like the first place where I can dive into that process fully, learn from people who have already been doing it, and walk away with a sharper sense of what I am actually capable of building.

What sparks your curiosity or interest in STEAM and/or entrepreneurship?

My curiosity is fueled by the powerful intersection of graphic design and business strategy. My first real taste of entrepreneurship came from helping manage a family-led venture on Facebook Marketplace connected to a website where we salvaged discarded, high-quality household goods—often perfectly fine “apartment waste” left behind by moving tenants. By cleaning and curating these items, we tackled an environmental issue by diverting usable goods from landfills, while simultaneously solving a social problem by providing affordable essentials to people who couldn’t afford expensive new furniture. That experience gave me a hands-on understanding of consumer needs and the mechanics of delivering real value. Since then, I have rewired how I see the world of entrepreneurship. I stopped viewing problems as unfortunate realities and began seeing them as unexplored business opportunities. I have also been obsessed with the question of how design and strategy work together, like how the way something looks and feels can be just as powerful as its logic. To me, the most exciting businesses are the ones where empathy and intelligence are impossible to separate. 

How do you envision your future?

I envision a future where I can use my skills in tech and design to create my own business products/services that solve real-world social problems close to my heart. My primary goal is to help immigrants seamlessly adapt to their new lives in Canada by lessening the overwhelming worries that come with relocating. For example, I want to build an AI agent dedicated to helping newcomers navigate the complex process of finding and renting an apartment, ensuring they feel supported and welcomed from day one.