Maryam is an aspiring Sufi, Karachi-wali (of Karachi), runaway lawyer, serial social entrepreneur and social innovation evangelist. Her work and research centers ‘dialogues of wisdoms’ and explorations around alternate ways of knowing, doing and being to decolonize social innovation and entrepreneurship. Maryam believes in enabling innovators to trigger transformative change in themselves and their communities, and through that process co-create more equitable, regenerative systems.
Maryam previously co-founded the Social Innovation Lab, a social innovation ecosystem builder in South Asia and Daftarkhwan, a series of co-working spaces in Pakistan, alongside starting a number of impact focused initiatives over the last decade. She is also an Acumen Fellow, an International Youth Foundation Laureate Global Fellow, and holds a LL.M. in International Law from the University of California, Berkeley.
Maryam’s more recent work as a Senior Fellow at Social Innovation Canada centered on creating a decolonial “pedagogy of flipping” in social innovation lab design and practice for housing affordability. As a Senior Consultant at the Center for Social Innovation, Maryam has co-led the creation of CSI’s education strategy, program design and curricula.
Maryam is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Environment, where she works with the Waterloo Institute of Social Innovation and Resilience (WISIR) to promote decolonial approaches to Social Finance that center justice, equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility for all.