Spotlight: TED Fellow Durreen Shahnaz

Seeing as we both come from Bangladeshi middle-class families centered on the value of education, it's interesting and inspiring to see what TED fellow Durreen Shahnaz is up to. When she's asked about what inspires her, it's quite funny to see how similar our upbringing was and how it instilled in us a dedication to giving back:

I come from a middle-class family and was fortunate my parents really focused on the importance of education. But what I took away most from my childhood was that although we didn’t have a lot, it was never an issue. The issue was always how we can give back to the society. It wasn’t these exact words, but it was very much a part of our life.

I grew up in a Muslim household and on Fridays, our holy day, all of us kids in the house had assigned gate duty. This was when the beggars would come to the gate, and we gave them rice. It was a spectacular way, now that I think about it, that my mom really instilled in us the concept of giving back.

But of course they’d also added, whatever you do, you  have to be the best at it. That’s the typical Asian parent for you [laughs]. You know, get the Nobel Prize, marry the right guy, make perfect curries.

So anyway, I felt that whatever I do, I had to somehow incorporate the world.

Quite empowering to see Shahnaz take her Wall Street experience and apply it in the developing world, whether it be helping Asian start-ups become marketable or creating a stock exchange for social enterprises. Read more about her work here.