Saira Muzaffar
Marketing & Communications Director, BTY
Year: 2021
Magic Moment: The unexpected gifts of developing great teams and doing all kinds of work in relationship with one another is a consistent theme for magic moments in my life. Throughout my career, finding my footing and purpose as part of a team in my profession and in my community has consistently revealed new depth and different perspectives to expand my skillset and mindset. Some notable examples include the chance to help build a multinational company with my colleagues and mentors at BTY, the opportunity to learn about the power of community through supporting young LGBTQ2S leaders at Youthline, and the necessity to act with responsibility for our collective future by supporting my teams and peers at TechGirls Canada, the Women’s Leadership Initiative Toronto (WLI) and the Women’s Infrastructure Network Toronto (WIN).
Key Influence:
Joe Rekab, Chair and former Managing Partner, BTY: Joe epitomizes inclusive leadership, entrepreneurial passion, and strategic vision necessary to build a thriving global organization. As a mentor, he generously shares insights and praise, and always provides constructive advice with grace and humour. I am grateful to be one of many people in the industry who have and continue to learn from him on what it takes to build shared culture to achieve success togetherJoe epitomizes inclusive leadership, entrepreneurial passion, and strategic vision necessary to build a thriving global organization. As a mentor, he generously shares insights and praise, and always provides constructive advice with grace and humour. I am grateful to be one of many people in the industry who have and continue to learn from him on what it takes to build shared culture to achieve success together.
Saadia Muzaffar, Founder, TechGirls Canada: Saadia personifies the power of making a beautiful world by doing what you love. Through her mentorship I continue to learn the art of crafting new possibilities by weaving seemingly disparate people and places together. She is a visionary leader and communicator who has reset the norms of civic engagement in Canada’s STEM sectors and challenges us to act with deeper understanding not tokenism to build systemic change for socioeconomic equality.
Next Big Challenge As An Industry: The biggest overarching challenge and opportunity for our industry is to evolve from the transactional approach to our roles in city-building toward an interconnected transformation as stewards of a healthy and equitable future. This will require us to shift incentives from “winner takes all” to understanding how we as professionals can serve the greater good of winning together. It will also require us to build and sustain relationships across differences to cultivate real city-building consensus. The global pandemic is a life and death wake-up call to optimize for interdependence.
On Championing Others… My lived experience and cultural knowledge have helped me develop a strong calling to serve others through business and communication skills, by creating and holding space for marginalized people, and by developing programming for collective learning and relationship building across public/private/not-for-profit sectors. I find this type of work life-giving through my involvement in TechGirls Canada, which conducts social and scientific research on women’s labour market participation in STEM fields, and through my committee work with WLI and WIN to spotlight the leadership of amazing women and advance more opportunities for equitable city building across GTHA.
Secret Talent: Sorry, this will have to remain a secret!
One word that captures you: The best word to describe me would be “versatile” because I routinely wear many hats, cross many backgrounds and boundaries, switch sectors and languages, and thrive on the creative challenges of making something new.