Shahzad Ahsan is the founder of Zorsay, a joywear brand inspired by South Asian craft and dancefloors around the world. Zorsay means “say it louder” in Urdu and Hindi. The insight behind the brand was simple: right fabric, wrong format. Craft textiles like mirrorwork, jamawar, embroidered silk, and ajrak have been locked inside traditional and gendered garments for generations. Zorsay recuts them into blazers, bombers, and vests made to move in, each handmade in small batches by artisans in Karachi. The brand has dressed artists from Indo Warehouse at Coachella to Madame Gandhi at UN Climate Week, and Shahzad has been featured in the New York Times Style Section.
By day, Shahzad is Head of Growth at the AI company Littlebird. Before that, he spent over a decade in brand and marketing leadership, including Head of Software Marketing at Logitech and Senior Marketing Manager at Spotify, where he built the podcast ad sales marketing function after joining through the Gimlet Media acquisition. He is a University of Chicago graduate based in Brooklyn, out in the streets for every diaspora event NYC throws at him.