About Alyza

From community care work to global corporate strategy, I’ve spent my career bridging human experience and systems change, helping people and organizations expand their perspective, clarify what matters, and build with purpose.

I began my career in direct response roles, working in domestic violence shelters in the SF Bay Area and supporting young adults living with or affected by HIV. These early experiences grounded me in deep listening, real-time responsiveness, and the complex realities of people’s lives.

The more time I spent inside nonprofit systems, the more I saw their limits, how often they were tasked with managing harm instead of interrupting it. When the 2008 global financial crisis hit, I lost my job due to funding cuts. That moment made it clear how deeply local struggles are connected to global systems, and pushed me to seek a deeper understanding of how real change happens.

I pursued graduate studies in Community Development at the University of Westminster in London, where I deepened my understanding of how identity, power, and systems shape both individual lives and collective realities, and learned to translate those insights into real-world strategies for change.

After grad school, I spent time inside a scaling social enterprise, an experience that honed my ability to lead through growth while staying grounded in mission. From there, I moved into corporate spaces, first Macy’s, then PlayStation, where I led a global product team and helped scale systems accountable for over $1B in annual revenue. I built and restructured teams, shaped product and content strategy, and translated abstract ideas into operational reality. What set me apart wasn’t just execution, it was my ability to see across silos, ask sharper questions, and bring people back to the core of what they were actually trying to do.

My parents came from metropolitan regions of India and Pakistan and raised me in Los Angeles with a deliberate commitment to cultural and class exposure. I’ve carried that lens through Colorado, Washington D.C., London, and now Oakland, where I’ve spent the last 15 years building a deeply connected life and feeding my appetite for critical learning, political education, and meaningful conversation. I seek out global news sources that challenge dominant narratives and expand my perspective beyond a Western lens. I host intentional gatherings with friends to reflect, connect, and root our learning in how we live and work. Long walks, long conversations, lifelong friendships, breaking down big problems, and small joys, like keema samosas or a perfectly named group chat, keep me grounded and alive. It’s all part of how I move through the world, and how Jehangir Studio came to be. I believe in staying close to truth, noticing what’s shifting, and being willing to reimagine how we work, live, and build, especially when exploitative systems were never built to serve us in the first place. 

I’m building something deeply aligned with my natural strengths to create meaningful change, inshallah, that ripples outward, energizing both myself and others. This work is a convergence of everything I’ve done and everything I care about. It’s grounded in lived experience, refined by systems thinking, and focused on helping people make clear, values-aligned moves, without compromising themselves. I hope my ability to speak direct truths and see patterns helps people create liberating transformations, break apart big problems, and move with purpose.

If something here resonates, I’d love to hear from you!  I’m always open to thoughtful conversations, new collaborations, or simply connecting with people who are in this work too. You can email me directly at info@jehangirstudio.com.