In The New Business Traveler column, we take a have a look at how attention-grabbing folks with fascinating jobs are touring for work proper now.
As an immigrant with kin scattered internationally, “travel has always been tied to family for me,” says Shiza Shahid, the Los Angeles-based founder of non-toxic kitchenware model, Our Place. “Visiting relatives, moving between places, [means] understanding that home could exist in more than one geography. I remember the feeling of arriving somewhere new but still finding familiarity in food, in language, in small rituals. That idea of connection across distance has stayed with me.”
Now, that zeal for experiencing new cultures, locations, and traditions informs a lot of Shahid’s enterprise. “I travel as part of the work because so much of what we make is shaped by people and place,” she says. “Whether it’s meeting artisans, spending time with our teams around the world, or understanding how people cook and gather across cultures, being there in person changes how you build.”
Tell me about a work journey that has stayed with you.
I traveled to Marrakech to spend time with our artisans in late 2024. A giant a part of Our Place’s mission is to rejoice our traditions loudly and proudly, and to assist protect the craft that carries them ahead. This journey was centered across the improvement of a limited-edition tagine. We have been working alongside third-generation craftsmen, within the very place the place the tagine originates. There is one thing extremely grounding about constructing a product not in isolation, however in deep collaboration with the folks and locations which have formed it for generations.
How did you get there?
I flew through Paris. It is a comparatively seamless journey, and I all the time recognize the pause there earlier than arriving someplace as textured and transportive as Marrakech.
Who have been your journey buddies?
I traveled with my husband and co-founder, Amir Tehrani, together with two of our product leaders, Chu Chimezie and Jia Zhu. It is uncommon to have that mixture of partnership and craft in a single place. Being there collectively meant we may make selections in actual time, grounded in each instinct and experience.
