Sadia Mezbah
Sadia Mezbah is an entrepreneur, Managing Director, writer, teacher, and Human Resources Business Partner. She currently serves as the Managing Director of the Asia Women’s Center, the first domestic violence center in New York City dedicated to serving immigrant and BIPOC communities. She began this role on her birthday, July 15th, a milestone that holds deep personal meaning. In this capacity, she oversees organizational operations, infrastructure, staffing, strategic partnerships, and community-centered initiatives focused on supporting women and families in crisis, ensuring that services are responsive, accessible, and grounded in dignity and care.
Sadia’s professional foundation is rooted in Human Resources, beginning with her first role on Wall Street in corporate America. That early experience shaped her understanding of leadership, systems, communication, and the critical role strong organizational infrastructure plays in driving meaningful outcomes. Over the years, she has built a career in HR leadership across multiple industries, specializing in employee relations, talent strategy, DEI, and organizational development. As a visibly Muslim woman of color and a hijabi, she is especially passionate about helping women like herself navigate professional spaces that were not always designed with them in mind, and about building workplaces that are more inclusive, equitable, and human-centered.
In addition to her role at Asia Women’s Center, Sadia is the founder of Sadiasaidso, an organization that began as a blog and has since evolved into a consulting and mentorship platform. Through this work, she partners with nonprofits and mission-driven organizations to provide people-centered development, leadership coaching, and career readiness support. She also dedicates time to teaching youth business skills and helping them build sustainable career pathways. Beyond traditional working hours, Sadia remains deeply engaged with her community through workshops and trainings focused on elevator pitches, authentic self-presentation in corporate environments, and economic empowerment for women, often operating in an on-call capacity to support individuals in urgent need.
• Certifications in People-Centric and People in Culture
• Certified HR Generalist
• Zicklin School of Business - BBA, Human Resources Management
• Borough of Manhattan Community College - AS, Business Administration and Management, General
• Empowered Woman Award from Muslim Women of Staten Island (August 2024)
• Young Muslim Juniors (YMJ) - Instructor
• Teaching business skills to youth ages 12-17 at Young Muslim Juniors on Friday nights
• Community work through Sadiasaidso focused on economic empowerment for underrepresented communities
• Asiyah Women's Center
• ICNA-NJ
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my family. My mom really taught me to just go after everything I want in this world, and she's never held me back once. It's not a thing that exists in my culture - women are very much told you stay at home and you work, and that's what she was used to, that's what she was told. But she made sure I lived life to the fullest. She really is so proud of all my accomplishments, and I wouldn't have worked so hard if I didn't have her. She really made sure that I saw every single thing that I could do, wanted to do, and was willing to do in the future, that I see them through, that I have a plan, that I'm working on things. Having her emotional intelligence and really being able to just, piece by piece, go through things and having her as my best friend - it really does make a difference. And having three older brothers plays a part too, because my brothers never pushed the stereotypes or the sexism in our culture onto me. They really made sure that I could stand on my own two feet.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I had this one boss, and I love her dearly, and she always used to tell me that everything I do, I've always led with emotional intelligence. And she was like, don't ever stop doing that. In this type of environment, in the people that you'll meet, that will really shine through. And even if you're trying to make yourself take a step back, people will force you to get back up because of that emotional intelligence - it makes you more authentic. I do think that we live in a world, or at least maybe the up-and-coming generations, where they're a little ruthless sometimes, and they're not so much caring of people's emotions. And in the business world, that's very easy to do as well, because business is business. So when you are able to assess things and lead things with emotional intelligence, I think you can come out building genuine connections and find yourself in places that are very well and better for you.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say plan, but be bold. And don't be afraid to step outside the plan. You should always have a contingency plan and be aware of the things you're trying to do, and set goals for yourself. But don't be so afraid to step out of the line, to do something different, to try and build on skills that you wouldn't have thought were relevant, but somehow they end up always being relevant. You can't stay in a bubble and expect to grow. You really have to have a growth mindset to get where you want to go.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is that the system is built to keep people in the system. For example, a client comes up to me and is like, Sadia, I don't have my state ID because my abuser held all my documents captive. But in order to get a state ID, you still need some other proof, and they wouldn't have this proof. So let's say I'm going to send them to another office, like for a green card - I'm going to send them there, they're going to be like, well, you need your state ID. And I can't get her state ID without a copy of the green card. There are certain things that are in place to make things harder, and it's just very unfair and unfortunate, and I do think it comes down to funding. The funding, or lack of it, in place for underrepresented communities is the biggest challenge currently. On the opportunity side, I think we're in a really interesting time - there's so much potential. The age of social media and the way people are utilizing it is really interesting to me. A lot of my clients come to me and say they want to quit their job and be a food content creator, and if you just give them the tools, they learn really quickly. The different kinds of opportunities that are available in the job market now are very interesting - you can get invited out for brand deals, get paid thousands for a video. Sometimes it gives people segways into other parts of work, like food content creators ending up on MasterChef. It's very interesting seeing how social media has changed things for these communities.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Emotional intelligence is incredibly important to me - I think that goes hand-in-hand in everything. Beyond that, hard work really matters. You have to work hard, whether that's prioritizing the kinds of relationships that you have - now I have a mother-in-law, and I've been trying to make sure that she's happy - but also professionally, when you work hard, the work will shine through and you will see results. You just have to be able to execute them with the right team, and I think building a strong team and infrastructure is very important. A growth mindset is essential. Kindness really goes a long way. Nothing in life that is worthwhile is going to be easy.