Tanzila “Taz” Ahmed (she/her) is an activist, storyteller, and politico based in Los Angeles. An electoral organizer by trade, she’s mobilized thousands of Asian American and Pacific Islanders to the polls in over 17 different languages over the past 15 years.
At the age of 25, she founded South Asian American Voting Youth (SAAVY), a national organization that organizes South Asian American youth to have a political voice and get involved in the electoral process. An experienced campaign trainer, Taz has led workshops for the EnviroCitizen, the League of Young Voters, and Campus Camp Wellstone.
An essayist, poet and now podcaster, her writing developed around creating a counter narrative for the communities that she belonged to, whether youth, Muslim, South Asian or counterculture. She can be heard monthly on The #GoodMuslimBadMuslim Podcast and can be read monthly in her Radical Love column at loveinshallah.com.
She was a long-time writer for Sepia Mutiny and is published in the anthology Love, Inshallah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women. Her writing has been featured in The Aerogram, The Nation, Left Turn Magazine, Angry Asian Man, MTV Iggy, Taqwacore Webzine, Mideast Tunes, The SAALT Spot, Wiretap Magazine, Alternet, IMOW, PopandPolitics, Kahani, Falling Star Magazine and more. Her personal projects include writing about Desi music at Mishthi Music where she co-produced Beats for Bangladesh, making #MuslimVDay Cards and curating images for Mutinous Mind State. A mixed media artist, her artwork was recently featured in the group show Rebel Legacy: Activist Art from South Asian California.
Taz also organizes with Bay Area Solidarity Summer and South Asians for Justice – Los Angeles. You can find her rant on twitter @tazzystar and at tazzystar.blogspot.com.