Shiza Shahid built Our Place for every family’s kitchen. Then she became a mother.
The co-founder and co-CEO of Our Place on how her daughter changed the way she designs, leads, and defines success.
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Three months into motherhood, Shiza Shahid is looking at her own products differently. As co-founder and co-CEO of Our Place, the kitchen brand behind the Instagram famous Always Pan and Wonder Oven, she built a company on the idea that cookware should be beautiful and free of the chemicals hiding in most kitchens.
Long before Our Place became a fixture in millennial kitchens, known for its pastel color drops and a following that’s more sneakerhead than home cook when a new drop hits, Shahid was doing different work entirely. In 2013 she co-founded the Malala Fund with Malala Yousafzai and led it as founding CEO, working to ensure that girls in Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, and Sierra Leone could have safe access to a high-quality education.
Now she’s the one testing her own standards at home with her own family. Her daughter’s meals come out of the Tiny Collection. Her purées come out of the Splendor Blender. Vegetables get steamed in the same Always Pan basket that’s on a million registries. The products she designed for other families are now the ones she’s using on hers, and that’s changed how she thinks about all of it, from what “non-toxic” actually means to how fast she’s willing to make a decision.
We asked Shahid what shifts when you’re building products for families while raising one of your own.
What’s a specific product decision at Our Place that you looked at differently after your daughter was born, something you’d approved or signed off on before that you now see through new eyes?
Honestly, so many. Every product feels different once you’re using it for the person you love most. One thing that’s become especially meaningful is our Tiny Collection. I use it almost every day to make my daughter’s meals, tiny portions of vegetables, little scrambled eggs, chicken. It reminds me that good design isn’t just about the big family dinner. It’s also about those quiet, everyday moments that become someone’s first memories of food.
Non-toxic design has been core to Our Place since before you had kids. What does “non-toxic” mean to you now that means something different, more specific, higher stakes, than it did as a founder without a baby at home?
It’s become incredibly personal. Before, I cared because I believed everyone deserved healthier cookware. Now, I’m steaming vegetables for my daughter in our steamer basket, blending her first purées in the Splendor Blender, sautéing tiny portions in our cookware, and watching every ingredient that goes into her body. Every decision feels much more intimate. When you become a parent, “non-toxic” stops being a product feature and becomes an act of care.
Are there standards or testing thresholds at Our Place that you’ve pushed to raise since becoming a mother? What’s an example of “good enough” that no longer feels good enough?
We’ve always had incredibly rigorous testing standards, and I’m proud of that. What’s changed is that I think much more deeply about the reality of parenting. Parents don’t have extra time or energy. Products need to work beautifully, consistently, and intuitively, even when you’re sleep-deprived and holding a baby in one arm. It’s not enough for something to pass a lab test. It has to make someone’s day genuinely easier.
When you’re evaluating a new product or material now, what questions do you ask that you didn’t think to ask a year ago?
I ask, “Would I use this every day with my daughter?” That question cuts through almost everything. I also think much more about cleanup, durability, and whether something actually reduces friction in a family’s life. Parents don’t need more things. They need better things.
How has your decision-making pace or risk tolerance changed since your daughter was born, as a leader running a fast-growing company, not just as a parent?
I’ve actually become much faster. Having a baby has made me realize how precious time really is. I don’t have the luxury of overthinking decisions that don’t deserve it. I try to be thoughtful, make the best decision I can with the information I have, and move forward. Time is one of our most valuable resources, at work and at home.
What’s something about leading Our Place that got easier after becoming a mother, and something that got harder?
The harder part is obvious. There are simply more things competing for your attention. Balancing leadership and motherhood is a real practice. The easier part is that I feel even more connected to our mission. Every day I’m living the moments we’ve always designed for, cooking meals, gathering around the table, caring for the people I love. It makes the work feel even more meaningful.
You’re now the exact customer you’re designing for, someone bringing new, untested things into a home with a baby. What does that feel like from the inside?
It feels like a privilege and a responsibility. I get immediate feedback because I’m living the experience myself. Every product I bring into our home, I ask whether I’d recommend it to another parent without hesitation. That perspective is invaluable.
What do you want other mothers to know about how a product actually earns trust, from someone who now sees it from both sides of the counter?
I think trust starts with intention. Who designed this product? Why did they make it? Do they genuinely understand the life you’re living, or are they just marketing to it? The products I trust most are made by people who deeply understand the problem they’re trying to solve.
What’s one thing you find yourself buying or avoiding now that you never thought twice about before?
I’m definitely buying far more bibs, toys, and children’s books than I ever imagined. And I’m much more intentional about what I avoid. Chemical sunscreens, unnecessary fragrances, materials I can’t easily understand, I simply ask more questions now. Becoming a mother has made me a much more curious consumer.
Is there a product in your own kitchen that means more to you now that you’re feeding a family, not just yourself?
So many. I roast sweet potatoes for my daughter in the Wonder Oven, steam vegetables in the Always Pan, sauté tiny portions of chicken in our cookware, and serve everything in our little bowls. Those products were always designed to bring people together around home cooking. Now they’re helping me introduce my daughter to food, one meal at a time. That’s incredibly special.
What’s a piece of advice from another mother that actually stuck with you?
One that I come back to often is, “Everything is a phase.” The difficult nights are a phase. The uncertainty is a phase. But so are the beautiful moments. It reminds me not just to get through the hard days, but to really savor the good ones too.
If you could go back and tell yourself something on day one of maternity leave, what would it be?
The hard parts really do get easier, and the tiny moments go by much faster than you think. Be present for them.
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