A Social Innovator’s Success Story: Authenticity Over Convention
by Eugenia Lee
As the indomitable founder of The Second Floor (T2F), an arts and cultural community space in Karachi, Pakistan, Sabeen Mahmud was a voice for activism and fearless open dialogue. Tragically killed in 2015, her vision of “intellectual poverty alleviation” still lives on through her work.
In her 2013 article for Innovations journal, Mahmud shared her incredible story. Here are some of her own words on her journey driven by imagination, love for people and her country, curiosity, and risk taking.
She Dedicated Herself To Her Community
Despite a job offer in Delhi and the option to leave for greener pastures, Mahmud chose to dedicate her talents to Karachi. In a country known for brain drain, Mahmud loved her home and couldn’t bear to leave it. That love drove her work in building T2F, but also created a foundation for her as a strong local leader:
“Home to over 21 million people, Karachi has earned the dubious honor of being the world’s most dangerous megacity. Wracked by violence and crime, it is governed by multiple realities and unknown overlords. It is dysfunctional, messy, incredible, and insanely loveable — and I cannot bear the thought of living anywhere else.”
She Asked Big, Imaginative Questions
Sabeen Mahmud was a visionary who liked to ask questions that no one else did. She spent long hours in her spare time musing over how to build vibrant, creative communities. She intuited that creating a physical space would be key to developing a creative community:
“I started fantasizing about creating a public space for free speech and creative expression. I had long conversations with myself: How could we become agents of social change if our theater practitioners had no rehearsal spaces, if our underground musicians had no venues to perform in, if our emerging artists had nowhere to hang their work? How could creative dissidents even learn of each other’s existence, let alone build and cultivate a community, without physical spaces where people could talk politics?”
She Led With Intuition
Mahmud was in many ways a non-traditional founder. She did none of the market research that conventional wisdom says founders should conduct before starting a new initiative, and she started almost without capital. Building T2F was a terrifying endeavor, but Mahmud trusted her intuition and belief that others would be looking for a space like T2F:
“T2F opened its doors to the public without any fanfare or glitzy launch parties for celebrities and the press. I had conducted no research and done no target market segmentation. My uncompromising adoration of Steve Jobs meant I could not stomach focus groups and just went with intuition and the fervent hope that there were at least a few more people like me. It was a scary time.”
She Preferred to Grow Her Organization Organically
As a person, Mahmud believed in being nimble and adaptive. She took this same approach to building T2F, letting it grow organically rather than creating a business plan. Her love for people and community enabled its growth:
“T2F has, slowly and organically, become the hub of artistic and intellectual activity that I had envisaged six years ago. While it has been a very difficult journey, it has been rewarding beyond my wildest imagination. If I had made a business plan, T2F would have not gone beyond the idea stage. It is still financially unstable, but the model is workable and replicable. By creating this space, I have had the honor and privilege of meeting hundreds of talented individuals who have renewed my faith in humanity.”
She Delighted in Creating Delight
There was no pretense in what Mahmud did; she brought her joyful, genuine self to her work. In leading the community, she created space for delight and playfulness. Mahmud sought to create this in everything she did– not just in the intellectual sense, but also in the physical sense:
“Observing how people interact with speakers, performers, and each other when they’re at T2F has taught me a great deal about how much built spaces affect communication and engagement. The team and I love to tinker with what we call “the physical”; we try to create fresh experiences just by playing around with what we have. We want to evoke curiosity when people walk through the door, so they will wander around and discover things for themselves. That’s why the bathroom door features a poem in Urdu by Faiz Ahmed Faiz rather than a standard toilet sign.”
She Aimed To Challenge Entrenched Perspectives By Creating Opportunities for Interaction
Mahmud was wildly imaginative, and always had a vision for what she wanted to build. She believed that keeping an open mind and embracing differences would widen new perspectives for all those involved:
“Having an open mind and an open-door policy has let us fulfill dreams beyond my wildest imagination. When we were setting up T2F, one of my key ambitions was to blur the lines between disciplines and create programming that would attract a range of people irrespective of their specialties and disciplines.”
She Believed In Taking Risks
Mahmud, in her own unique vivacious way, was a keen advocate of taking risks and jumping in headfirst. For her, it wasn’t about money; it was about getting started in what you believe in:
“I have lived by Buckminster Fuller’s aphorism, “You have to decide whether you want to make money or make sense, because the two are mutually exclusive.” As a result, despite being the COO and cofounder of a well-respected technology/design company with great blue-chip clients, I had a pittance in my bank account. Zak once said, “It doesn’t matter if you can’t swim — jump right in but just make sure the pool has water.” My mother has also consistently encouraged reckless behavior. So, trained by those key people in my life, I took a leap of faith.”
An Unusual Leader with an Unusual Vision
Sabeen Mahmud was an unusual leader with an equally unusual vision– that an arts community that could challenge and question existing structures of power. As a young woman from the global south with other opportunities in the world, Mahmud stubbornly refused to leave the city she loved, instead dedicating her life to creative expression, risk taking, and community building.
Read Sabeen Mahmud’s full case narrative, published in the MIT Press Innovations journal: “Creative Karachi: Establishing an Arts & Culture Center for the World’s Most Rapidly Growing City”.
Eugenia Lee consults on ethnographic research, social impact, and international development. She’s worked on three continents, with a focus on East Africa. Eugenia has written for The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and Public Radio International.
