About Safia Zyla

Safia is from Ethiopia. Her early experiences shaped her interest in how the places people live influence economic opportunity and what communities need to support long-term growth.

That interest first took shape through housing and community planning. During an internship in a historically disinvested neighborhood, Safia saw how years of underinvestment affected housing quality, access to services, and economic mobility. She authored a white paper proposing a community land trust to preserve affordable housing while supporting neighborhood investment. The experience broadened her interest from housing to the systems that shape investment, business activity, and local economic growth.

Safia earned her BA in Urban Planning at Columbia University, where she co-founded Stride Development, a public benefit corporation focused on sustainable, community-centered housing. Through Stride, she worked on projects that connected housing with transportation, childcare, employment, and other parts of the built environment. The company has housed more than 400 families, giving Safia firsthand experience with financing and delivering projects at scale.

Safia is now pursuing an MBA and a Master’s in International Policy at Stanford University, where she is concentrating in Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment (ENRE). She is interested in how emerging markets can mobilize domestic capital alongside external financing and channel it toward infrastructure, real assets, and businesses that increase productive capacity. Her work explores the connection between investment and economic development, particularly how stronger local industries, productive employment, and rising labor productivity can help economies move up the development ladder.