Mohsin Zaidi

Speaker, Author: A Dutiful Boy

Mohsin Zaidi is the author of the prize-winning coming-of-age memoir, A Dutiful Boy. 

Growing up in a religious household in a poor suburb of London, as a teenager Mohsin had a life-changing moment: watching two men kiss on TV. 

This screen snog set the stage for Mohsin to see himself for who he was. These days we find Mohsin content and happy at the table of his life, but the struggle between now and said kiss was real. 

Now, living in New York with his husband, Mohsin chats with Savva about all things food, faith, and family, and how sometimes one can be used against the other. 

His memories capture the festive joy of Eid, forcing himself to eat pork, the best Pakistani restaurant in London, and how salmon and salad just doesn’t cut it against the soul-satisfying depths of the herbs and spices of his cultural heritage. 

Mohsin’s social cause is The Opportunity Network, which ignites the drive, curiosity, and agency of under represented students on their paths to and through college and into thriving careers.