Aisyah Shakirah — Mozilla Foundation

The Origin Story

This didn't start with a job. It started in 2012.

During my gap year after high school, I organised a small Girls in ICT event to empower young girls in rural Kedah, Malaysia. That initiative caught the attention of the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva, who invited me to represent Malaysia at the Girls in ICT Day dialogue in Switzerland. That journey became my entry point into the global internet governance world.

"Mozilla was my first browser. It was also my first encounter with the idea that technology could be built for people — not for profit."

Since then I have spent over a decade building coalitions, mobilising communities across Asia-Pacific and globally, writing newsletters to 150,000 global members, driving advocacy, speaking at multiple UN Internet Governance Forums, and fundraising for movements I believe in. From Kuala Lumpur to Kobe to Montreal to Berlin.

Girls in ICT Day Certificate 2012, name placard, and a decade of conference lanyards

The lanyards in this photo tell the story better than any CV could. Every one represents a room where the future of the internet was being decided, and I am grateful to have been in each of them, always learning.

What I See

Mozilla has a remarkable grassroots community. Here's the opportunity hiding inside it.

34,667

Donors gave in the 2023 end-of-year campaign

Including 14,972 first-time donors, an extraordinary top-of-funnel result. The community exists and the appetite is real. However, industry data shows only 19% of first-time donors return. That is the gap.

$3.3M

Raised in grassroots donations in 2023

A strong foundation and a signal that Mozilla's community will give when asked well. The question is, how do we deepen that relationship between campaigns, not just at peak moments?

2025→

MozFest returns globally, Barcelona locked in through 2027

A multi-year partnership with Barcelona creates a predictable global moment, one that grassroots fundraising can be built around. Events are donor conversion opportunities if the supporter journey is designed right.

The Opportunity: From Campaigns to Community

Mozilla's grassroots program is growing. But growth alone isn't the goal, depth is. The real opportunity is moving Mozilla's supporters from occasional donors to invested community members who give because they feel genuinely part of something. That requires smarter email journeys, better segmentation across Mozilla's multilingual global audience, and connecting the dots between advocacy campaigns, MozFest energy, and the donation ask. This is exactly the work I have spent 11 years learning how to do.

The Work & Mozilla

Selected proof points. Not a portfolio, a track record.

Youth Empowerment Fair — Director on stage

Grassroots Fundraising

Youth Empowerment Fair 2024 & 2025

As Event Director and Lead Fundraiser for Malaysia's largest Prime Minister-mandated youth forum, I secured approximately $210,000 USD across two years from Berjaya Group, Khazanah Nasional, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, and others, from first pitch to signed partnership.

$210K+ raised

Partnership & Revenue Impact

ICANN75 Annual General Meeting, Kuala Lumpur

Led the successful bid and delivery of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)'s Annual General Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, convening 2,200 global stakeholders and generating approximately $11.5 million USD in national economic impact. Received ministerial recognition from HE Nancy Shukri, Malaysia's Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, on stage.

$11.5M impact

Email & Digital Engagement

Internet Society — Global Members Engagement

Wrote and distributed newsletters and campaigns to Internet Society's 150,000+ global members. Co-led the Kids & COVID-19 internet safety webinar, managing the full audience engagement strategy, which reached over 1 million views across platforms.

1M+ Engagement

Global Encryption Coalition roundtable dialogue

Coalition Building

Global Encryption Coalition — From Zero to 400 Members

Built and grew the Global Encryption Coalition, with Mozilla on the steering committee, to 400+ global members across governments, civil society, academia and industry (35% expansion in a single year). Led 35+ global advocacy campaigns influencing legislation across the UK, US, and EU.

400+ members built

Mozilla & Me

A decade of shared mission, not a coincidence.

Most candidates discover Mozilla through a job listing. My relationship with the Foundation spans continents, coalitions, and over ten years of shared work.

Early 2000s

My first browser was Firefox.

Before I knew what open source meant, Mozilla gave me my first experience of the internet as a public good. That belief has shaped every role I have held since.

2018

MozFest, London — Internet Society participates.

Whilst I was at the Internet Society, my team participated in the Mozilla Festival at Ravensbourne University, advancing shared values around community connectivity and an open internet. Our organisations working side by side.

2020–2023

Mozilla joins the Global Encryption Coalition steering committee.

The coalition I built and led at Internet Society. Mozilla Foundation was a steering committee member, meaning we worked together directly on some of the most important encryption battles of the decade, including the UK Online Safety Bill.

2022

Secured Mozilla as Silver Organisational Member of Internet Society.

A formal institutional partnership I helped negotiate, deepening the relationship between two organisations with aligned missions.

Ongoing

Active community participant across Mozilla campaigns.

I am a direct supporter of Mozilla's causes. Recently, I signed the 8 Rules for AI from Creative Communities open letter, added my name to the Tell the EU: Don't Break Encryption petition, and contributed my scripted speech to Mozilla Common Voice.

May 2026

Selected for Mozilla Foundation's Creative Writers Open Call.

I was one of 10 global writers chosen to write and publish about the future of AI and creativity on my Substack platform, which made it to the top 100 Substack Bestselling Writers list only after 3 months of initiation, twice!

My Vision

What the first 180 days look like.

I have put together a plan grounded in Mozilla's actual priorities, current programs, and the specific challenges a new Director of Grassroots Engagement will walk into.

Days 1–30 · Listen

Understand before building

Deep-dive into current email program (list health, segmentation, open rates, unsubscribe trends, and double opt-in conversion)
Map the full supporter journey from first action to donation ask
Meet every member of the grassroots and development team to understand what is working and what has been tried
Review all vendor relationships, tooling (CRM, ESP), and budget lines
Audit cross-functional relationships with Strategic Comms and Community teams

Days 31–60 · Diagnose

Find the leverage points

Define clear KPIs for the program (retention rate, average gift size, recurring donor growth, reactivation rate)
Identify the top segments most likely to convert to monthly giving and design targeted journeys
Build a testing roadmap (subject lines, send cadence, ask amounts, emotional vs. rational messaging)
Develop a multilingual engagement strategy for Mozilla's global audience
Brief leadership on findings and proposed direction with clear trade-offs

Days 61–90 · Build

Lay the foundation

Launch first A/B test campaign with clear hypothesis, methodology, and success metrics
Introduce a supporter welcome journey for new donors, converting first-timers into repeat givers
Establish monthly team rhythm: data review, testing cadence, cross-functional sync
Begin building the MozFest Barcelona 2026 donor engagement plan
Set annual grassroots revenue targets with the VP of Development

Days 91–180 · Scale

Drive growth

Execute MozFest Barcelona 2026 donor engagement strategy across before, during, and after the event
Launch lapsed donor reactivation campaign tied to a live mission moment (AI transparency, encryption rights)
Activate untapped global audience segments, starting with Asia-Pacific and Europe
Report first measurable outcomes to leadership: retention uplift, recurring donor growth, revenue against targets
Set the multi-year vision for grassroots fundraising as a core revenue pillar for Mozilla Foundation

I've been part of
Mozilla's world
for over a decade.
Let's make it official.

This didn't start with a job. It started in 2012.

Mozilla has a remarkable grassroots community. Here's the opportunity hiding inside it.

The Opportunity: From Campaigns to Community