Zak Malik advocates for a wide array of nonprofit and corporate clients to city and state governments, where he engages in budget advocacy, legislative analysis, and community affairs. In his role, Zak helps guide clients through the city’s budget process, working closely with them to help secure government funding for programming and capital projects. He also monitors political, legislative, and regulatory activity, and lobbies for legislative changes at the city and state level in a range of policy areas.
Zak brings with him cross-sector experience and a long-standing interest in politics and policy. Prior to joining the firm, Zak worked on a congressional campaign in his home district, helping a new challenger unseat an incumbent. He is also an alumnus of the NYC Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs, where he gained a strong understanding of how the city operates by examining and gaining first-hand experience working in a variety of industry sectors and institutions. Through Coro, Zak worked at NYCHA, 32BJ, Moody’s Corporation, the Public Policy Institute of New York State, and Industry City.
Before that, Zak was focused on education policy as a policy and advocacy fellow with Leaders for Educational Equity. Zak is an alumnus of Teach For America, where he taught high school special education in the Bay Area, California. Through TFA, he earned an M.A. in special education at Loyola Marymount University. Zak is still passionate about education and he currently sits on TFA NY’s Associate Board.
Zak graduated from Wesleyan University in 2014 with a B.A. in government. At Wesleyan, Zak ran varsity cross country and track and field, and played the drums in a band that opened for Kendrick Lamar. He is a proud Brooklyn native, where he is currently active in local politics.