Maysoon Zayid

Renowned comedian, actress, writer, and disability advocate Maysoon Zayid jokes that if there were an ‘Oppression Olympics,’ she would win the gold medal: “I’m Arab, I’m Muslim, I’m a woman of color, I’m divorced, I’m disabled, and I live in New Jersey.” Known for her famed TED Talk “I got 99 problems…palsy is just one,” which has over 11M views, Zayid is a highly sought-after speaker for events with groups like the Ralph Lauren Foundation, Fidelity, Veeam, the Asia Society, Salesforce, and many more. Zayid has performed around the world, headlining the Arabs Gone Wild Comedy Tour and The Muslims Are Coming Tour, in which comedians toured the U.S. in an effort to counter Islamophobia. She is the co-founder and co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and The Muslim Funny Fest. In her New York Times bestselling memoir Find Another Dream, Zayid shares her hilarious and poignant journey of failures, successes, and insights about what it takes to make your dream a reality.
Zayid served as a full-time on-air contributor for Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and has been featured on The Nick Cannon Show’s Cannon’s Comedy Club, Let’s Kiki with Miz Cracker, CNN, The Wall Street Journal’s Secrets of Wealthy Women podcast, in The New York Times, and Glamour, which nailed her as “the most fearless comic alive.” Her writing has been featured in Refinery29 and The Daily Beast, among many others. Her second book, a middle-grade graphic novel titled Shiny Misfits, is set to be published by Scholastic in 2024, with an audiobook distributed by Audible. A current Princeton University Arts Fellow, she teaches in-demand courses on comedy, brand messaging, and collaboration. Hilarious, disarming, and sharing a message of inclusion that matters, Zayid’s comedy and commentary resonate with audiences of all kinds.