Betting on the Underdog: What the NYC Summit Taught Me About Optimism

Last week, I had the absolute pleasure of attending the NYC Summit and seeing our Mayor Zohran Mamdani (and when I say "our," I mean all of the US) speak in person. The room was full of other business owners, folks from the City of New York, and people from embassies and trade commissions across the world.

Mayor Mamdani was in conversation with Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder and CEO of Chobani. If you don't know Hamdi's story, the short version: he's a Turkish immigrant who grew Chobani into a $3.8B business by remobilizing defunct production warehouses in New York and Idaho (yes, American-made!). He's one of the richest 300 people in the world, and he got there through scrappy marketing and a focus on employee wellbeing; he even gave a portion of the company to his employees.

During their conversation, they talked about NYC as an underdog that always bounces back, but better. It's because of adversity that NYC grows stronger, not despite it. It's the people who bet on the underdog who make this city what it is: post-9/11, post-Hurricane Sandy, post-COVID. The people who doubled down and said "it's NYC or nowhere" made it the place it is today.

The energy after this event was palpable. I left feeling proud, inspired, and empowered. While I gleaned a ton of lessons, two big ones stood out: 1) optimism is not optional in making change, and 2) we can only win together.

Optimism is not optional

Doubt is easy. It takes no stretching, growth, or effort. It's incredibly easy to poke holes in an idea. What takes actual strength and courage is to conceive of something that doesn't exist yet. To make a change, you have to believe a different outcome is possible, despite the doubt and the "unlikeliness" of success. Every founder, artist, and creative has had to develop that skill.

But why would you? After all, the data is clear: 22% of new US businesses fail within the first year, and 48% close by year five. The answer is vision. Because growth, while uncomfortable (and sometimes painful), is the only way to find fulfillment. The odds said a Muslim, 34-year-old democratic socialist couldn't beat out establishment politicians. And yet, here we are in Mamdanistan, getting universal child care, funded parks and libraries, and a rent freeze on rent-controlled apartments. (I know the Mayor's office can't take credit for this, but the Knicks also won the championship for the first time in 53 years!)

Optimism and belief in a different outcome require courage. Through building two businesses and becoming a muralist, I've learned that courage is a muscle — built through adversity and sustained only by imagination. In a world constantly pushing us toward compliance (educational systems, corporate culture, take your pick), holding onto optimism and imagination is one of the best ways to resist the powers that be. Capitalism wants you to give up. You're easier to control when you believe that what is, always has been and always will be. Within ourselves, we can hold onto the belief that the world can change for the better.

We can only win together

But we can't do this alone. Many of us sing Mayor Mamdani's praises as a shorthand, but the reality is that it takes many hands. The Mayor's office is made up of many believers, each with their own slant on what makes for good change.

Take Julie Su, the Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice. As Biden's acting labor secretary, she secured over $9M in restitution for workers and small businesses and expanded protected time off for 4.3 million workers. She believes people are the core of a healthy economy. Or Leila Borzog, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning — a City of Yes negotiator now overseeing the landmark rent freeze on roughly one million stabilized apartments and a crackdown on bad landlords. None of them did it alone. These wins required not only belief, but a win-win-win approach.

At a structural level, this is where public-private partnerships can be incredibly effective. Often, what's good for the people is also good for business. Before anyone starts thinking of unfettered capitalism or tries to bamboozle you into their version of trickle-down economics, let me propose another way to look at it. If we think of the government's role as redistributing resources — money, space, services — then the job isn't necessarily to equalize, but to set a floor for how its citizens live.

And before anyone claims billionaires and multimillionaires will flee if we tax them (they won't), let's see it as a smaller piece of a bigger pie rather than a zero-sum game. This doesn't require generosity or selflessness from the ultra-wealthy. If I'm wealthy, it's good for me not to be surrounded by people so desperate that crime is their best opportunity to eke out a living — especially when I'm a plump target, holding the resources so many people need. We're not looking for perfect equalization, but equilibrium.

Nature already operates this way. Nutrient-dense plants don't hoard their resources; they pass them along, because each organism plays a role. Some plants return nitrogen to the soil, worms aerate it, birds eat the worms and redistribute seeds. When a system becomes monocultural or imbalanced, we end up with the Dust Bowl. Nature is not only generous — it's optimistic. A tree doesn't experience one frost and decide to never fruit again. There's a role for each of us in an ecosystem: the entrepreneur, the artisan, the farm worker, the executive. And despite New York being home to the "rat race," maybe we can remember that rats only race around when they're in an unnatural environment.

Pride is the antidote to shame

The NYC Summit was really a pep rally for the city of New York. We take pride in our city and recognize we're stronger because of the low points and growth opportunities. We can have pride in ourselves and where we come from.

Growing up, I was embarrassed to be raised in affordable housing by a single mom. I was different from my private school classmates who could afford tuition without financial aid or work study. Now I can see those experiences taught me so many of the fundamental skills I use daily. I'm proud of where I come from, and proud that I, an underdog, live in a city that celebrates underdogs. Pride is the opposite of shame, and we could all stand to be prouder of ourselves for surviving difficult times. With the right combination of optimism and community, we might even thrive.