MEET OUR FOUNDER
Meet the Founder: Habib Shahbain
From Zero English to Zero Excuses
I'm Habib, and I built STOZO because I've spent my entire life stepping into spaces where I didn't belong—and finding out I did.
2014: The First Leap
I came to the U.S. in 2014 speaking zero English. Imagine that for a second. You can't read a menu. You can't understand your teachers. You can't even ask where the bathroom is without feeling like an outsider. Every day was a crash course in discomfort. But that discomfort? It built me.
The Teacher Years
I learned English, graduated high school and college, and became a physical education teacher in the Bronx. I loved my students. I loved the work. But I kept asking myself: Is this it? Work for 30 years, get a pension, and call it a life? Something in me needed more.
170+ Bikes and a Lesson
While teaching, I started selling high-end bicycles—a side hustle in an industry I knew nothing about. I didn't have a shop. I didn't have connections. I just figured it out. Three years later, I've sold over 170 bikes. That taught me the most important lesson of my life: You don't need permission to start. You need courage to try.
STOZO: The Brand Born from Belief
After three years of teaching, I decided to step out again. I started STOZO—a clothing brand—with zero background in fashion. People thought I was crazy. Maybe I was. But I've learned that the best things in life happen when you stop waiting to be "ready" and start moving anyway.
STOZO is my story. It's your story too. Every time you wear this brand, you're wearing a commitment—to yourself, to your dreams, to the idea that comfort zones are where potential goes to die.
Let's step out together.
— Habib Shahbain
Founder, STOZO