Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban because of her outspoken support of girls’ education.

Shiza Shahid, the McKinsey business analyst who met Malala as a sophomore in college.

Their story reads more like a novel than a McKinsey business case. Shiza recounts how she and Malala first met:

“When I was in my sophomore year at Stanford, I set up a summer camp for Malala and 30 other young female activists who were fighting for their right to go to school. The camp gave the girls a break from the chaos of their daily lives—the Taliban was actively shutting down schools for girls —and the chance to learn to be activists, both for themselves and for their communities.”

After the summer, Shiza’s relationship with Malala and her family continued. It was in her DNA. “I’ve always been very politically curious, and I was deeply affected by the situation in Pakistan,” Shiza says. Her upbringing in Islamabad and acceptance to Stanford made Shiza acutely aware of the contrast between her opportunities and life for women in the Swat Valley where Malala and her family lived. “I wanted to do something to give back,” she says of the camp and her passion for girls’ education.

Shiza graduated from Stanford in 2011 and started at McKinsey as a business analyst based in Dubai at the beginning of 2012. That’s what brought her to the Cairo airport, where she got the news of Malala’s shooting. Shiza stood silent in her pain and distress. She went straight from the Cairo airport to Birmingham, England, where Malala was airlifted.

The early days were desperately uncertain. “It was incredibly painful. We didn’t think she was going to make it,” Shiza recalls. She helped the family manage the chaos, assisting them in navigating the unfamiliar environment in Birmingham, channeling offers for support from around the world, and establishing the privacy they needed to allow for Malala’s recovery. Meanwhile, Shiza’s McKinsey colleagues in Dubai rallied around her and picked up her duties.

While Shiza was in England, former UK Prime Minister and United Nations Special Envoy on Global Education Gordon Brown visited Malala. “He asked Malala’s father, ‘What do you need?’” Shiza recalls. Malala’s father said that one of the things the family needed most was for Shiza to stay with them. When Gordon Brown discovered Shiza worked for McKinsey, he called Dominic Barton to see if McKinsey would be willing to temporarily “second” her to support Malala and her family.

Soon, this business analyst with less than a year at McKinsey found herself in a one-on-one meeting with Dominic. “Dom offered the firm’s full support,” Shiza says. “The Dubai office, under Director Tarek Elmasry, also offered its support. Mona Mourshed , leader of the Education Practice, offered to help guide my work for the next few months, and my secondment was arranged immediately—the firm was amazing.”

With a three-month leave of absence approved, Shiza began her work in earnest. Meanwhile, Malala continued to make incredible strides in her recovery. Shiza realized that she needed to build a structure around Malala’s emerging role as a global, galvanizing force for girl’s education.

“I was getting so many e-mails and phone calls from people who wanted to donate or help,” she recalls. Many were quite well connected, and knowledgeable about harnessing the power of social media for humanitarian causes. In typical McKinsey fashion, Shiza started asking a lot of questions, gaining insight and wisdom from non-profit leaders, marketing executives, and, of course, her McKinsey colleagues.

“Throughout this entire ordeal, Malala wanted to keep fighting for girls’ education,” Shiza says. “We wanted to create a platform for her to do so, a way to capture and continue the passion her story inspired.”

The Malala Fund quickly took shape as that platform. Vital Voices, an organization devoted to empowering women, stepped forward to temporarily host the Fund. Today, the Malala Fund is up and running, supported by an advisory committee, which includes a VP at Google, the CEO of Vital Voices, Shiza, and of course, Malala.

“Malala will have the support she needs to develop as a leader,” Shiza says. “She’ll be surrounded by smart people who can help her solve the problems she wants to solve.”

Shiza also helped Malala find ways to share her story. “The number of people she’s inspired is immense,” Shiza adds. Malala had been blogging for the BBC, but it became clear that a book would allow her to share her experiences in greater detail. Shiza helped the family find an agent and a writer to assist Malala; her book will be published in October 2013, with a children’s version to follow in 2014.

After three months of this extraordinary effort, Shiza has transitioned back to McKinsey. She plans to continue to support Malala by taking advantage of the flex-time option; she's currently helping the family work negotiate a potential movie opportunity. “I care so deeply about this family, and we're all inspired by what we have managed to create so far," she says. "And, most importantly, Malala is headed back to school.”

Indeed, Malala enjoyed her first day of school in Birmingham on March 20. But the journey is far from over, both for the girl whose miraculous survival inspired millions and for Shiza, our McKinsey colleague whose chance meeting with Malala changed her life as well.