Banafsheh has been residing in Sacramento, California with her family since 1996. She has an MS degree in Water Resources Engineering and a BS degree in Irrigation and Drainage Engineering from University of Shiraz, Iran.

She has more than twenty years of engineering experience in public and private sector on Water Resources, Dams and Canals, Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, and Flood Control projects.

She received her California Professional Engineering License in Civil Engineering in 2000. She is a Supervising Engineer and works for the California Department of Water Resources in Sacramento.

Her voluntary positions in different organizations include Board Member for Professional Iranian Women (PIW) (2004-2014), Diversity Chair for Women in Transportation (WTS) (2009-2010), Chair for Society of Iranian American Women (SIAW) Employed in California Public Sector (2014-Now).

She is an active member of IAWF since 2014 and was part of the planning committee for organizing the 2015 IAWF Leadership Conference in San Francisco. She is currently a team member for the IAWF NORCAL Chapter.

As hobbies, she enjoys reading, Yoga, hiking, outdoor activities, movies, traveling, and spending quality time with family and friends.