The 1st Youth Leadership Conference was held by the IAW Foundation and Center for Learning
Twenty Iranian American students from across the nation gathered November 22 at Coastline Community College in Newport Beach for the Iranian American Women Foundation's first annual Youth Leadership Conference: Life Academy.
Held in collaboration with the Center for Learning, the conference spanned over a weekend full of career building activities tailored to high school and beginning college students.
"I am honored to have participated in the IAW Youth Leadership Conference," said Pardis Habibi. "I never thought there could be an organization that would care about the future careers of Iranian youth. This year, I am graduating high school, and feel better prepared to take on the world as this conference equipped me with the tools I needed."Read more
Lead Like a Woman
An award-winning journalist, a successful civil engineering firm founder and a humanitarian who works to foster engagement between the United States and the rest of the world came together to share the trades of women who lead during the Los Angeles Iranian American Women's Leadership Conference.
The three women, moderated by Shabnam Rezaei, founder of Big Bad Boo Animation Studios and Oznoz, shared their experiences and the attributes of women who lead, which include courage, strength, empathy and authenticity.
Lead Like a Woman was the opening session of the conference, which was attended by nearly 600 women from across the nation. The conference was held for the first time in Los Angeles at The Beverly Hilton.
Achievement Spotlight: Mojdeh Eskandari
Please join the Iranian American Women Foundation in congratulation Mojdeh Eskandari on her new venture as the founder and curator of TEDxKish. Mojdeh has produced TEDxOrangeCoast for the past four years. For the last year, she has spent most of her time in Iran working on a global TEDx event in the beautiful free zone island of Kish, taking place April 16-19, 2015. Through the TEDxKish inaugural conference, her goal is to reconnect thousands of years of Persian culture, civilization and innovative spirit with the rest of the world.
Mojdeh has successfully made the transition from the corporate world to philanthropy to follow her passion. After contributing to the $2.8 billion in revenue as a senior executive at Oracle Corporation, she founded Enovant Foundation to help promote and accelerate social ventures.
She has a true passion for selfless leaders, adventure, innovation, and connecting ideas and resources to make amazing things happen.
Dr. Shohre Mehvar is a licensed Acupuncturist and the owner of Newport Wellness Group. She specializes in pain management, migraine headaches, fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety, the acupuncture "face-lift" and has created her own weight loss protocol which employs acupuncture, herbal medicine, nutritional supplements, diet and lifestyle changes using western and eastern medicine simultaneously. Click here to read more about Dr. Shohre Mehvar.
In The News
IAW Foundation Trustee Anousheh Ansari and the first women of Iranian descent to visit space was featured in Fortune Magazine.
Anousheh Ansari on going from business to the stars
The first Iranian in space discusses women in STEM and the power of business.
As a child growing up in Iran in the 1970s, Anousheh Ansari lay in her backyard staring at the stars, wondering where they came from and what they were like. The Iranian revolution hit. In her teenage years, Ansari immigrated to the States, majored in electrical engineering, and started her own company.
But she also made good on her dreams: in 2006 she became the first Iranian in space.
IAW Foundation member and New York Chapter Committee Member Shabnam Rezaei was featured in Forbes on the success of her two companies and what keeps her going.
Why Purpose Drives Growth And Profitability
When you're driven to change the world━in this case, turning around the negative perception of Iranians━you've got to be open to new ideas. Shabnam Rezaei implemented software solutions for the financial services industry by day; by night, she worked on PersianMirror.com, a website she created to show the positive side of Iranian culture.
Send your photo and a brief paragraph with all the details to contact@iawfoundation.org and we'll recognize your achievements on our Web site's news page. We look forward to hearing from you!
