I stopped by Starbucks on my way to moderate a panel called “Leading a Successful Career” for the Iranian American Women’s Leadership Conference yesterday morning. I was standing in line for the bathroom and a white middle aged American man struck up a conversation with me. When I told him that I was going to a seminar with some of the most successful Iranian American woman business leaders, he said, “I bet a lot of them have limousine businesses.” Really?! Just on my panel alone, there were three women who are rock stars in their fields. There was Gisue Hariri who created Hariri & Hariri in New York, an architectural firm that has been described as one of the most progressive and out-of-the-box firms in the United States, and is inducted in the DESIGN HALL OF FAME by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. There was Dehli Mireskandari, the Associate General Council of Gap, Inc. for all of Europe. A delicate beauty who lives in SF, studied French and Italian in Scotland and art history in Paris before becoming a lawyer in London. Prior to her position as AGC for Gap, she was a lawyer for Hasbro Inc., (the makers of Monopoly and Twister), I also had Lily Sarafan on my panel. A sharp and confident fire ball of a CEO, who not only serves on the Vice Provost at Stanford University, but in her early twenties, she single highhandedly turned a tiny Silicon Valley start-up company into an industry champion, expanding throughout the U.S., Canada, and Australia with more than 5000 employees. And these are only three examples of the hundreds of exceptional Iranian American women that the seminar was filled with yesterday. It was exhilarating to be under the same roof with so many remarkable and inspiring female artists, scientists, CEOs, humanitarians, and writers. There were no limousine business owners though. Maybe next year...
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 07:35:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015