Women's Leadership Conference Returns to OC

July 2016 Newsletter

Issue I

Women's Leadership Conference

The Iranian American Women Foundation is excited to announce its return to Orange County for the 11th Women's Leadership Conference! The conference will take place on October 30th, 2016 at Hotel Irvine and will include influential speakers, such as Dr. Foojan Zeine, Hon. Shahla S. Sabet, and Sara Delpasand.

Moreover, the conference will feature an array of diverse and empowering stories and various opportunities to connect with fellow members of the IAWF community. Further information regarding ticket prices and program speakers will be announced in the near future. Stay tuned!

Meet & Greet with Mariam Khosravani & Join Orange County's Planning Committee

IAWF's Leadership conference is back to OC. Join our planning committee and share your thoughts, ideas and recommendations with us on Wednesday July 27th. We will be joined by IAWF founder Mariam Khosravani as we plan for our Orange County conference. If you are interested in reserving an exhibit table and would like to be a part of the planning process, we encourage you to accompany us at this event. Invite your friends and RSVP here.

IAWF Trustee Neda Nobari Contributes to Establish Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies

San Francisco State University announced a $5 million endowment from its alumna, philanthropist and IAWF Board of Trustees member, Neda Nobari. Her contribution will lead to the creation of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies (CIDS), establishing SFSU as an academic pioneer in this field of research. The university's announcement states, "Under the leadership of the Neda Nobari Distinguished Chair, CIDS will create a vigorous, dynamic and fresh approach to the study of and research about Iranian diaspora communities, their development, contributions to host societies and impact on Iranian identity. The Center will be a platform for new academic programs that foster intellectual engagement with local and global Iranian communities across numerous disciplines. It will model new methods of research and scholarship, and develop collaborative interdisciplinary opportunities for faculty and students across the SF State campus, as well as with universities across the U.S. and internationally." We are very proud to have Neda on the IAWF board and look forward to the success of CIDS. Visit Neda's IAWF profile
here.

Chapter Member Spotlights


Sholeh Janati New York Sholeh Janati is an accomplished artist whose works are found in Europe, Middle East and North America. Born in Tehran, she adopted the US as her home in 1988. While Persian traditionalists originally recognized her talents, she has concentrated on still life, nudes, portraits and abstract paintings, which has attracted praise from a broad spectrum of American and European enthusiasts. Collectors of Sholeh's work have commented that her paintings provide a constant interaction with the viewer. By design, her paintings reveal a different vision when rotated to any angle, as if the painting changes time after time in a constant interaction with the viewer. Sholeh maintains two studios in Connecticut is available for commissioned works for private collectors, interior designers and corporate collections. Visit Sholeh's IAWF profile here.	Anita Amirrezvani Northern California Anita Amirrezvani was born in Tehran, Iran, and raised in San Francisco, California. She attended Vassar College and the University of California, Berkeley. Afterwards, she received a MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. In 2007, her first novel, "The Blood of Flowers," was published by Little, Brown & Co. and has been translated in 31 languages. Her book was long-listed for the 2008 Orange Prize for Fiction. Her second novel, "Equal of the Sun", was published by Scribner in 2012. She is also the co-editor of "Tremors: New Fiction by Iranian American Writers" (2013) with Persis Karim. Anita teaches in the Master of Fine Arts Program in Writing at the California College of the Arts and has co-taught several "Exploring Iranian Identity" writing workshops alongside Persis Karim at the Persian Center in Berkeley. Visit Anita's IAWF profile here.	Shay Dinata Hanson Southern California Shay Dinata Hanson was born in Mashhad and moved to London at the age of six. She attended Law School in England, where she was President of the Student Law Society and editor of the departmental magazine. In 1992, Shay made the United States her home. She attended the University of Iowa, School of Law and subsequently worked as a Staff Attorney for the Iowa Supreme Court for almost 6 years. Between 2000 to 2012 Shay worked for a variety of Judges at the United States District Court in San Diego, handling criminal and civil cases. In 2014 Shay co-founded an all-female owned law firm with two other Iranian-American women, Ashtari, Ghorban & Hanson, LLP. She currently practices at the law firm of Rosner, Barry & Babbitt, LLP, one of the largest law firms in the country specializing entirely in consumer auto fraud cases. Visit Shay's IAWF profile here.

Circle of 100 Featured Member: Mahvash Yazdi

Mahvash Yazdi served as Senior Vice President for Information Technology and Business Integration and Chief Information Officer for Edison International and Hughes Aircraft Company. Her work and experience spans over three industries and continents and draws from 38 years of experience. Mahvash joined Edison International in 1997 to serve in a transformational leadership capacity for the company and a key executive strategist in shaping the future of the company and the industry. An active champion of higher education, she works closely with University of Southern California and Cal Poly Pomona, and was instrumental in creating a Cyber Security lab for the Cal Poly Business School. As an accomplished leader, Mahvash has received numerous awards and recognition from technology and electricity industries including the 2010 Intelligent Utility CIO of the Year award and is the recipient of the prestigious 2007 Ellis Island Medal of Honor. She earned her M.B.A. from USC and is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. She received her B.S. in industrial management from Polytechnic University, Pomona with honors and also completed the Management of Information Technology program at Harvard Business School. Visit Mahvash's profile here.

Congratulations to IAWF Member Dr. Foojan Zeine

IAWF would like to congratulate our member, supporter, and speaker, Dr. Foojan Zeine, on the opening of her third office on July 5th, 2016. It is located at 7700 Irvine Center Drive, Suite 800, Irvine, CA 92618 and joins her other two locations in Brentwood and Tarzana. Dr. Zeine has a Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology and is a licensed marriage and family therapist. Her expertise is in intimate relations and addictive behaviors and she also has extensive experience in treating depression, anxiety, traumas, and domestic violence. Dr. Zeine is the originator and the author of the Awareness Integration Psychotherapeutic model, which is a multi-modality approach and intervention toward minimizing depression and anxiety while improving self-esteem and self-confidence. She is also the founder, CEO and the Clinical Director for Personal Growth Institute, a not for profit organization that offers psychotherapy services to the multi-cultural and multi-lingual population. She is a frequent guest on FOX, Voice of America International Television, GEM TV, and 670 KIRN and is published in various international publications. Visit Foojan's IAWF profile here.