On July 19, 2016, eight students from Southern California came together at Georgetown University for IAWF’s first Life Academy program in Washington, DC. The two-fold purpose of this program was to equip students with the tools, information, and networks they need to guide decision-making in their professional lives while also building a bridge between the experienced generation of successful Iranian Americans and the younger generation currently en-route to building their professional careers.

Over the course of three days, Life Academy participants explored many career paths available to them in our Nation’s Capital. They had the opportunity to visit and speak to Iranian Americans working at the World Bank, National Public Radio, Voice of America and the Department of State. Through engaging dialogues, participants learned about every speaker’s path to their current position, benefits and struggles of each given career, and discovered what a typical workday looks like. The three-day program also included workshops on how to pick a fitting career, leave positive impressions, tell a powerful personal story, and network effectively.

IAWF would like to extend a thank you to all the wonderful speakers who made this program possible. Our speakers included Iran Davar Ardalan, Sanaz Meshkinpour, Nadereh Chamlou, Shervin Hadjilou, Behrad Mahdi, Parastoo Golesorkhi Zahedi, Nick Lore and Farifteh Emamghorashi. We would also like to extend our true appreciation to Sogand Seirafi and Sima Jafari, our dedicated volunteers, as well as our wonderful host, Professor Farima Sadigh Mostowfi, and the Persian Language and Culture Program at Georgetown University. We are grateful to our sponsors Marjan Shallal, Manijeh Marvastian, One Foundation, and Firoozeh Bolourian.