Who You Are Matters

I was born on May 10, 1996 in Los Angeles at St. John’s Hospital to a Persian family. In 2001, I moved to Menlo Park, CA because my father was on Cisco’s executive leadership team and he did not want to travel between San Jose and Los Angeles daily. In 2008, my father got promoted and became VP of the Internet Business Solutions Group and Head of Emerging Markets at Cisco. His new role caused my family to relocate for the second time to London, England. Post my four year tenure in the U.K., I returned back to Menlo Park for two years and finished high-school in the U.S. before enrolling at USC to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

I will graduate from USC in May 2018 and will invest in early-stage technology companies at a venture capital firm. After obtaining two years of work experience, I plan on getting an MBA with an emphasis in Finance at either Harvard or Stanford. In ten years, I would like to have my own private equity firm that invests in real estate, technology and natural resources.

Once I complete my MBA, I plan to work at an investment banking firm in their technology, media and telecommunications group, which will help me transition into private equity. I plan on pursuing my dreams by having a strong understanding of reality combined with my determination to create value in areas that I am passionate about. Additionally, I believe that embracing adversity and being reflective will help me progress towards my goals.

I adopted my mother’s strong set of values. She is hard-working and loyal to her family, which are attributes that I have acquired from her. My father and I are similar in terms of the fact that we are both solution-driven individuals who accept challenges and accurate criticism as tools for reflection that lead to personal growth. A difference between my father and I is our ability to take on risk. Personally, I consider myself to be a risk taker given that I think it is important for one to get out of their comfort zone and learn from their mistakes whereas my father is more conservative. The difference between my mother and I is the fact that she is short tempered and can become irritated quickly.

I have developed my own expectations for myself. Everyone has a specific purpose in life and they should not operate under someone else’s expectations or else they would lead a life that does not satisfy their personal desires.

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, serves as a model of someone who leads a life with great passion and personal responsibility.

I feel a special connection with Lions because they protect their loved ones and exemplify strength and courage.

A significant encounter I had with a plant during my childhood was with a tulip. Tulips always cheer me up since they symbolize love, which reminds me of my mother given that her name Laleh means tulip.