Theme: Fearless

We at TEDxTeranWomen joined the conversation TEDWomen2020 started with the theme of "Fearless".

We believe being fearless means to lead your fears and block all the labels and stereotypes to build your confidence and trust from within. Fearlessness means many things:

Leaning into what you believe you can achieve while very few think you can do what you can do,

Speaking up when you are supposed to keep your voice down and act nicely.

Raising your voice if needed, even if it is called sentimental or bossy in the mainstream,

To be ambitious when you are frowned upon for it,

To be bold when they expect you to be humble,

To build and do whatever you can, to make a better you and hence a better world.

In this event, we addressed the issues of women and men from different backgrounds and nationalities. It talks about the stereotypes that limit both women and men; and how we, as thinkers and doers of our community, can show up and change the status quo.

The theme “Fearless” is a reminder for all of us to stay bold and brilliant, show up, and let the fearless person inside us speak up.

Virtual TEDx Event - Online
Oppmakr Institute
Tehran, Tehrān, 1968643197
Iran

Ariana Vafadari

Mezzo-soprano Opera singer and Composer

Ariana Vafadari is a mezzo-soprano opera singer, but she also composes and performs in different styles. She gives high importance to her mixed cultural roots. Her album « Gathas, songs my father taught me » (2016) written on antic Persian poems was played on stage in Europe, Africa, Asia, at the Théâtre de la Ville and La Seine Musicale of Paris, or the Burning Man Festival, and was the revelation of the World Festival of Sacred Music in Fez. Her new album « Anahita,» released in June 2020, has been critically acclaimed. She is also working as director assistant for Monteverdi's « Orfeo » (Opéra de Paris in 2016) or a musical creator with the stage director Julie Bérès. « Franco-Iranian Ariana's initiative is exemplary. She is a magnificent classical voice, journeying back in time to her origins. Her concert transmitted a corresponding spiritual charge. » Télérama, Fez Festival.

Jabiz Hafizi

Piano Teacher and Performer

Jabiz Hafizi is a pianist and piano teacher in the Netherlands. After graduating from Industrial Engineering in Tehran, she decided to pursue her childhood passion for becoming a professional pianist. In 2016 she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in classic Piano Performance from Utrecht conservatory. She received her Master's degree from Maastricht Conservatory in 2019. Her Master's research project was a production based on mixing genres. She believes that in the current political situation, where east and west are being forced to scramble and are struggling to accept each other's cultural differences, it is more important than ever to introduce distant cultures to different folks through art. It's her mission to contribute to this. Jabiz has registered her company and started a project called the Rumi Cycle, which has been commissioned by Gaudeamus Music Festival in Utrecht. It is a song cycle of 7 songs related to '7 Valleys of Love' based on Rumi's poetry from his book, Masnavi.

Kamuran Uçar

General Manager

Kamuran Uçar was appointed as the General Manager of Unilever Iran, Central Asia, and the Caucasus in March 2019. She joined Unilever Turkey in 1999, where she held various roles in marketing. In 2011, she expanded her responsibilities and was appointed as the Vice President of Fabric Care in South Africa, NAMET (North Africa, Middle East, and Turkey). She also joined the leadership team of Unilever's global Fabric Care Category. In 2016, she was a member of the Unilever Turkey, Central Asia, Iran board. From 2016 to 2018, she was the Vice President of Home Care Category for Unilever Turkey, Russia, Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, Iran, and the Caucasus, while also being the Vice President of Home and Personal Care Categories for Unilever Turkey. Born in Diyarbakır in 1974, Kamuran Uçar graduated from Middle East Technical University from the Department of Chemical Engineering with a master's degree. Kamuran Uçar is married with two children.

Mahsa Alafar

Music Podcast Hostess + Visual Artist

Mahsa Alafar, born in 1987 in Tehran, earned a BFA in Photography from the University of Tehran, and in 2020 won a merit-based scholarship for a master's degree at the SAIC. She started her music podcast in 2018 called Radio Goli. The goal of her music podcast is to create a better mood via Music. Radio Goli is the first Music Podcast hosted by a woman in Iran.

Mandana Nouri

Doctor + Runner

Mandana Nouri was born in Kermanshah. She moved to Tehran with her family at the beginning of the second decade of her life. Mandana is a doctor and has worked in this domain for more than 15 years; Mandana is also the record holder of Iranian women's marathon and half marathon. Ms. Nouri works out for more than 3 hours per day, she has her practice, and one of the most valuable moments of her life is spending time with her ten years old daughter. She is 44 years old, and she has started running in 2004. It's been six years that she runs professionally in national and international races.

Mitra Shahsavand

Brand Designer

Mitra works at her own brand-design boutique in Tehran. She usually starts with writing a story for each brand, and the whole design and copy concept derives from the heart of this story. She was graduated from Tehran University ‘The College of Fine Arts’ in Graphic Design and moved to London to study ‘Typographic Design & Graphic Communications’ at London College of Communication. She obtained a postgraduate degree in ‘Media & Communication’ from the University of Leicester. In recent years has been lecturing at the University of Tehran ‘The College of Fine Arts’ and Vije School of Visual Communications. She has participated in many jury panels, such as Cresta Awards grand jury panel in 2020. She first started a professional branding experience in 1998 in London at ‘Visual investments’ and has worked on various projects for international. Her work has won the bronze award from Gerety Awards and has been shortlisted at New York Advertising Festivals 2020 and Bowery Awards.

Roya Mahboob

Serial Entrepreneur + Philanthropist

A serial entrepreneur and one of the first female CEOs in her home country, Afghanistan. As CEO of Digital Citizens Fund, Bright Citizen(coffee and tea). Roya’s work is focused on digital literacy to bridge the gap between education and job markets. Digital Citizens Fund has 15,000 graduates from 13 digital classrooms and incubated ten female startups. Roya is in development with the Afghan government to build STEM schools in Afghanistan to unlock opportunities for the inclusion of female entrepreneurs to reach places using airspace and blockchain technology. Roya is also the champion and coach of the world-renowned Afghan Girls Robotics Team, the Afghan Dreamers. Roya was named as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2013, received the 2014 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award, Young Leader of World Economic Forum 2015, Wonder Women 2018, 2019 Education Award Winner, Honorary Doctor of Science of Engineering from McMaster University, Fellow of Executive education Stanford.

Sanaz Sadooghi

Leadership and Organizational Coach, Professional Certified Coach, Agile Delivery Lead

Sanaz Sadooghi is a software engineer, an International Yoga Instructor, a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), an Agile Delivery Lead. She was born and raised in Iran. After ten years of working in the software industry, she immigrated to Canada in 2014 as a skilled worker immigrant, fluent in English and French. She completed her graduate studies in General Management at McGill University and continued her career as a leadership and organizational coach afterward. As a successful immigrant, she has been assisting leaders and corporates to rise successfully to the challenges which come with personal and organizational changes. Leading change is Sanaz Sadooghi’s passion and expertise; she has learned that making a difference starts with a change within.

Shima Beigi

She spent her childhood in Iran and Italy. after completing her undergraduate studies in Iran, she went to the University of Bristol and the University of Oxford to study for a master's degree and doctorate. For her doctoral dissertation, she extended topics affecting human design and behavior, including neuroscience, psychology, and meditation, to engineering and developed the mindfulness engineering method as a systemic solution to create resilience in systems. Introduced complex and dynamic. As a scientist, writer, and entrepreneur, Shima Beigi seeks the infrastructural conditions for resilience in individuals, places, and organizations with her engineering method.