Meet Ziba Shirazi

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ziba Shirazi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ziba, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
Growing up in Iran, facing unexpected life challenges, such as revolution, divorce, and migration, I learned to believe that “life is a matter of adjustment.” There is no time to think about the past, think about what I did right or wrong, and feel sorry for myself. Instead, I should think about the future and the opportunities life is offering me.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
As a little girl, I always imagined myself on stage singing and performing. In my teenage years, I started to write poetry. In my late twenties, I learned a few guitar cords and started to put melodies in my poems and sing at family gatherings. I left Iran after the Islamic Revolution in 1985. After years of adjusting to the new life as an immigrant, I went back to writing poetry and singing and produced my first album in 1992. I decided to continue my education in my late forties and received my Bachelor of Art in 2007; I did my Master’s thesis in Performance and Communication, taking Iranian immigrant’s stories, mixing them with poetry and music, and performing them for four years. With the help of Dr. Kamran Afary, my thesis professor, those stories were published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2020 ” Iranian Diaspora Performing Identities” as a textbook.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
PATIENCE, INNOVATION, AND PERSISTENCE.

I believe every artist dreams of becoming known, being seen, and being appreciated for what she/he does. However we are living in a world that is changing in a matter of seconds, which force us to be creative in a different way and to change.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
Everything I am today is because of them—the unconditional love and support. My mother taught us ( three sisters) strengths. Unlike many Iranian women at her time, she was always proud to be a woman and NEVER saw herself as different than a man.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
– Photos powered by: Logos Studio LTD – Instagram account: logosstudio.ca – Photographer’s name and Instagram account: creative_emy_

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