Meet Robert Shahnazarian, Jr.

We were lucky to catch up with Robert Shahnazarian, Jr. recently and have shared our conversation below.

Robert, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

Throughout my career, my ambitions have always exceeded my skills, which has allowed imposter syndrome to creep in. However, I have consistently overcome it by putting in the long hours to acquire the skills necessary to master them. Malcolm Gladwell espoused the 10,000-hour rule to become an expert in a field, and I can attest to this.

When I was in high school, I thought it would be cool to be Junior Class President since this position planned the classes’ prom. However, when I applied for this position, I found out the following day that I was running for school president (i.e., ASB President), typically held by senior classmen with previous student government experience. Although I was a sophomore then, I decided to go for it and beat a popular varsity cheerleader. Suddenly, I oversaw the entire student government as a junior with no experience and a vice president who was still bitter that I beat her friend for this position. Talk about feeling like an imposter! Through trial by fire and attending leadership camps, I learned the rules and successfully ran as ASB President. I ran for Senior Class President and won the election the following year. These early experiences formed a philosophy that has allowed me to achieve whatever I set my sights on. But it requires everything you’ve got: passion, energy, excitement, and MOTIVATION.

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?

There is excitement in the process of producing events. When the event is a wedding, it takes on an even deeper meaning for me because our client entrusts us with bringing two families together, sometimes of different ethnicities or religions, for six hours of celebration. Over 200 details have to be implemented within those six hours, from the napkin fold and chair count to the horse oeuvre selections, signature cocktails, audio/visual requirements, and so much more.

Add to this pressure cooker a dozen or so vendors that the client has hired who have suddenly become part of the team to make this event successful, and you realize the importance of leadership and teamwork.

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?

The three most important qualities are inspiration, resilience, and curiosity. With these three traits, anything is possible.

I have found time and time again that if I want something, nothing will get in the way of me fulfilling this goal. Whether it is getting great seats to a concert with one of my favorite bands or achieving a business venture, once I set a goal, I begin chipping away at it every day in some way, big or small. Suddenly, all of those baby steps gather momentum, and the next thing I know, I am doing exactly what I set out to do.

Unfortunately, I never had mentors during my career, so I sought them through books, podcasts, and lectures. Curiosity is a driving force in my life, fueling inspiration. Combined with drive and resilience, these are the qualities that have led me from there to here.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

Successfully operating our events venue over the past 15 years has come with many challenges. It started with inspiration from my wife, Maggie, and continued through the combined efforts of my two business partners and the company culture I have cultivated at NOOR. A wise person once said that you always pay for your education, and building a new business from the ground up with no prior experience comes with expensive lessons. We had no celebrity chef, brand name, word-of-mouth, or repeat clients; it was just a good idea.

We launched in November 2010, coming out of the Great Recession, and slowly built our reputation one event at a time. I have ingratiated our business within the community with which our business resides and have supported numerous local non-profit organizations. Just before the pandemic, we were very close to expanding to a second location. During the pandemic, I had the opportunity to reassess what is important to me and decided that I did not want to open a second location without an active business partner to take on some of the duties and responsibilities I have had to ensure

So, I am interested in collaborating with a business partner to expand locations or possibly set up a franchise model so that anyone with the inspiration to own an events venue can do so without making the same expensive mistakes we made when we started our business.

Contact Info:

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