Passing the Torch of Success
By Shermineh Rohanizadeh
Shermineh.Rohanizadeh@gmail.com
"Make the least important decision of your life with your head, and the most important decision of your life with your heart." – Omid Kordestani, Passing the Torch of Success.
Nearly 2000 Iranian Americans filled UCLA’s Royce Hall to witness a historical moment. “Passing the Torch of Success to the Next Generation” was about six extraordinary Iranian Americans inspiring and guiding the future generation. Through anecdotes, fascinating interviews and a live performance, we learned about the success and failures of each individual and the events that shaped their lives and inspired their careers.
Speakers included Omid Kordestani, former Vice President of Google; Dr. Pardis Sabeti, an MIT, Harvard and Oxford educated evolutionary geneticist who CNN calls one of the geniuses of our time; Dr. Firouz Naderi, Associate Director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the former Mars Exploration Program Manager who headed the Program during the landing of the rovers on Mars; Dr. Hamid Biglari, Princeton nuclear physicist turned Vice Chair of Citicorp; Parisa Khosravi, Senior Vice President of CNN in charge of the international newsgathering for CNN worldwide and Sam Nazarian, founder and CEO of SBE, entrepreneur and business executive who directs the company's multitude of operating groups, including hotels, restaurants, nightlife and real estate.
The event was hosted by former CNN anchor and PAAIA’s Director of Public Relations Rudi Bakhtiar and the popular actor and comedian Maz Jobrani, who provided the audience with lots of laughter and many unforgettable moments. This unprecedented event was a celebration of the accomplishments of six extraordinary members of our community who have blazed a path of excellence in their respected fields and changed the way we live our lives and look at the world.
Passing the Torch of Success was about motivating the next generation of Iranian Americans and strengthening our community. Gathering a talented and successful group of individuals all in one roof was truly monumental and never before done in the Iranian American community.
When speaking with the audience after the event, the general consensus was that the event was a huge success and that people “could not wait for the next event.” One man, in his late twenties remarked “this was the best advice I have ever gotten in my entire life.”
When Dr. Firouz Naderi was asked about his participation at the event, he said “Do something for others. Not everything needs to be about you. When you look back in your life your biggest accomplishment will be if you were able to fundamentally change the course of someone’s life for the better.” Those words best sum up the purpose and the spirit of this event.
After the huge success of this event, PAYAM sat down with Rudi Bakhtiar, the co-host and one of the masterminds behind Passing the Torch of Success, to learn more about the idea behind this event.
Shermineh: How did the concept for this event come about?
Rudi: PAAIA had for some time been looking for a way to give back to the youth in our community, in a very tangible but unique way. Babak Hoghooghi (Executive Director of PAAIA) and I had been mulling over an end of the year event that could help connect the more inspirational individuals in our Iranian American community, to the next generation of students. So when we were approached by the Iranian Future Leaders group to help them develop a two day workshop, we offered them instead our idea for a three hour "forum" with Iranian American speakers that we felt exemplified the "Iranian American Dream."
Shermineh: There are so many incredible Iranian Americans, how did you decide whom to ask?
Rudi: We discussed a list of possible speakers with the students based on criteria such as impact on culture, scientific research, technology, and media, to name a few. Then we invited seven thinking we would get four! We were very lucky to get six out of the seven that we asked! That's what an amazing community we have! All of the speakers came from different parts of the world for one day to take part in this event for the students. Omid came from London. Parisa came from Atlanta. Hamid came from New York. Pardis came from Boston. That says a lot about who they are as people and their commitment to their community.
Shermineh: This event was such a huge success. Can we look forward to more events like this one?
Rudi: Definitely, there will be another. We would like to work with a different student group every year and have an event like "Passing the Torch of Success" for our youth at the end of each academic year. We are also contemplating doing a similar event (with a more artistic angle) in California before the end of the year.
For video clips and pictures from the event, please visit www.paaia.org.
