Yara Leadership Society

Yara Leadership Society is the vision of its founding directors Serena Golchereh Sohrab, Parna Sabet-Stephenson, Atoosa Mahdavian, Mehrdad Ariannejad, and Shahram Tabe Mohammadi who, independent of each other, had been exploring the creation of a leadership-focused organization dedicated to the advancement of the Iranian-Canadian community.

They joined forces following the overwhelming success of the first Iranian Canadian Women’s Leadership Conference held on July 29, 2017 in Toronto which was a result of a partnership between Tirgan Festival and the Iranian American Women Foundation. This sold-out event was enthusiastically received by the Iranian Canadian community and strongly supported by the Federal and Provincial governments of Canada.

More importantly, however, this unique conference illustrated the need for an umbrella organization within Canada that would help create a forum to showcase Iranian-Canadian women leaders and provide leadership tools to the next generation of leaders. Thus, Yara Leadership Society was born. The word “Yara” in Persian means the one who gives a supportive hand to others.