Narges Baniasadi

Purposeful Entrepreneurship - Stanford Faculty

[Kiana Ehsani @ehsanik]

Today I was supposed to be on my way to Türkiye for my wedding, to meet up with my family and have them finally meet my partner and husband. We had everything planned. We chose Turkiye since it's close to Iran and my partner and I could both go there and have our families meet each other. We were supposed to get married with our close family and a small group of friends on a boat on the Mediterranean Sea at sunset. Because of the war, all flights to and from Iran are cancelled and my family can’t leave Iran, so we had to call off the wedding.

Instead, this is how my day looked like.

I woke up to a reminder to call my grandma (I used to call her every Friday morning). I snoozed the reminder until next Friday, just like I have done for the past many years. I can’t call her like our tradition these days because there is no way to call home. All international calls to Iran are blocked, and the internet is fully shut down by the regime.

I got to work and right as I opened my computer I received an email I had scheduled to send to myself 5 years ago: “Apply for citizenship.” This summer marks 11 years of being in the US and 5 years of being a green card holder. I am now eligible to file for citizenship, but it doesn’t matter because an executive order was signed a few months ago that banned all Iranians from applying for any visa or citizenship.

At lunch I opened Twitter just to see what’s up in the world and saw the news that those who don’t have a green card now need to leave the US before they can get one. This means every one of my Iranian friends who are here on a visa now has to go back home (on which flight?) to get a green card??? As if it’s that easy? We all know getting back to the US for Iranians is a huge challenge (months and months of waiting for a visa, with a chance of never being able to come back).

And this is just a normal Friday for an Iranian. These days, when people ask how I’m doing and how I’m handling everything, I just say:

It’s okay, it’s okay. It will be okay some day. But the reality is: nothing is okay. I’m in constant pain. I haven’t seen my family and loved ones in years, I barely hear about their wellbeing, and I’m constantly worried about them. I’m just burying myself in work because that’s the only distraction that can save me from losing my mind.

I’m not okay. None of us are okay. We are just barely holding it together…

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

@sethbannon Thank you Seth! It’s horrifying what’s unfolding .

[Tawni Koutchesfahani @tawni_k]

Just attended @Stanford Emergence Summit and wow, even this Cal Bear has to admit they nailed it!

The student presentations were incredible: from AI emergency care to nitrogen management revolution. Plus amazing humans like Dr. @GardnerPhD on food as medicine. More of his hot takes on social media, please!

California's next gen entrepreneurs are solving real problems.

Shoutout to Dr. @nargesba and the whole Emergence Program team (@StanfordEmerge) for an inspiring day of impact entrepreneurship.

(Still Go Bears though 😉)

#entrepreneurship #impact #innovation

[Ardalan Javadi @ArdalanJavadi4]

Inspiring conversation with @nargesba in our latest episode. One of my favorite insights: “Life is about pain and losing.”

📽️: https://t.co/dGF9iOrJtT

@thesecondpod

#پادکست
#سکندپاد
#seconpod
#secondgroup
#secondsummit

[Stanford Social Innovation Review @SSIReview]

“To solve the #health challenges of the 21st century, we need an urgent revision and expansion of our health innovation ecosystem.” @nargesba, @mdehaaff & Pedram Afshar discuss “systemic drivers of health” and share examples of innovative entrepreneurs. https://t.co/X0FFmUuAtn

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

Looking forward to a conversation with leaders at Persian Tech Network next week about impact Entrepreneurship and the future of Health innovations https://t.co/YrLErYeomS

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

Looking for an inspiring listen for the long weekend? Tune-in this interview with Donnel Baird , sharing his impactful entrepreneurial journey of building BlocPower: decarbonizing buildings, improving public health, and empowering…https://t.co/5k0cplNPSZ https://t.co/NRQH5Gbiae

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

I am looking for professional grant-writing consultants. Please let me know if you have recommendations. Thank you!

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

I have never seen this much enthusiasm to learn, connect, and collaborate in a conference before!
We are very excited to have officially launched Emergence Collaborative during Stanford Impact Entrepreneurship Summit last Friday.
Our goal is to create a…https://t.co/iIpfxx32X3

[Tom Higley @tomhigley]

My dear friend @nargesba kicked off the 1st “Emergence” conference at Stanford. My takeaway: the time has come to connect entrepreneurs, catalytic community & catalytic capital, and Narges is helping to make this happen.

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

I have experienced and contributed to Silicon Valley and entrepreneurship ecosystem from multiple perspectives in the last two decades: As a PhD student, as a scientist, as a first time founder, as a CEO, as an executive in global…https://t.co/FbeEMEtN9H https://t.co/CDAOtBS4Mj

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

Good conversation between Sam Altman and Jack Kornfield on how AI can be developed in the service of the humanity: https://t.co/oltxFUfVpx

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

Thank you for very inspiring lecture Dr Cyan Brown and Miki Sofer on Global Health, Entrepreneurship, and Social Impact! https://t.co/VRy2VxnUMx

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

Excited to participate in SOCAP Global this year.
The session I am proposing is a conversation between founders and investors on how to catalyze Innovations for a Preventive and Inclusive Health ecosystem? How can we address the root causes of our health…https://t.co/ofL8b7Ss3I

[The Guild @guildeu]

Chair @sveinstlen in Silicon Valley: How can we enhance transatlantic cooperation between 🇪🇺 and 🇺🇸 universities?

👉Optimise @EUErasmusPlus & support students with all-inclusive mobility embedded in study programmes
👉Prioritise institutional collaboration
#EUInnovationAgenda

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

Happy International Women's Day!
Patriarchy does not suppress women alone, it deprives everyone from joy and real freedom.
Salute to all the brave women and men fighting for equality and freedom. Specially the women of Iran! #womanlifefreedom

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

Because of the increasing impact of Technology on our lives and "the immense power that technology gives those who control it, there is little that is as important as the question of which technologies get developed during our lifetimes. ...it is a mistak…https://t.co/Uv2oCyI9l5

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

Grateful to Diego Rey and David Zamir for sharing their journey into Purpose-driven entrepreneurship with Emergence cohort last night. The founder "inner journey" is less discussed in our entrepreneurship ecosystem and is very important part of the transf…https://t.co/mAFJLB15Km

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

Great insights from Thomas Insel MD on the next wave of digital mental health companies that we need to achieve quality, integration, and equity.
And I will add to it that we can not solve our biggest mental health challenges in this country without solv…https://t.co/C0gAgwzoiI

[Narges Baniasadi @nargesba]

22 years ago, the year I participated in the university entrance exam in Iran, the students were protesting for freedom of press and one of them got killed by the regime forces that day (18 tir ) . Each year in their anniversary we…https://t.co/BPao2TLg80 https://t.co/4oomQLV89H