Our Story

Yara Leadership Society is the vision of its founding directors. They, independently of each other, had been exploring the creation of a women’s leadership-focused organization dedicated to advancing the Iranian-Canadian community. They joined forces in January 2018 to establish Yara, which in Persian means the one who gives a supportive hand to others.

Yara identifies Iranian-Canadian success stories and celebrates and champions the individuals shaping them. Many of these individuals happen to be women.


Yara strives to:

S showcase leaders of Iranian heritage who will be a source of pride and inspiration to the next generation of Iranian Canadian women and provide leadership guidance.

H highlight the contribution of the Iranian-Canadian community nationally and globally.

E establish a network and act as a forum where these leaders and aspiring leaders connect.

Yara accomplishes this through conferences, networking events, and virtual discussions. It engages both women and men in the pursuit of its vision: lead together, strong together.

Our Team

Yara Leadership Society has been initiated by a team of professional Iranian-Canadians passionate for equal rights and equal opportunities.

Board Members

Parna Sabet-Stephenson

Parna Sabet-Stephenson is an advocate for women's advancement, and has led and participated in initiatives for the advancement of women to leadership roles and increased access for girls to careers in which women are traditionally underrepresented. Parna is a partner...

Atoosa Mahdavian

Atoosa Mahdavian is a commercial litigation lawyer with more than 20 years of experience.Prior to establishing her own litigation practice, she was a partner at a leading Bay street firm. She has served on the executive of the Women’s Law...

Shahram Tabe-Mohammadi

Shahram Tabe-Mohammadi is an environmental scientist working with the Ministry of the Environment. He is also a status professor of chemical engineering at the University of Toronto. Shahram has been involved with arts and social activities in Canada and within...

Advisory Board

Tina Tehranchian

Tina Tehranchian

An award-winning financial advisor since 1991, Tina Tehranchian is a senior wealth advisor at Assante Capital Management Ltd. In addition to numerous community, academic, and professional awards over the past decades, in 2020, Tina was the first Canadian and the...

Roxana Tavana

Roxana is a Partner responsible for leading our growth in the Toronto market by continuing to build relationships with families and enhancing our value proposition. She is also a member of our Senior Leadership Team. Roxana was an executive at...

Saeideh Fard

Saeideh began her career as a Chartered Accountant at PWC. She holds bothCanadian and US CPA designations and is an alumni of the Queens (Smith) School of Business. She has championed many worthy causes, including helping women, youth, and immigrants...

Reza Moridi

Dr. Reza Moridi served as Ontario Minister of Research, Innovation and Science (Feb 2013- June 2018). He was Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities (June 2014-June 2016), for a period, held both portfolios concurrently. He also served as the Parliamentary...

Payam Akhavan

Payam Akhavan is an international lawyer and professor at McGill University in Montreal. He is a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague and a designated arbitrator/conciliator at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)...

Maryam Ghiai

Maryam is a senior executive with international experience in a diverse range of sectors including the software industry, pension funds, and banking from capital markets and risk management to wealth management, retail and insurance. Maryam is a change and transformation...

Yara Leadership Team

Arezoo Irannejad

Arezoo Irannejad

Arezoo is a Senior IT Consultant at Capgemini Consulting firm focused on solving business problems using Information Technology as an enabler. She has worked on large digital transformation projects for some of the most influential companies in the world such...

Ghazal Dehghany

Ghazal Dehghany is a registered Architect and Development Director with 10+ years of experience in design and construction of mixed-use developments in the GTA. She holds a Master degree in Architecture from Carleton University, and worked at a busy Toronto-based...

Maryam Nehrir

Maryam is a certified career coach with extensive professional experience in the education and employment sectors. Currently, she works with the Intercultural Skills Lab as a career educator at Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Prior to that, she...

Niki Khatami

Niki Khatami is legal counsel in the investments legal team at Sun Life Financial.Prior to working at Sun Life, she was an associate at a leading Bay Street firm, practicing in the banking and financial services sector. Niki is a...

Shima Heidari

Shima Heidari is a lawyer and was the recipient of the Rising Star Award - Under 30 Achievement from the Iranian Women Organization of Ontario in 2017. She is passionate about her community, culture, and women empowerment. Shima was a...

Yasna Beheshti

Yasna is a lawyer by training and has been practicing civil litigation for over a decade. Most recently, she assumed the role of an adjudicator working for the Ontario Government. She enjoys community involvement which has been demonstrated through her...

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