About me

My father always told me that Parastou ha hamishe be lane bar migardan, or “the swallows will always return to their nest.” When I was born, my family named me Parastou, which in English translates into the bird, the swallow.

I always see it as fitting that I was born in Switzerland—a country whose only memory that I have is of the transit in the airport between my two actual homes—Iran and the United States.

I was born in Geneve, Switzerland in 1980. I moved to the US as a baby, and at the age of seven I went to Iran for the first time. I spent every summer in Iran, and spent a couple years at Tehran International School. I also lived in Iran after graduating from Ohio State University, and spent two years living and working there. Last year, I returned to the US to pursue my masters degree in at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, where I am learning about interactive multimedia.

I am about to begin my second year at ITP, and right now I am sharing my personal stories of Iran, as well as my experiences of the people there that I love and know, and those that I have yet to meet. Today, people from around the world are able to share their experiences in an ongoing exchange—through video, the web, and participatory media, such as blogs, video-blogs (vlogs)—limited only by the scope of our imagination. This is my focus and emphasis with the project that I am working on—creating a space for communication and exchange where I can share my story of life in Iran with people here and around the world.