Maryam Zar

Writer-attorney Maryam Zar was born in Iran and came to the US in 1979. She graduated from Boston University with a BS in Mass Communication and a JD from Pepperdine Law School. In 1992 she returned to Iran where she became an advertising executive as well as a correspondent at a time when the nation was troubled by the neighboring conflict in Iraq. She made her mark as a fiercely capable woman in a patriarchal land, and was named editor for the English-language newspaper Iran News. Returning to southern California, in 2010 she launched Womenfound, an organization that would raise awareness for the plight of women around the world and advocate for their empowerment. In 2017, she was appointed to the LA City Commission on the Status of Women by Mayor Eric Garcetti, and presently chairs the Westside Regional Alliance of Councils (an alliance of 14 Neighborhood and Community Councils on LA’s Westside). She has written for HuffPost, the LA Review of Books and other publications.