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Susan Akbarpour
Susan Akbarpour, CEO and Co-founder of SiliconIran, received a
B.S in French literature from the University of Ferdowsi-Mashad
in 1993. Susan has been also accredited in Mass Communications
by the Journalism Periodical School for Professional Journalists
in Iran where she was named the leading student in 1995. She has
conducted over 300 interviews and reports for many prominent and
widely published Iranian Newspapers in Iran and US. She was
awarded the 1996 "Interviewer of the Year" award in the National
Publication Awards (Jashnvarah-e Matbooat) in recognition of her
unique approach to investigative journalism . After her success,
she received her independent correspondent license, making her
the first woman to obtain this permit since the revolution.
After being named the leading interviewer among 12,000 prominent
journalists in Iran, Susan, the award winner, emigrated to the
United States in 1997. She settled in San Jose and after
participating in a variety of journalistic activities, she
decided to create Iran Today, the first English\Farsi newspaper
in California.
"I was trying to do everything myself, she recalls, working as
the paper's reporter, editor, publisher and advertising sales
representative. Susan says she usually worked an 18-hour day."
San Jose Business Journal, January 19, 2001 print edition
"The ambitious Akbarpour hit the ground running when she arrived
in the United States in the summer of 1997. Akbarpour, who moved
to the Bay Area from Iran a little more than three years ago,
publishes SiliconIran for the growing Iranian community in the
United States. It's largely aimed at a readership of high-tech
entrepreneurs, engineers, physicians, business people
Sandy Close, executive editor of Pacific News Service in San
Francisco says: "What Susan is doing goes beyond giving her
community a sense of identity. It's a very valuable voice in the
larger civic life" .
Akbarpour, 33, a former newspaper journalist in Iran, started a
quarterly magazine named SiliconIran [in winter 2000], and at
the beginning of the year pulled together the networking group.
She also operates a Web site that links Iranian businesses
around the globe.
Susan was born in 1968 in Mashad, Iran to a journalist couple,
Reza and Fariba Akbarpour, who published Mellat magazine from
1979-1985. She began her career at age 11 and has been working
as an active journalist and publisher for more than 15 years.
She has attended San Jose State University to work on a master's
degree in journalism. Susan who is a wellknown and active
fundraiser for her community's causes, has been featured
repeatedly by San Francisco chronicle, San Jose Mercury News,
Silicon Valley Business INK., San Jose Business Journal, Nihon
Keizai Shimbun, Washington File; U.S. Department of State
publications and so many others.
In Novemeber 2003, Susan received NCM Community Advocacy Award
from New California Media for her tireless dedication to
Iranian-American business community.
Susan has recently got married and live a happy life in
Atherton, California with her husband, Faraj Aalaei .
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