I was born and raised in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, where I earned a BA in Sociology from the University of Tehran and my first MA in Women’s and Family Studies from Allameh Tabataba’i University. My master’s thesis, completed with highest honors, examined women’s everyday lives in the urban spaces of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Iran. Using sociological and decolonial feminist  approaches, I argued that recovering women’s histories requires not only critiquing colonial representations but also decolonizing the local archive by foregrounding vernacular writings that reveal women’s presence and everyday struggles in public space.

I continued my academic journey in Turkey, taking PhD coursework in Sociology at Middle East Technical University (METU) and Ankara University, where I deepened my focus on understanding the internal dynamics of transnational feminist movements in the Middle East. In 2019, while ABD, I relocated to the United States and completed a second MA in Sociology at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, along with an Advanced Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies at Syracuse University. I joined the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2021 to pursue my PhD in Sociology.

My current research examines the interaction between Iran’s Generation Z, particularly women, and social media as both tools and spaces that shape how they make sense of their everyday experiences and participate in collective action. I study the influences and consequences of this interaction through a focus on the Woman, Life, Freedom movement that emerged in 2022.

My research has been published in leading journals, including Social Forces, Critical Sociology, and Gender & Development, and has been recognized through more than fifteen awards, fellowships, and scholarships at the departmental, university, national, and international levels. These include the American Association of University Women (AAUW) International Fellowship, honors from the Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section as well as Sociology of Culture Section of the American Sociological Association, and the Rita and Arnold Goodman Fellowship from the Center for the Study of Global Gender Equity at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

When I am not working or doing research, I enjoy the moments that let me slow down and breathe. I love getting lost in nature, going for a run or a long walk, practicing yoga, tending to my plants, and reading poetry, especially the verses of Hafez that bring me joy and a sense of grounding that I carry back into my work and everyday life.