Shahrzad Rafati

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Shahrzad Rafati
Image of Shahrzad Rafati.jpg
Shahrzad Rafati in 2019
Born1979
Tehran, Iran
NationalityIranian, Canadian
Alma materUniversity of British Columbia (B.Sc. Computer Science)
OccupationFounder & CEO of BroadbandTV Corp

Shahrzad Rafati (born in Iran; citizen and resident of Canada)[1] is the founder and CEO of BroadbandTV Corp, a digital media and technology company that drives monetization for content creators.[2] Shahrzad is credited with pioneering both the technology and business model that made peace between big entertainment entities like the NBA and their fans who were uploading premium content to video sites like YouTube.[3]

Shahrzad has built BroadbandTV as a quadruple bottom line business and measures success across employee, community, environmental, and financial KPIs, citing a workforce of over 40% female identifying employees and managers with a 0% gender pay gap.[4] In October of 2020, Rafati also led BBTV to its initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange, which was one of the Top 10 Tech TSX listings of all time and the largest on the TSX with a sole female founder and CEO at the helm.[5]

In September 2018, it was announced that Shahrzad was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to represent Canada on the Business Women Leaders task force, which was formed to advise global leaders on issues of women's economic empowerment as part of the G20 Summit.[6] She was later appointed as Canada's representative for G20 EMPOWER, a private sector alliance with the goal of advancing women's representation at leadership levels in the private sector.[7] In 2019 she was also appointed as the Vice Chair of Invest in Canada, a federal agency that aims to create jobs in Canada by facilitating foreign business investment by highlighting Canada's diverse and skilled talent pool, economic growth across multiple industries, and geographic advantage as a hub for global trade.[8]

Early life[]

Rafati was born 1979 in Tehran, Iran and immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada as a teenager.[9] In 2005, she completed her BSc in computer science at the University of British Columbia,[10] becoming a member of the Golden Key International Honors Society.[11] Rafati also studied French at Université Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV),[12] and is a graduate of the Young Global Leaders Oxford Module: Transformational Leadership at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.[13] Shahrzad also received her Honorary Doctorate from University Canada West in 2020.[14]

Career[]

Rafati founded BroadbandTV in 2005 and has led it since then, garnering a 2013 $36 million investment from RTL Group which was at the time in Canada the largest financial placement in an Internet media company in six years.[15] In October of 2020, Shahrzad also led BBTV through its initial public offering on the TSX, which was one of the Top 10 Tech TSX listings of all time and the largest on the TSX with a sole female founder and CEO at the helm.[16]

Separate from her role at BroadbandTV, Rafati is also a board member for a number of organizations including Hootsuite, a social media management platform, and Bjarke Ingels Group, an architecture firm, as well as Vice Chair of the board at Invest in Canada.[17] She has also been a board member of the Vancouver Economic Commission,[18] and the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs.[19]

While attending university, Rafati worked at TIO networks, started a non-profit aimed at connecting donors and charities online,[20] and worked with UNICEF.[21]

Public speaking and thought leadership[]

Rafati and Justin Trudeau at Collision conference in Toronto in 2019

Rafati has spoken at events such as TEDx Vancouver.[22] She has also spoken at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, VidCon,[23] Web Summit,[24] CES,[25] Newfronts,[26] Financial Times Digital Media,[27] DMEXCO,[28] Business Insider's IGNITION,[29] and Collision.[30]

Shahrzad has also written in Fortune Magazine,[31] The Wall Street Journal[32] and Wired.[33]

Awards[]

  • 2020: CanadianSME Magazine, Business Woman of the Year[34]
  • 2019: AdAge Creativity Awards, Visionary/Founder of The Year[35]
  • 2018: Ernst & Young, Entrepreneur of the Year, Pacific, Technology Category[36]
  • 2018: Canadian Innovation Awards Winner - Entrepreneur[37]
  • 2017: Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner - Hall of Fame[38]
  • 2017: Canada's Top 40 under 40[39]
  • 2017: Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award Winner[40]
  • 2016: Hollywood Reporter's 20 Most Powerful Women in Global Television,[41] Person of the Year by BC Technology Association,[42] TheWrap's Innovator List[43]
  • 2015: Variety's Power of Women list,[44]
  • 2014: Digital Life Design (DLD), Munich, Germany, panelist: Digital Storytelling: Surfing the Video Explosion (January 2014)[45]
  • 2013: Digi Awards, Executive of The Year (December 2013)[46]
  • 2013: Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100™ Award Winner in the Sun Life Financial Arts & Communications category (December 2013)[47]
  • 2013: Ernst & Young, Pacific Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year (October 2013)[48]
  • 2013: Business In Vancouver, CEO of The Year (October 2013)[49]
  • 2012: 40 Under 40 Business in Vancouver (December 2012)[50]
  • 2011: Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business (2011)[51]

References[]

  1. ^ "From war zone to boardroom: The improbable rise of BroadbandTV's Shahrzad Rafati". Digiday. 2015-05-26. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  2. ^ "Canaccord Genuity launches coverage of BBTV with a $24.00 price target". Cantech Letter. 2020-11-27. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  3. ^ Shaw, Gillian. "BroadbandTV helps companies leverage YouTube branding potential" Vancouver Sun
  4. ^ Mckenzie, Kevin Hinton & Ryan. "BCBusiness". BCBusiness. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  5. ^ Simpson, Meagan. "BBTV CLOSES IPO, COMPLETES BUYOUT OF RTL'S INTEREST IN COMPANY". Betakit. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
  6. ^ Weiss, Geoff. "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Taps BBTV Founder Shahrzad Rafati For Women’s Economic Initiative" Tubefilter
  7. ^ OECD."Policies and Practices to Promote Women in Leadership Roles in the Private Sector Report prepared by the OECD for the G20 EMPOWER Alliance"
  8. ^ "BBTV Founder Shahrzad Rafati Named Vice Chair Of Canadian Federal Investment Agency". Tubefilter. 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  9. ^ Blattberg, Eric. "From war zone to boardroom: The improbable rise of BroadbandTV's Shahrzad Rafati," Digiday
  10. ^ "CS Alumna Turned Pirate into Profit | Computer Science at UBC". Cs.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  11. ^ "Shahrzad Rafati Keynote Speaker Bio". www.keynotes.org. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  12. ^ Rickwood, Lee. "Man or Woman, Tech Offers Opportunity for All, Says Canada’s Top Digi CEO" Diversity Now
  13. ^ "Shahrzad Rafati". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  14. ^ "BroadbandTV CEO Shahrzad Rafati receives UCW honorary doctorate". ucanwest.ca. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
  15. ^ "BroadbandTV receives US$36 million investment from RTL Group". www.canadianbusiness.com. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  16. ^ Simpson, Meagan. "BBTV CLOSES IPO, COMPLETES BUYOUT OF RTL'S INTEREST IN COMPANY". Betakit. Retrieved 2021-08-31.
  17. ^ Releases, Business Wire News (2019-05-20). "Shahrzad Rafati Appointed as Vice-Chairperson of Invest In Canada | Financial Post". Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  18. ^ "Shahrzad Rafati". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  19. ^ "2016 Annual Award Winners". Women in Communications and Technology. 2017-03-10. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  20. ^ Butler, Steven (2015-11-02). "From the Iranian Revolution to the Video Revolution". OZY. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  21. ^ "From war zone to boardroom: The improbable rise of BroadbandTV's Shahrzad Rafati". Digiday. 2015-05-26. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  22. ^ "Tedwomen.com". Retrieved 2016-08-07.
  23. ^ RTL Staff. "Dynamic presence at VidCon" RTL Group
  24. ^ Unknown. "Inspiring Stories in Online Video" Web Summit
  25. ^ RTL Staff. "Expanding its global footprint" RTL Group
  26. ^ Spangler, Todd. "Digital Video to Carve Into TV Budgets: Variety Summit Panel" Variety
  27. ^ RTL Staff. "Talking about the future of media" RTL Group
  28. ^ DMEXCO. "dmexco Conference 2015 Brings Together Outstanding Speakers From All Worlds of the Digiconomy" Market Wired
  29. ^ Business Insider. "2015 Speakers" Business Insider
  30. ^ Collision Conference. "Nominate a female entrepreneur + incredible speakers come together" Collision Conference
  31. ^ Fortune. "Shahrzad Rafati" Fortune
  32. ^ The Wall Street Journal. "Shahrzad Rafati" The Wall Street Journal
  33. ^ Wired. "Shahrzad Rafati" Wired
  34. ^ "Shahrzad Rafati, Founder & CEO, BroadbandTV Corp. Named CanadianSME Magazine's Business Woman of the Year". Cantech Letter. Retrieved 2020-01-29.
  35. ^ "Creativity Award 2019 Visionary/Founder of the Year: Shahrzad Rafati, BroadbandTV". adage.com. 2019-04-15. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  36. ^ Unknown. "Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018: Technology" BC Business
  37. ^ Greenwood, Max. "Announcing the Winners of the Seventh Annual Canadian Innovation Awards" Techvibes
  38. ^ Unknown. "The B.C. achievers on WXN's 2017 Top 100 list of Canada's Most Powerful Women" BC Business
  39. ^ Unknown. "2017 – Canada’s Top 40 Under 40" Canada’s Top 40 Under 40
  40. ^ "Shahrzad Rafati: Video revolutionary; In: Canada's Top 25 Immigrants, 2017". Canadian Immigrant, Metroland Media Group Ltd. 2018.
  41. ^ Roxborough, Scott. "The 20 Most Powerful Women in Global Television 2016" Hollywood Reporter
  42. ^ Unknown. "BroadbandTV’s Shahrzad Rafati Named Person of the Year by the BCTIA" BC Technology
  43. ^ Schwindt, Oriana. "TheWrap’s 2016 Innovators List: 11 Change Agents Who Are Disrupting Hollywood" The Wrap
  44. ^ Unknown. "Women’s Impact Report 2015" Variety
  45. ^ Digital Life Design. "Digital Storytelling: Surfing the Video Explosion" DLD Conference
  46. ^ Thomas, Knowlton. "BroadbandTV's Shahrzad Rafati Named Executive of the Year at 2013 Digi Awards" Tech Vibes
  47. ^ Crawford, Emma. "B.C. home to 19 of country’s top 100 most powerful women" Business in Vancouver
  48. ^ Techvibes NewsDesk. "EY Names 2013 Pacific Entrepreneur of the Year Winners" Tech Vibes
  49. ^ "BIV unveils 2013 BC CEO of the Year winners" Business in Vancouver
  50. ^ "https://www.biv.com/article/2012/12/biv-announces-fresh-crop-of-forty-under-40-winners/" Business in Vancouver
  51. ^ "MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE 2011 37. SHAHRZAD RAFATI" Fast Company

External links[]

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