Shahrzad Rafati

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 provides content creation, distribution, management, and monetization solutions.[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 Rafati
Shahrzad Rafati in 2019
Born
Tehran, Iran
NationalityIranian, Canadian
Alma materUniversity of British Columbia (B.Sc. Computer Science)
OccupationFounder & CEO of BroadbandTV Corp

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 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.[5] 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.[6]

Early life

Rafati was born 1979 in Tehran, Iran and immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada as a teenager.[7] In 2005, she completed her BSc in computer science at the University of British Columbia,[8] becoming a member of the Golden Key International Honors Society.[9] Rafati also studied French at Université Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV),[10] and is a graduate of the Young Global Leaders Oxford Module: Transformational Leadership at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.[11]

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.[12]

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.[13] She has also been a board member of the Vancouver Economic Commission,[14] and the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs.[15]

While attending university, Rafati worked at TIO networks, started a non-profit aimed at connecting donors and charities online,[16] and worked with UNICEF.[17]

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.[18] She has also spoken at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, VidCon,[19] Web Summit,[20] CES,[21] Newfronts,[22] Financial Times Digital Media,[23] DMEXCO,[24] Business Insider's IGNITION,[25] and Collision.[26]

Shahrzad has also written in Fortune Magazine,[27] The Wall Street Journal[28] and Wired.[29]

Awards
  • 2020: CanadianSME Magazine, Business Woman of the Year[30]
  • 2019: AdAge Creativity Awards, Visionary/Founder of The Year[31]
  • 2018: Ernst & Young, Entrepreneur of the Year, Pacific, Technology Category[32]
  • 2018: Canadian Innovation Awards Winner - Entrepreneur[33]
  • 2017: Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner - Hall of Fame[34]
  • 2017: Canada's Top 40 under 40[35]
  • 2017: RBC Canadian Immigrant Awards[36]
  • 2016: Hollywood Reporter's 20 Most Powerful Women in Global Television,[37] Person of the Year by BC Technology Association,[38] TheWrap's Innovator List[39]
  • 2015: Variety's Power of Women list,[40] Business Intelligence Group Woman of the Year[41]
  • 2014: Digital Life Design (DLD), Munich, Germany, panelist: Digital Storytelling: Surfing the Video Explosion (January 2014)[42]
  • 2013: Digi Awards, Executive of The Year (December 2013)[43]
  • 2013: Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100™ Award Winner in the Sun Life Financial Arts & Communications category (December 2013)[44]
  • 2013: Ernst & Young, Pacific Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year (October 2013)[45]
  • 2013: Business In Vancouver, CEO of The Year (October 2013)[46]
  • 2012: 40 Under 40 Business in Vancouver (December 2012)[47]
  • 2011: Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People in Business (2011)[48]

References
  1. "From war zone to boardroom: The improbable rise of BroadbandTV's Shahrzad Rafati". Digiday. 2015-05-26. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  2. "BroadbandTV Reorganizes Music Services Under 'Opposition' Division". Tubefilter. 2019-12-06. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
  3. Shaw, Gillian. "BroadbandTV helps companies leverage YouTube branding potential" Vancouver Sun
  4. Mckenzie, Kevin Hinton & Ryan. "BCBusiness". BCBusiness. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  5. Weiss, Geoff. "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Taps BBTV Founder Shahrzad Rafati For Women’s Economic Initiative" Tubefilter
  6. "BBTV Founder Shahrzad Rafati Named Vice Chair Of Canadian Federal Investment Agency". Tubefilter. 2019-05-20. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  7. Blattberg, Eric. "From war zone to boardroom: The improbable rise of BroadbandTV's Shahrzad Rafati," Digiday
  8. "CS Alumna Turned Pirate into Profit | Computer Science at UBC". Cs.ubc.ca. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  9. "Shahrzad Rafati Keynote Speaker Bio". www.keynotes.org. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  10. Rickwood, Lee. "Man or Woman, Tech Offers Opportunity for All, Says Canada’s Top Digi CEO" Diversity Now
  11. "Shahrzad Rafati". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  12. "BroadbandTV receives US$36 million investment from RTL Group". www.canadianbusiness.com. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  13. Releases, Business Wire News (2019-05-20). "Shahrzad Rafati Appointed as Vice-Chairperson of Invest In Canada | Financial Post". Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  14. "Shahrzad Rafati". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  15. "2016 Annual Award Winners". Women in Communications and Technology. 2017-03-10. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  16. Butler, Steven (2015-11-02). "From the Iranian Revolution to the Video Revolution". OZY. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  17. "From war zone to boardroom: The improbable rise of BroadbandTV's Shahrzad Rafati". Digiday. 2015-05-26. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  18. "Tedwomen.com". Retrieved 2016-08-07.
  19. RTL Staff. "Dynamic presence at VidCon" RTL Group
  20. Unknown. "Inspiring Stories in Online Video" Web Summit
  21. RTL Staff. "Expanding its global footprint" RTL Group
  22. Spangler, Todd. "Digital Video to Carve Into TV Budgets: Variety Summit Panel" Variety
  23. RTL Staff. "Talking about the future of media" RTL Group
  24. DMEXCO. "dmexco Conference 2015 Brings Together Outstanding Speakers From All Worlds of the Digiconomy" Market Wired
  25. Business Insider. "2015 Speakers" Business Insider
  26. Collision Conference. "Nominate a female entrepreneur + incredible speakers come together" Collision Conference
  27. Fortune. "Shahrzad Rafati" Fortune
  28. The Wall Street Journal. "Shahrzad Rafati" The Wall Street Journal
  29. Wired. "Shahrzad Rafati" Wired
  30. "Shahrzad Rafati, Founder & CEO, BroadbandTV Corp. Named CanadianSME Magazine's Business Woman of the Year". Cantech Letter. Retrieved 2020-01-29.
  31. "Creativity Award 2019 Visionary/Founder of the Year: Shahrzad Rafati, BroadbandTV". adage.com. 2019-04-15. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  32. Unknown. "Entrepreneur Of The Year 2018: Technology" BC Business
  33. Greenwood, Max. "Announcing the Winners of the Seventh Annual Canadian Innovation Awards" Techvibes
  34. Unknown. "The B.C. achievers on WXN's 2017 Top 100 list of Canada's Most Powerful Women" BC Business
  35. Unknown. "2017 – Canada’s Top 40 Under 40" Canada’s Top 40 Under 40
  36. "Shahrzad Rafati: Video revolutionary; In: Canada's Top 25 Immigrants, 2017". Canadian Immigrant, Metroland Media Group Ltd. 2018.
  37. Roxborough, Scott. "The 20 Most Powerful Women in Global Television 2016" Hollywood Reporter
  38. Unknown. "BroadbandTV’s Shahrzad Rafati Named Person of the Year by the BCTIA" BC Technology
  39. Schwindt, Oriana. "TheWrap’s 2016 Innovators List: 11 Change Agents Who Are Disrupting Hollywood" The Wrap
  40. Unknown. "Women’s Impact Report 2015" Variety
  41. Unknown. Crunchbase
  42. Digital Life Design. "Digital Storytelling: Surfing the Video Explosion" DLD Conference
  43. Thomas, Knowlton. "BroadbandTV's Shahrzad Rafati Named Executive of the Year at 2013 Digi Awards" Tech Vibes
  44. Crawford, Emma. "B.C. home to 19 of country’s top 100 most powerful women" Business in Vancouver
  45. Techvibes NewsDesk. "EY Names 2013 Pacific Entrepreneur of the Year Winners" Tech Vibes
  46. "BIV unveils 2013 BC CEO of the Year winners" Business in Vancouver
  47. "https://www.biv.com/article/2012/12/biv-announces-fresh-crop-of-forty-under-40-winners/" Business in Vancouver
  48. "MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE 2011 37. SHAHRZAD RAFATI" Fast Company
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