About the Author
Banafsheh Akhlaghi is an international best selling author, pioneering civil and human rights attorney, educator and social entrepreneur. She has learned through her work how decisions we make globally aff ect us locally and has always worked to transform lives at all levels. She immigrated to the United States from her native Iran with her parents at the age of five. As a child, she sat at her father’s side as he recited poems of Hafez and other great poets, experiencing the magic and passion of the words and sharing. Like her fellow countrymen, she too learned to engage the world on all levels through the living language of the poets. is perspective has in fluenced every aspect of her life, inspiring her to grab hold of every opportunity, reach for every dream and push for justice and peace every day. She started her career as a professor of Constitutional Law at the John F. Kennedy University College of Law.
Banafsheh has worked as a consultant with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and was the director of the West Region for Amnesty International. She has won several awards for her work, including the Fred Korematsu Civil Rights Award. Banafsheh was named one of the “Top 100 Leading Lawyers in California” and “Top 100 Most In fluential Lawyers in California” by the Daily Journal. She was also nominated for the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 2008 and received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from the U.S. House of Representatives that same year. She has spoken at conferences and events around the world, met with world leaders, thinkers, artists and activists, and has dedicated her life to the realization of peace in her lifetime. Banafsheh received her B.A. from the University of San Francisco, with attendance at Cambridge University, and her J.D. from Tulane University .
