Piece 1
I’m not a jack of all trades. I’m a polymath generalist—by necessity, by choice, and by temperament.
To many’s surprise, there’s no pitch here. No hook, no agenda. You’ll have to read it to know if it was worth reading. That’s the paradox—and the point:
I move between disciplines and roles—not to wear many hats, but because no single frame has ever been enough. My work often begins by questioning what is taken for granted—whether in education, technology, or the ways we make meaning.
I took the image from
article called: Differences Between Polymaths, Specialists and Generalists.I’m a registered EU Expert, a judge at the QS Reimagine Education Awards, and a fellow researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Sociology Department), focusing on education, knowledge, and the tensions between formal structures and lived realities.
I’ve co-founded several projects and platforms—some educational, some technological, most somewhere in-between. My approach is shaped as much by music and storytelling as by war, isolation, and years of deprivation from books, knowledge, and technology. These absences taught me their emancipatory power—and their dangers. That experience is not just background; it’s method. It informs how I think, remember, and create.
The project I care most about—and have been part of for nearly a decade—is ISSH (Iran Academia). It’s the first tuition-free, high-quality university for interdisciplinary social studies focused on Iran and its region. I don’t always agree with the topics taught, but I’ve helped shape it into an ecosystem of knowledge and a foundation that’s offered real hope across borders. I still dream it could become a model for a post-national, learner-driven university in West Asia—though I’m not always hopeful.
I’m drawn to spaces that are not yet fully formed. I work best where things are still in process—messy, unresolved, but full of potential. I crave structure, yet score 98% in openness to experience (read: creativity).
Over the years, I’ve inhabited many roles—some given, some taken, some survived: Political activist, “artist at risk”, the president’s young consultant, founding member of the First Iranian Youth Parliament, "alien". I’ve also worked as an educator, instructor, project manager (senior), system designer, strategist, executive manager, event organizer, platform builder, founder, fundraiser, grant writer, translator, podcast host, musician, songwriter, sound designer, photographer, editor, and CSO actor.
P.S. I’m not a jack of all trades. I’m a polymath generalist—by necessity, by choice, and by temperament.
What Are Pieces?
They are notes—raw, precise, personal. Numbered, not ordered. They may look scattered but they are interconnected like neurons, not chapters.
Inspired by Niklas Luhmann’s Zettelkasten method, I assign a unique ID to each thought. This allows me to build ideas organically, non-linearly.
Each Piece stands alone. Some may become essays, projects, or just stay as they are.