Speaking at Women in Agribusiness: What I’m Learning About the Journey Ahead

Greetings Skin microbiome enthusiasts,

This week, I’m speaking at the Women in Agribusiness conference. It’s a huge event, with thousands of women from across agriculture coming together. I’m honored to be there, in the innovation and entrepreneurship section, sharing how everything I learned in agricultural biotech and bio-ag business helped me launch Fafabiotic.

As I think about what I want to say to these women, I keep coming back to the same thing. It’s simple. Maybe too simple. But it’s honest.

Just do it. Do not take no for an answer. Just do it.

But here’s the part that feels important to say out loud, especially to women reading this: we are walking a very fine line.

If you speak with confidence, you get labeled as bossy. If you have ideas, lots of them, you talk too much, or that you’re not a team player. If you push for what you believe in, you’re aggressive. If you’re quiet, you’re not leadership material. There is no clean path. There is no move that doesn’t come with a risk of being misunderstood or penalized. And that is the reality of being a woman in business, whether you’re an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur, whether you’re someone building your own company or someone bringing entrepreneurial ideas into an existing organization.

I think about this a lot. I also think about where I come from.

I grew up in Iran after the revolution. I lived two completely different lives. Outside my home, my life was dictated and policed. The mullahs had no shortage of opportunities to minimize women’s impact in society. Inside my home, I was raised by a father who never once accepted gender as an excuse for not living a big life and doing big things. Those two worlds could not have been more different.

The life my father raised me to live was not achievable in Iran. So 24 years ago, I left.

Coming to this country changed everything. And at times, it’s hard for me to accept that gender is something that should stop us from dreaming big and pursuing our dreams. I’m not saying it’s easy. It’s always harder. But it should not give us permission to stop trying.

You need to know that you will work harder. There will be more hurdles. But here’s what I know, and what I want to say to every woman at that conference: if you have never lived anywhere but the United States, you need to understand how rare and how precious this really is. This is truly the land of opportunity. This is the best country you could possibly choose to pursue your dream.

So do it. Do not take no for an answer. Do it anyway.

I’ll be back next week with more about what happened at the conference, what I heard from other women, and what this experience meant to me. For now, I’m just grateful. Grateful for the invitation. Grateful to be standing in a room with thousands of women who are also refusing to let anything stop them.

Until next week, cheers.