Gender Advisory Council: Niloufar Molavi

A multicultural journey

I was born in Tehran, where my family lived through the Iranian Revolution and the US hostage crisis. Although my siblings and I were old enough to witness these events, we were too young to understand what was happening to our country. When I was 12, my parents decided to move to France and wait for the political turmoil to die down, but we never returned home from that journey. Instead, my family moved to the US and settled in Houston, Texas.

Embracing change

I’ve learned a great deal from being an immigrant, both in France and the United States. The biggest thing I have learned is how to adapt rapidly to new situations. Survival meant learning a new language, making new friends and navigating a different culture—not once, but twice. The experience wasn’t always enjoyable, but it was a huge confidence builder. I learned to trust my ability to adapt and to handle change.

I've also learned to embrace new traditions, while maintaining my cultural values. For me, this makes sense, having been raised Muslim, educated by French Catholics, and seeing my own children attend an Episcopal School. In my home, we try to combine the best of everything. We celebrate Christmas and Nowruz, the Persian New Year. We speak English and Farsi. And in terms of identity, we feel both Iranian and American.

Early on in my career, the opportunity to work with some of the most significant clients in the energy practice allowed me to develop both my technical and professional skills at an early stage. I would also add that the energy industry is very global and early on in my career I was connecting with our energy tax professionals all over the world. That connection including in person networking events allowed me to build a very strong network around the globe.