Persian Realm

Shabnam Rezaei co-founder of Big Bad Boo Studios, is interviewed by Forbes Magazine as part of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum 2009 and featured as a "Thought Leader" on Forbes.com. Big Bad Boo Studios co-founder Shabnam Rezaei integrates cultural diversity into children's television.

Shabnam Rezaei is interviewed by Forbes Magazine as part of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum 2009 and featured as a "Thought Leader" on Forbes.com. Shabnam was a recipient of the 2009 Ernst & Young Winning Women Award in Palm Springswhere entrepreneurs and business leaders such as Howard Schultz (Starbucks), Jim McCann (1-800-flowers), Tom Adams (Rosetta Stone), Matt Szulik (red hat) andmany other leaders spoke and interacted for a week long program. In thisinterview with Forbes, Shabnam talks about the history of Big Bad Boo Animation studios, their mission and the new shows "1001 Nights" which won 6th place at the Mip Jr Festival in Cannes out of 1200 properties. For more information on their animated shows, please visit Official Website of Big Bad Boo Studios Here

More About Shabnam Rezaie:

Shabnam is the co-founder of Big Bad Boo Studios, based in Canada. She started the company in 2006 (then called Norooz Productions) after winning the NYU business plan competition with herpartner Aly Jetha. She has produced Babak & Friends - A First Noroozas well as Mixed Nutz TV series. Shabnam is also the co-creator of 1001 Nights along with her partner Aly Jetha.

Big Bad Boo's mission is to make cartoons to teach kids about different cultures. Their first DVD Babak & Friends - A First Norooz, highlights the Persian New Year "Norooz". Sponsored by Apple and screened in 40 museums, it sold 20,000 units in its first year. Mixed Nutz, the first multicultural series, featuring friends from Iran, Cuba, India and Korea. Mixed Nutz currently airs on PBS, Shaw Canada, Brazil TV, Family Channel Finland and many others.

Currently in production: 1001 Nights, bringing to life famous characters like Sinbad and Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. The show was nominated for 4 LEO Awards and will be launching on CBC Radio Canada, Disney Asia, ORF Austria, RPT Portugal, Al Jazeera Children's TV and MTV3 Finland among others. Comic books and mobile apps are also being produced for 1001 Nights. In addition, the company also launched Oznoz Entertainment, a platform for distributing multicultural content for kids.

With a BS in Computer Science, a BA in German Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from New York University, Shabnam spent 10 years selling financial software to Fortune 500's such as Bank of America, ING and JP Morgan. She has held managerial positions at EXIS and Deloitte & Touche inNew York and London. Before starting Big Bad Boo, she was the Head of Professional Services for Misys's Treasury and Capital Markets division, managing 120 international banking clients with 40 consultants and over $30 million in revenue.

In 2006, Shabnam started PersianMirror.com, an online magazine about Iranian culture. The website currently receives more than 4 million hits per month and has over 10,000 Iranian business listings. She is a regular contributor to many news outlets and has been featured on CNN, Forbes, BBC, FOX, CBC, the New York Times and NPR. In 2009, she won Vancouver's 40 Under 40 Award and Canada's Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Shabnam was born in Iran and grew up in Austria. She speaks English,German, Persian, French, and Spanish.