I am an immigrant artist. In my home country, I was well known and established, but at fifty, I left everything behind to start anew. Immigration meant losing my position, visibility, network, and sense of belonging as an artist. In the U.S., I faced challenges entering the art scene—finding galleries, selling my work, and gaining recognition beyond being a novice. To adapt, I returned to college, learned new skills, and built connections with other artists—many of whom, like me, have been shaped by war, displacement, and migration.  I want to share this to connect with others who understand the struggles of starting anew and to invite support for our shared journey.

Throughout this journey, I realized many artists silently suffer from isolation, invisibility, and financial hardship. No artist should endure these struggles just because they crossed borders. That's why I founded Vanshon.

Vanshon is both a startup and a cultural mission: a platform designed to help artists survive, earn income, and grow—without facing the hardships I experienced. It aims to support artists by providing opportunities, fostering collaboration, and organizing community activities, while contributing to cultural growth through art events, concerts, exhibitions, and educational programs. Vanshon is also a long-term vision: a vibrant cultural and artistic space that combines a museum, an event space, a community center, and health and sports facilities. A shared environment for artists, residents, and visitors to live, create, learn, and heal together. Vanshon isn't just about art. It’s about dignity, survival, culture, and purpose.

I did not arrive in this country as an artist. I arrived as an engineer—trained to think in systems, structure, and solutions. Like many immigrants, I came with ambition and discipline, believing that hard work alone would be enough to rebuild a life. What I did not fully anticipate was how deeply starting over reshapes one’s sense of identity, dignity, and belonging.

Beginning again meant proving myself repeatedly. Credentials did not translate automatically. Experience had to be explained. Cultural cues had to be learned through trial and error. Even as I adapted and eventually found professional stability, I carried the memory of dislocation—the quiet feeling of being present but not fully seen.

Engineering gave me an advantage. Logic, mathematics, and systems travel well across borders. Over time, I found success, stability, and opportunity. But success sharpened my awareness rather than closing that chapter. It allowed me to see more clearly those whose paths were far more vulnerable.

Among them were immigrant artists.

Art does not exist in isolation. It is inseparable from culture, shared symbols, emotional context, and audience understanding. When immigrant artists arrive in a new society, they are not simply adapting to a new environment—they are asked to translate their inner world. Their work, once deeply understood, can suddenly feel invisible. Their voices may be misunderstood, softened, or ignored.

Pooneh, the founder of VANSHON, articulated this reality with clarity and urgency. As a professional artist and immigrant, she recognized that the challenge was not talent—it was access, infrastructure, and cultural bridges. Immigrant artists were being forced into an impossible choice: reshape their voice to be accepted, or remain authentic and risk invisibility.

When Pooneh shared her vision, it resonated deeply with my own immigrant experience. While our professions are different, the emotional truth was the same. I understood what it meant to rebuild from scratch, to navigate systems not designed with you in mind, and to carry stories that did not translate easily.

I joined VANSHON as a co-founder because I believed that the vision deserved structure. My role is to help transform purpose into practice—through strategy, technology, and sustainable systems. Where Pooneh leads with artistic insight and lived creative experience, I focus on building the operational foundation that allows that vision to grow, scale, and endure.

VANSHON exists to support immigrant artists as they find their place in a new cultural landscape without erasing who they are. Through programs, mentorship, platforms, and community, we help artists translate—not dilute—their voices.

This organization is not about charity. It is about recognition, equity, and long-term impact. Immigrant artists expand cultural understanding, challenge dominant narratives, and deepen the societies they join. When they are supported by intention and structure, the benefits reach far beyond the individual—they strengthen the entire cultural ecosystem.

I may not be an artist, but I am an immigrant who remembers. Together with Pooneh, I help build VANSHON so that creative voices are not lost to silence, but supported by strategy, technology, and community—empowered to belong fully, visibly, and authentically.