In This Story
Imagine a nonprofit that works to help refugee, migrant, and displaced women around the world rebuild their lives with dignity by providing psychosocial support, resilience, and cultural preservation.
Parisa Pirooz did more than imagine it. She created it.
Last May, Pirooz launched CreSHEndo, a nonprofit organization that helps resettle women and children with what Pirooz calls “culturally sensitive programs developed in collaboration with the communities we serve.” The idea, she said, is to “prioritize integration over assimilation” to create inclusive and resilient communities, wherever they may be.
To develop CreSHEndo, Pirooz called on the insights she garnered as a student at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government to develop the nonprofit, including her 2013 degree in government and international politics and her 2015 Master of Public Policy degree.
During her studies, she participated in George Mason’s study-abroad Oxford program, spending a semester in the United Kingdom and learning about international human rights law.
After earning a law degree from George Washington University Law School, Pirooz began representing asylum cases, “and it just still was not enough,” she said.
While her exposure working with refugees was enriched by her international education—augmented with a fulltime job working with a large refugee resettlement agency, as well as serving on a federal task force—she noticed “so many gaps in the types of services that were provided for refugees. I said, ‘OK, I think there are certain things we can do better.’ And that’s why we started CreSHEndo.”
Her drive to help displaced and immigrant populations no doubt stems from her childhood: Pirooz is a first-generation American whose parents both fled the 1979 revolution in Iran.
“I grew up in a household where we talked a lot about political situations,” she said, noting that in Iran, her parents, who met in the United States, “couldn’t express their views in their homeland without fear of persecution. So I grew up in a very politically charged home.”
Pirooz cites the diversity of the George Mason campus as an important reason for coming to the school—and it changed how she came to see her cultural history.
“I was exposed to so many different people and cultures and communities,” she said, “and that made me feel aligned with who I am and not shy away from my background. That was huge in my personal development.”
Several professors played important roles in reaching her goals. Her undergraduate mentor and graduate school thesis advisor, Schar School associate professor Heba F. El-Shazli, helped her obtain a significant internship in the refugee field.
Another Schar School professor, Mark N. Katz, “really instilled a lot of confidence in me,” she said. “I was feeling really down about world affairs. He helped me stay focused and told me to not allow these things to affect me.”
Katz, who retired last year after teaching at George Mason for 37 years, recalls Pirooz’s “passionate interest in human rights and refugee issues” as evidenced, he recalled, by a photograph of her appearing on the front page of the Washington Post during a protest demonstration in Washington, D.C.
“It does not surprise me at all that Parisa founded CreSHEndo,” he said, adding that he and his wife were early benefactors. “I have no doubt that under her leadership, it will have a highly positive impact on all those whom it serves.”
The organization’s name, by the way, is a combination of her passion for music—she plays piano—and her vision of helping women reach their highest potential.
"I was playing around with the word 'crescendo,' which in music means reaching a peak, and then I saw the 'she' in the middle. It felt perfect."