Shirin Behzadi is one of the most respected and sought-after female entrepreneurs in the industry. A visionary leader and brand builder, Behzadi has overcome life’s challenges with determination, hard work, and her now famous motto: doing well by doing good. Behzadi’s passion is guiding and mentoring individuals and business owners, advising and speaking with the leaders of tomorrow.

Today, Behzadi is an advisor to several companies, helping them plan and achieve their desired growth with a specific focus on C-level leadership. She serves on the board of several companies including the United Way of Orange County. She is the main investor, chairperson and advisor to BOMANI, an alcohol infused cold brew coffee drink, that has been launched and is successfully growing by her son, Sam.

In 2019 after 20 years of growth and increasing leadership roles, she stepped down as the Chief Executive Officer of Home Franchise Concepts (HFC), one of the world’s largest franchise businesses and a recognized leader in franchise-franchisor relationships. Under her leadership systemwide sales grew substantially with double digit top and bottom-line growth year over year. By the time she stepped down, sales had risen to hundreds of millions of dollars across more than 1700 franchisees. She transformed and professionalized the company into what is considered today the top-selling family of direct-to-consumer brands in the home-related goods and services space.

Throughout her career, Behzadi has worked and partnered with lots great business and finance people. She has a deep understanding of private equity as she partnered with them both on the buy and sell sides. She has a deep knowledge and appreciation for the world of capital investments and exit strategies.

Today, Behzadi is the lead investor and advisor to BOMANI Cold Buzz and has been its chairperson since its founding. BOMANI is the first alcohol infused cold brew coffee product introduced to the market. The company was founded by Behzadi's son and his two friends and have since grown to 33 states with retail partners such as Whole Foods, Gelson’s, Stater Brothers and many more. The team at BOMANI was able to thrive in the face of challenging times with the pandemic while introducing a new category and a new product to the market right before the lockdown. With her coaching and the team’s fantastic collaboration and execution, BOMANI has shown significant growth and has won many awards including FoodBev Media World Beverage Innovation Awards Best RTD Beverage in 2020. Behzadi remains engaged and active with the team at BOMANI as an advisor and chairperson of the board.

Behzadi's business success has been covered across industry media including Forbes, Money Inc, Franchise Times, and Women Entrepreneurs - The Secrets of Success blog. She has been recognized by EY as Entrepreneur of the Year and is a recipient of the Innovation Award by Franchise.com as well as many other awards.

Behzadi has been a speaker and presenter at many events including panel presentation at EY’s Strategic Growth Forum and Franchise Times Conference. She’s also been featured in many podcasts.

Behzadi has overcome difficult and life-threatening health challenges. In 2009, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor that was lodged between her optic nerves. She endured hours of surgery and multiple setbacks. Her recovery was difficult but with perseverance and a belief in her ability to recover, she was back to work within weeks and recovered well. Behzadi considers her health journey a life-changing experience.

Behzadi is passionate about making the world a better place by giving people from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to thrive in all they do both as business owners and as employees in companies that care about their communities. She doesn’t see herself as a working mother, but rather a mother who happens to work. She lives her life and her loving marriage and has raised her two kids, Sam and Sara, with the same philosophy she advises companies and people…doing well by doing good.

Originally from Iran, Behzadi emigrated to the US when she was 17 years old. She attended California Polytechnic, on scholarship, where she received a BS in Accounting. Upon graduation, she joined Ernst & Young as an auditor in the Financial Services Practice for five years, before joining The Hammond Company, a mortgage banker, as their Chief Financial Officer. She speaks two languages: English and Farsi.

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