Forbes: Silicon Valley has a well-documented diversity problem. Sepideh Nasiri, who often goes by Sepi, is an entrepreneur originally from Iran. She founded Persian Women In Tech (PWIT) just over two years ago, which aims to alter tech’s dreary statistics of women founders and engineers, with a focus on those of Iranian descent.

PWIT is a non-profit headquartered in Silicon Valley, Nasiri is its CEO. PWIT’s mission is to elevate the profile of Iranian women in tech, empower them and provide resources through its network. Next month on February 10, PWIT is expanding its purview to women in tech from MENA (Middle East North Africa) countries with its first conference, Women Of MENA In Tech at Oath in Sunnyvale, California.

The ebullient Nasiri is in her mid-30s and her professional life has been steeped in tech. Perhaps it was destiny that when she immigrated to the U.S. with her family by way of Germany in the 11th grade, she landed in Cupertino, CA, not far from Apple.

Her first job upon graduation from UCI was co-founding an on- and off-line magazine highlighting successful Iranians like Pierre Omidyar, the founder of Ebay among other startups including First Look Media.
 
From 2011 to 2014 Nasiri worked at Women 2.0, one of the earliest voices— the “grandmother” as she puts it—to bring more women into tech. Nasiri also advised early-stage startups and was a consultant to companies like Deloitte, HP, Twitter, Facebook and Google on issues of diversity.
 
The impetus behind PWIT happened when an Iranian startup founder friend of Nasiri’s asked her to recommend an Iranian female engineer; she wanted to diversify her engineering team. “I didn’t know anyone,” recalls Nasiri in disbelief, “I couldn’t say a name off the top of my head.” Taken aback, as Nasiri could easily rattle off people’s names, titles and departments of other ethnic group working in the tech industry, but not her own.
 
“That’s when I realized that even though I have this incredible network—not just of women, but people in tech—I wasn’t close to my own community,” says Nasiri.
 
Astonished by her own blind spot, Nasiri began contacting friends at Google, Facebook, Apple, Cisco and Oracle to inquire if there was some type of internal Iranian group. With the exception of Apple, which had a mailing list, no company had one. “That was very strange,” reflects Nasiri, “especially when you are talking 2015.” She was especially surprised by Google, as many top level employees were Iranian-born or of Iranian descent, including Omid Kordestani, the Chief Business Officer at the time, now at Twitter.
 
This gaping void inspired Nasiri and a friend to organize a casual wine and cheese gathering for Iranian women in tech. Seven women showed up. Nasiri planned additional events and attendance numbers nearly doubled with each gathering. “Fast forward to today,” says Nasiri enthusiastically, “we have just over 500 members in the Bay Area. All women, 90% technical backgrounds.”
 
Nasiri chose "Persian" over "Iranian" when naming PWIT because she felt Persian isn’t associated with religion, policies or politics. “It has to do with the cultural background of who we are,” explains Nasiri.
 
PWIT’s monthly events address topics of entrepreneurship, startups and engineering, from hiring data scientists to business legal structures. PWIT now operates in five U.S. cities; London was added as of October 2017. Everyone working in tech is welcome at PWIT events: males and females, Iranians and non-Iranians.