THE BOARD
Mahtab Hariri Pharm.D
Chicago / Pharmapreneur
Mahtab Hariri Pharm.D. is not your typical pharmacist. She is a modern, multi-cultured visionary in the form of an old soul Persian Apothecarist, who believes finding life remedies for human beings' maladies and social challenges requires the same process: an insightful self and 'happy' emotions. She proposes a creative lifestyle that aligns and balances human beings' feminine and masculine energies but brings attention to the softer power of female creativity for making a change & closing gaps from self to surroundings. Dr. Mahtab has practiced as a clinical pharmacist, with more than 15 years of experience in academia from the University of Maryland to the University of Illinois colleges of Pharmacy. She was trained as a post-doctorate resident in Ambulatory Medicine and her focus had been on Neurology & Internal Medicine and HIV. She was the pioneer in setting up and trending health initiatives in Comprehensive Pharmaceutical Care Practice in the mid-’90s; as a patient-focused and disease outcome-based pharmacotherapist. Mahtab has been a lifetime “goodwill” ambassador & culturist with a focus on misrepresentations of dignified identities due to politics or gender. Her earliest memory with her activist teacher mother in Iran goes back to orphanages and children with disabilities. In the 80s, starting in college, she was the founder and president of the Persian Cultural Club in NJ and executed a building school in rural Iran post-natural disaster of 1989 in Lowshan. Her Intrigue Yellow Initiative consisting of a for-profit Creative Firm and a not-for-profit Modern Foundation is her third generation of works in philanthropy and humanitarian businesses. Her hobby is spending time with her international inspiring mentors and learning continuously. Motherhood and elderly care have been her main joys, starting with solving problems at home. Dr. Mahtab has a special interest in international women's issues, in particular, under-recognized in cultures, arts, music, and sciences her growing path to pursue through her corporation and foundation
Rita Garry JD
Chicago / Attorney
Rita W. Garry is a seasoned corporate, transactional and data privacy attorney and is the trusted legal advisor to a wide variety of business enterprises across an array of industries, including professional services, banking and finance, healthcare, manufacturing, technology, aviation supply, craft breweries, not-for-profit trade associations and multinational gift card distributor. Rita builds strategic and long-term relationships with clients to create corporate governance, risk awareness, and legal compliance infrastructures for her clients to promote their stability, growth, risk mitigation, and future transitional planning for both strategic and private equity sales, mergers, and acquisitions. Rita’s extensive work with a diverse client base involves many enterprise matters including choice of entity and governance, employment, finance, real estate, commercial contracting, software licensing, transactions, and, most recently, data privacy and cybersecurity compliance.
As the importance of data management and privacy laws has grown, Rita guides enterprise clients, both internationally and nationally, in designing and operationalizing data management and protection law compliance programs, including those related to GLBA, HIPPA, GDPR and CCPA, among others. Also, since business data is frequently stored, processed, and shared with customers, vendors and other service providers, Rita works with clients to manage data protection in their contractual arrangement to help manage privacy law compliance.
Rita prides herself on being the trusted advisor to an array of business enterprises, helping them execute business goals strategically and collaboratively with strength, stability, and tools to grow and thrive in ever increasingly complex, competitive, and regulated environments.
Kristina Farra DDS
Chicago / Lifestylist
Kristine Farra has been involved in the Real Estate, Lifestyle + Marketing Sector as a top producer for over 10 years and is known for her unsurpassed knowledge of this dynamic market, offering the most comprehensive as well as ultimate custom marketing programs! Kristine has been featured in many publications, broadcast media and is also top 2% Linkedin profile. She received her doctorate from Northwestern University, with an international background maintains a global perspective and speaks 3+ languages. Kristine’s extensive involvement in philanthropic boards and committees, many with a strong emphasis on empowerment, lend itself well to supporting and enhancing exposure and support of The Intrigue Yellow Foundation, it’s programs and causes.
Stephanette Walker
Chicago / Banker
A native of Chicago’s southside, I began my professional career as a commercial banker in New York City and graduated into investment and merchant banking, which exposed me the myriad and wonderful cultures throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
To be involved with the work and mission of Intrigue Yellow is an opportunity to address the social and economic conundrums which every human faces during our earthly journey. As an Elder in the Presbyterian Church USA, I live out my duty to love my neighbor and serve mankind each day
Marit bohbot
Chicago / jewelry curator
Marit is the Marketing Manager at Buccellati jewelers, who has moved from Sweden to the Caribbean, California and Florida but feels right at home in Chicago. She was early on taught love and respect for nature, her fellow man, history, and other people’s ideas. On her journey she has picked up a head for business, an appreciation for art, the written and spoken word, and a deep respect for philanthropy. Her most treasured time is spent sharing ideas and meeting cultures, watching her two daughters learn, love, interact and exceed every expectation she ever had as they take on the world.
Navid Madani Ph.D
Boston / Scientist
Dr. Navid Madani is a senior scientist at the Harvard Medical School, with a hospital appointment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who has committed her professional life to finding ways to contain the HIV/AIDS epidemic worldwide. Her approach to this task uses a two-pronged approach: biochemical research combined with educational outreach to at-risk populations and the healthcare community that serves them. She is particularly invested in developing educational outreach in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), one of the only two regions in the world today where the HIV epidemic is expanding.
Dr. Madani uses a multidisciplinary approach to find preventive measures to inhibit HIV-1 transmission. Currently, she is the principal investigator on a study that is optimizing the application of a CD4-mimetic small-molecule inhibitor of HIV-1 infection as topical microbicides. Her studies have led to the biochemical characterization of two classes of small-molecules that bind HIV-1 gp120 and inhibit HIV-1 entry. This research emphasizes the need for HIV/AIDS drug discovery to work toward development of a microbicide to halt HIV transmission that is suitable for use in women—a population that is underserved and disenfranchised in many countries globally. In complement to her scientific research, Dr. Madani is the founding director of the Science Health Education (SHE) Center at Dana-Farber. The SHE Center is working to build healthcare capacity, particularly for women with HIV or cancer, in the MENA region by training, mentoring, and networking with early-career physicians and scientists in hospitals and institutions throughout the region and to facilitate interdisciplinary scientific and health research and dialogue in the MENA region.
Prior to the pandemic, Dr. Madani regularly traveled to the MENA region to present seminars at various universities and lead workshops on scientific capacity building and public health. She has received three Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) licenses to conduct her work in sanctioned countries. Her educational seminars are geared toward youth and women with the aim of advancing the understanding of reproductive health. During the global lockdown and travel advisories, she continued this work via remote conferencing, and hopes to resume in-person seminars soon.
Dr. Madani has authored or coauthored over 50 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and has written op-eds and given interviews to news organizations such as the Associated Press, Science magazine, and the BBC World News. Away from the laboratory and the seminar room, she is a scientist, mentor, cook, photographer, a marriage officiant for her friends and family, wife, and a proud mother of two spirited boys.
Anonymous Altruist
Planet Earth / Global Fashion Designer
The lady fashion designer is our most dedicated and talented fashionista and a true altruist. She dedicates her time and energy to grow the Empowerment Committee and shed light in supporting , mentoring and leading future entrepreneurs and women of wearable arts.
Arian Khoroushi
La & Chicago / Producer
Arian Khoroushi (born September 20, 1989), is a film director, producer, actor, musician, and social media influencer. He studied Biomedical Engineering at the Azad University of Tehran, Oloum Tahghighat, and moved to California in 2010. He graduated in Theater, Film, and Digital Production from the University of California, Riverside in 2016. He has been producing and creating content mostly under his production company "ARI K PRODUCTION" since 2014. Arian’s vision is to create a lasting, permanent yet special, and memorable work through which he can influence others’ perspectives. His discovery of his goal has been accomplished through film and music productions. He produced, directed, and played several roles in various featured and short films, commercials, and documentaries. Furthermore, being proficient in several musical instruments, Arian has performed at and collaborated with several music bands. He believes every great journey begins with a dreamer, while the whole universe conspires to make it a reality for him.
Amanda Kay Bonnell
Chicago / Disruptive Strategist
Amanda has implemented her Harvard & entrepreneurial disruptive growth strategies, along with her proven methodologies, to 10x her clients in her GROWTH CAPSULE and the RUNWAY 2 LAUNCH | REACH | GROW programs.
Amanda is no stranger to success in creating a successful business, she earned her first $10 million in 5 years at 33 years old, and $20 million 3 years later at 36. She leads Pods of entrepreneurs down a transformational path of personal and professional growth, with only one outcome -> success, growth, collaboration, leverage and relationships that last a lifetime.
Amanda has been recognized in many entrepreneur articles in magazines, such as DISRUPT, as well as recognized as a dynamic woman leader in Chicago, by Modern Luxury CS Magazine. Bonnell dedicates her work to leading entrepreneurs to abundant growth that is otherwise out-of-reach when going it alone.
If you haven't heard her speak, you’re missing out! She is real, witty, and brilliant, with an obvious MISSION to give women a simple RUNWAY to success. She takes the ‘overwhelm’ out of entrepreneurship & life.
Jump into one of her weekly RUNWAY live Podcasts, as she is even disrupting the PODCAST world by hosting her PODCASTs on an interactive platform, so that you can actually join in and be a part of it!
My PURPOSE for supporting IY is to elevate and empower creative women around the world who have been suppressed by their culture, surroundings, men, and people in powerful positions who don’t support them. It’s time to let all women shine their brightest shade of yellow!
Shadi Hariri
new jersey / Engineer
Shadi Hariri is a data architect by trade, but a wife, a mother, and most recently a grandmother with her whole heart. Both at work and in her personal life, she is highly motivated and results oriented. Professionally she is passionate about data- understanding and managing it, but at work and at home, her life passion is to be kind and encourage kindness in others. She is a free-spirited individual who enjoys the simple things in life. When music hits her ears you will immediately see her body move to the beat! An avid DIY-er, you will find her outdoors during the spring season in the garden, digging into the dirt for hours on end. Between her personal and professional lives, she juggles excelling in her career and finding time to spend with family and friends. Intrigue Yellow allows her to collaborate with a diverse group of people and explore various cultures and professions.
Mary Beth Malone
Chicago / Broker
A lifelong learner with a diverse resume and an insatiable need to experience and master new opportunities, Mary Beth is a teacher turned public servant, marketer, executive search consultant, real estate developer and sales professional. The thread running through each is a passion for acquiring knowledge, inspiring others to succeed and creating strong teams. Working with middle school children was a joy, creating an environment where they could soar by learning to write, read and think critically. As executive director of an international program for the city of Chicago, she was able to see our city through the eyes of people from around the world and develop meaningful communication and mutually beneficial programs. Managing searches for senior positions in large nonprofit organizations allowed her to work with boards to place accomplished professionals in key positions. Managing a complex real estate/hotel development project brought the opportunity to oversee construction management and design while using her marketing skills to advance the company. Building is the goal, not as much to achieve the best end result (which is great) but to experience the joys of the small and large “wins” and building strong relationships along the way. The hotel defied convention by, with a previously unknown brand, being named the #1 hotel in the country within two years. A desire to further understanding as well as mutual respect and appreciation, with an emphasis on women, between eastern and western cultures inspires her involvement in Intrigue Yellow. She celebrates the opportunity to create and support cross-cultural programs.